Page 108 of Other Side Of Never
I waited impatiently for his call while the minutes turned into hours.
When I couldn’t stand it any longer, I grabbed my sweater and stepped out into the night.My steps led me down to the beach.Taking off my sandals, I left a trail of footprints along the shore.Even at this time of night, the beach was never entirely deserted in the summer.
When my cell finally rang, I had just taken a seat on a bench to put my sandals back on.
As soon as I picked up, Kian said, “Aaron just left.We talked for more than two hours after Isaiah went to bed.”
“Really?”I squeaked.“It was a good talk?”
He sucked in a breath.“I think, for the first time, everything is going to be okay.”
“That’s so good, Kian!I’m so happy for you!”
“Thank you,” he stressed.“I mean it.He told me he spoke to you today.Whatever you said, it made the difference.”
“There’s nothing to thank me for.”
“There is,” he interrupted.“I can never thank you enough for what you’ve done for me, for Isaiah, and for Aaron.I’m, I just don’t know how to thank you.”
“There’s no thanks necessary,” I replied softly.
He blew out a breath.“Okay, so listen, it gets better.I’m going home to my family for a few days with Isaiah.Aaron and Nadine are coming too.”He laughed in disbelief.“I have to wrap up a few things at work before I leave, and there are a couple of legal issues I need to work out when I get home to Mapleville.I need a few days to focus on Aaron and get my business in order.Are you okay with that?I don’t want you to feel like you’re not important.”
My stomach turned to ice, but I shook the feeling away.
Kian is not Gary.
His voice softened.“I’ll call you as soon as we get back, okay?”
I blinked, then exclaimed, “Sure.No problem.Everything is going to be great!”
No matter how I tried to rationalize my exclusion from his plans, they made one thing very clear, and that was the divide between my place in his life and his family.
We were not the same.
“Bridget,” he said softly.“You are the most amazing woman, I’m the luckiest man on the planet, and I’m going to make sure you know how special you are to me when I get back.”
I swallowed past the lump in my throat.“You deserve every good thing, Kian.Don’t forget that.”
“It’s, I can’t believe it,” he said.“Things were so bad and now, now I have hope.”
“He needs you, don’t forget that.”
“I’ll get over to see you before we leave, but Hawkley called all the guys and we’re all meeting at The Beaver Dam with Aaron tomorrow night.They’re--” His voice broke.
“You’re doing for Aaron what we did for Nadine,” I murmured, my heart breaking that he didn’t have an opportunity to gather that same kind of support around himself once upon a long time ago.
He released a shuddering breath, swallowing audibly.Voice tight, he continued, “Can you believe it?I’m getting a second chance with my son.”He paused and huffed out a laugh.“My mother is going crazy getting rooms ready.”
Picturing it, I laughed.“I bet.Do you need help with Isaiah?”
“Nadine is staying with him,” he responded.“I’ll miss you, Bridge.”His voice dropped.“I don’t know what I did to deserve you.I’ll call you soon, sweetheart, and I’ll get over to see you before we leave.”
“Bye, darling.Enjoy.”
I closed the phone.
Emotions swelling, I sat and watched the waves roll in.
