Just For A Moment by Kate Carley
Chapter 20
Aaron scrubbedat the scorch mark in the bottom of the stainless-steel pan. He should’ve been paying more attention to the task of cooking dinner, but his mind had been on Grace. The days without her had crept by at a freaking snail’s pace, but he was doing as Grace had asked. He was giving her the time and space she needed to figure out if she could forgive and forget.
He couldn’t count the number of times he’d picked up his phone and checked for a text from her. Wasn’t she missing him as much as he was missing her? The answer was obviously not. He’d tapped out a text to her at least a dozen times each day, and each time, he’d deleted it rather than hit send. No way was he going to start sending come-back-to-me texts to her. She was the one who’d called it off, and she was going to need to be the one who came to him.
Maybe that would never happen.
He set the pan in the dishwasher and added the last few items along with a soap pod. With a final glance around the kitchen to make sure everything had been loaded into the dishwasher, he hit start and then went out the back door to the porch. The sun sat low on the horizon in fabulous golds with streaks of purple, just like the night they’d shared their first kiss.
Was Grace watching the sunset from wherever she was right now?
That loneliness Aaron had felt the moment Grace had walked out of his shop had settled permanently on his chest. But he had no reason to be lonely. He had a job that he loved, and the light of his life, Piper, kept him on his toes. Yes, Grace had slipped flawlessly into his life and into Piper’s life as well. But that didn’t mean it was destined to be more than it had been.
“Dad?” Piper’s question drew him out of his thoughts.
“What’s up?” He turned, propping his elbow on the porch railing.
“We’re still going shopping tomorrow, right?”
Damn. Honestly, he hadn’t even thought about the shopping spree with Piper. Not since Grace had walked out of his life. “Of course, we’re going.”
“Maybe we should ask Grace. It’d be fun to have her along.”
Aaron turned away and studied the sunset. “I believe Grace is busy tomorrow. Did you see this sunset?”
Piper came to his side, resting her arms on the banister. “It’s pretty.”
“Hmm. It is. It’s a good one tonight.” He glanced at his daughter in her bright pink cast. “Think we’ll be able to shop with your cast?”
“No problem, Dad. I’m going to play a computer game. That okay?”
“Sure. For about thirty minutes. Then it’ll be time to get ready for bed.”
When Piper headed for the door with a generic sound of acceptance, his phone vibrated with an incoming text. Without a thought, he pulled it from the back pocket of his jeans and glanced at it. It was the text he’d been waiting for.
Grace: Hi
Aaron: Hi
Grace: I’ve been thinking about you.
Aaron paused. Should he reveal that he’d been thinking about her, too? That he missed her? She’d asked for a break because he’d withheld details from her. Maybe the full truth was required here.
Aaron: Me, too. I miss you.
In the next second, his phone rang.
“Hi, Grace,” he said as he connected the call.
“I wasn’t sure if you’d want to talk to me.”
“Like I said, I miss you.”
“I was wondering if we could get together to talk sometime this weekend.”
“We can talk right now.”
“I don’t want to have this conversation over the phone.”
“Tomorrow I’m taking Piper shopping for school clothes.”
“Oh, that’s right.”
“Until we’re back on track, Grace, I don’t think we should be together in front of Piper.”
“I totally understand.” Grace’s voice seemed to crack with emotions. “Madalyn and I are doing brunch tomorrow.”
“How about Sunday afternoon? I could come over to your place for a little while. We could talk then.”
“Okay. Sunday. I miss you, Aaron.”
They said goodbye, and Aaron ended the call. Now, he was the one dragging his feet. Making them take longer to resolve this issue. But what he’d told Grace was the truth. Piper should not see them together unless they were truly together.
One additional text came through about an hour after he’d climbed into bed.
Grace: I hope we can work things out, Aaron. Can’t wait till Sunday.