Читать книгу Welcome Home, Katie Gallagher - Seana Kelly - Страница 14

CHAPTER SIX

Aiden

GETTING POPS IN the car proved more difficult than I’d expected. And not because he was ill. He kept trying to get me to go back, finish splitting the wood. Instead, I drove us down the narrow, graveled road. “Leave it. I’m taking you home.”

There was a disgruntled tsk, and then Pops smacked his fist against his thigh. “I’m done pussyfooting around this. Every time I try to bring it up, you change the subject or leave the room. No more, Aiden.” He paused to gather his thoughts, and I wished I hadn’t offered to drive him home. “You’ve changed. You’re harder, meaner. You told a tiny woman, Nellie’s granddaughter, to chop her own wood. It’s not you, and I don’t like it. Son, I know Alice’s leaving was difficult, but isn’t it better that she did it before you were married?”

“Yeah, Pops. She was nothing if not kind and considerate. I’ll be paying off that not-a-wedding for many years to come. I’m reminded every month as I transfer funds for the altered designer dress, the out-of-season flowers that needed to be flown in, the gourmet food, the banquet room at the Bar Harbor Inn... At least I got to keep the cases of wine. Too bad I don’t particularly like wine. I think she vetoed beer at the reception, so I wouldn’t be left with anything I actually liked.”

Pops tsk-tsked again.

“And, yes, I will return the ring soon.” I squirmed at the thought of everyone in the jewelry store carefully not looking at me as I return a $10,000 ring for the woman who took off a year ago, the day before our wedding. She left me an empty apartment and a note.

“Sorry, Aiden. I just can’t” was all the explanation I’d been given. Sorry, I just can’t marry you? Sorry, I just can’t love you? Sorry, I just can’t stand the sound of your breathing? What the fuck was it that she just couldn’t?

“You’ve been saying that for almost a year, but I can still see that damn box in your pocket.” His fingers tapped on his thigh. “I told you I’d help you pay off that debt—”

“Stop. You’re not paying my damn bills. I was the idiot who thought Alice loved me. The bills are a monthly reminder of why I shouldn’t trust women.” My hands tightened on the wheel.

“You don’t really think that, do you?” Pops actually sounded concerned about my sanity.

“I don’t know. I guess some of them are okay. Mrs. MacPherson, the old librarian, seems pleasant enough.”

Pops tsk-tsked in annoyance again, prodding a grin out of me.

“Well, you know that Katie—”

“Ran out on her husband? Yeah, I’d heard that. Apparently, she wasn’t considerate enough to realize that she just couldn’t before they got married.”

Pops gave me a disgusted look. “That was not what I was going to say. Nellie doted on her—”

“Yeah, and how often did she visit Nellie? I haven’t seen her since she was fifteen. You said she visited, but she was clearly never in town long enough for anyone else to notice. Hell, she didn’t even come to Nellie’s funeral.”

When I pulled up to his front steps, I turned off the engine, rolling my shoulders, to relieve the tightness. “Listen, Pops, I know you mean well, but, no. Stop, okay? I’m not interested in that one.”

“I’m not saying you should be. I’m angry with her for not being with Nellie more, especially at the end, but if what she said was true... Nellie loved that girl to the moon, and I think she’d be mad as hell at me if I didn’t try to help her.” He touched the door handle, but then turned back to me. “You used to be so sweet on her, you couldn’t take your eyes off her.”

“That was a long time ago. People change.”