Page 22 of Hockey Boy
“Aw, she didn’t want to talk to me.” Aiden juts out his lip in a perfect pout.
I snort. “You know she never liked you.”
He clutches his chest in mock offense. “Go easy on me, Lex.”
“Please,” I scoff, pocketing my phone. “When you have a daughter, I can guarantee you’ll hate any boy who sneaks into her bedroom nightly.”
Aiden’s dimple pops. “It was just so I could kiss you good night.”
For a moment, the world fades away, and I can feel the way his lips would ghost against mine, the heat of his breath between kisses as he whispered how he just needed a little sweetness before bed.“Please, Lex. Just another minute.”
My grandmother caught us one time, and I swear she grinned at me for a week.
“And so I could give you your nightly peony.” He bites his lip shyly, the same damn way he would when he’d hand me my favorite pink flower. Did he give them to me because I love pink, or do I love pink because he’d given them to me?
Blood rushes to my face, likely turning me my favorite damn color, and I force the memories to fade. With a step back, I peruse the park, looking for Nosy McGee.
“Where’s Jill?”
“Just me today,” Aiden says.
A wave of giddiness washes over me despite my best efforts. Spending more time with Aiden is dangerous and stupid. We’re planning his wedding toher,not catching up on old times.
“So you decided on this venue?”
Aiden plops down onto the blanket and looks up at me. The way the sun lights his brown eyes is almost magical. “Nah, let’s book the beach.”
A frown tugs at my lips. It’s not that the beach location wasn’t gorgeous. I wouldn’t have shown him it yesterday if it wasn’t a perfectly acceptable option. But it didn’t feel like Aiden. Then again, what the hell do I know? The Aiden I know was a kid who lived to pull pranks, laughed his way through life, and was obsessed with making me smile.
This Aiden is a hockey star engaged to someone else. The dedication his career requires likely leaves little time for joking around the way he used to. It was juvenile to think he’d want to have wedding photos taken on the carousel—that he’d want his wedding in a park.
Not befitting of a Langfield or a Kennedy. I can hear the muttered words in my mother’s voice.
God, why does the idea that Aiden has changed so much over the years, that I don’t know him anymore, make my throat burn?
I grab a pair of sunglasses from my purse and cover my eyes before they give me away. “If this isn’t the venue choice, then what are we doing here?”
Aiden leans to one side and snatches up a basket I hadn’t noticed. “Lunch.”
Pulse spiking, I take half a step back. “Lunch?”
That damn dimple pops again as the boy smiles. For someone I no longer know, the expression is so familiar. That simple look is all it takes to set me at ease. “You can’t expect me to eat dessert before feeding me lunch.”
A laugh breaks free, making me feel instantly lighter. “I didn’t realize I was feeding you.” Even as I argue, I drop onto the blanket beside him and settle in.
Aiden opens the basket, pulls out two sandwiches, and hands one to me.
I pull it from its plastic bag, and when I lift the corner to inspect it, I snort. “Peanut butter and Nutella?”
Tapping his sandwich against mine, he grins. “Just like old times.” With a giant bite of his sandwich, he watches me.
“You realize this is pure sugar, right? We’re loading up on sugar before taste-testing cakes?”
Aiden shrugs. “I’m like Buddy the Elf. Sugar is an important part of each one of my food groups.” He pulls an orange soda from the basket and offers it to me.
I bite my lip to hide my smile. We enjoyed many picnics just like this when we were kids. Drinking orange soda and eating peanut butter and Nutella sandwiches while staring up at the sky, hiding from our families. Heads touching as we dreamed about the future.
I unscrew the top to the soda and take a sip, carefully avoiding looking at Aiden. Somehow sitting on a picnic blanket eating peanut butter and Nutella sandwiches with our thighs touching feels more intimate than any sexual encounter I’ve had in the last decade. “Is Jill meeting us at the bakery?”