You and Me Baby Read online

  “I don’t date men with such high blood pressure,” she said, showing him the numbers.

  “Is that bad?” he asked, mildly concerned to find that it was higher than usual.

  “It’s not good,” she affirmed. “What does your diet look like?”

  “Let’s see,” he said, thinking. Get up in the morning, eat cold pizza or some other cold leftovers in the fridge. Meal out for lunch, business meeting of some type, where he got the steak and a beer because he was on the company’s dime. Snacks in the afternoon, of the candy aisle variety, as he went from meeting to meeting, appointment to appointment. And then, at night, it was usually just a whole lot of beer, paired with bar food. Cheese fries were his favorite, but if he was trying to impress the ladies, he went with something more manly, like buffalo wings.

  Okay, so it wasn’t manly. Who cared?

  “I eat a balanced diet,” he said.

  “I’ll bet,” she said. “You ever work out?”

  He flexed his muscles underneath her hands as she continued the physical. “What do you think?”

  “I’ll mark that down as a no on your file,” she said, moving away from him just fractionally so as to write some more things down.

  “A no on the file, okay,” he said. “But was that a yes to going out to dinner with me maybe?”

  “It’s a no on that as well.”

  This woman wasn’t going to be convinced to have anything to do with him, was she?

  She looked back up at him. “Got any diseases?”

  Wow. Filter off, apparently.

  “None that I’m aware of.”

  “Family history of anything serious?”

  “Besides being obnoxious, no.”

  “Any STDs?”

  “I knew that question was coming,” he said. “And, no, I’m clean.”

  “Good for you,” she muttered, writing it all down.

  “Why do you not like me?” he asked.

  “Is there some law saying that I have to like you?” she asked.

  “No, but most women do,” he answered.

  “Good for you again,” she said.

  “Seriously, what –”

  “Look,” she said, turning to him, clearly irritated. “Do you want me to do this physical or not?”

  “Well, yeah,” he said. “You’re the only doctor for miles and miles. Or so you told me.”

  “I am,” she nodded. “And you? You need to be quiet now so I can work.”

  So, with much effort, he managed to keep quiet as she finished her work. Quiet apart from a few random observations, like “your hands are soft,” “wow, you’re a real doctor,” and “seriously, you smell amazing,” which was astounding for him.

  “You sure do talk a lot,” she muttered as she finished. “Now get dressed and get out of here.”

  “Well, this was just delightful,” he said, grinning at her. “And can I tell you, I’ve never had a woman tell me that?”

  “That you talk a lot?” she asked. “Must be some dumb women you hang out with if they can’t discern that much.”

  Ouch.

  “No, the get dressed and get out part,” he said, pulling on his jeans. “First time I’ve ever heard a woman say that to me.”

  “Hmm,” she gave him a humorless grin. “How about this one…. you owe me fifty dollars for those ten minutes.”

  He put his hand to his bare chest. “Laurie Roberts, you scandalize me. Are you implying that –”

  “Good luck with your new job,” she said, closing up his file and finishing up with him, likely for good. “They’ll get you all the forms you need when you pay at the front desk.”

  And by the time he’d gotten his shirt back over his head, she was gone.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Ahh… the Pearson home.

  After walking back to the Dive to get his car, Aiden took a cleansing breath and got ready to face the music back home. He drove up expecting to have to encounter the whole family. Surely they’d all be sitting around eating leftovers and discussing what a loser he was, just like a normal family Christmas and all. But when he pulled up, he saw that the driveway was empty.

  Strange.

  On the bright side, though, that left him more room to park his rental car. So, he did, taking his keys and twirling them around his finger as he made his way inside, ready to head straight to his suitcases, then the fridge, of course –

  “Hey, there.”

  He clutched his chest, just a little surprised by the unexpected greeting, looking up to find his dad smiling at him apologetically.

  “Didn’t mean to scare you,” John said.

  “Well, you did,” Aiden muttered. “Why are you sitting in here in the dark like this? And where is everyone?”

  “Out shopping. And the game’s on,” John said, nodding to the television. “And I might have fallen asleep during halftime.”

  Oh, that Aiden had the same luxury today. But he had to go get settled in, get set up for that job, get a car, all of that.

  “Nice,” he said. “Just came by to pick up a few things.”

  “You can stay here, you know,” his dad said.

  Aide looked at him with doubt. “You think?”

  “Well, temporarily,” John conceded. “And I agree with your mother on that.”

  “Of course, you do,” Aiden said, making his way back to his old room. “I’ll have you all know that I already found myself a new place to stay and a job at that.”

  Then, his breath caught as he took in his old room.

  His mother had long since redecorated, of course. She’d done that as soon as he’d moved out after high school, just like she’d done with Amelia’s room. Adam, however, as the baby, had come home from college to find that his room was being kept as a shrine of sorts, with all of his old high school junk still there and laid out like a museum dedicated to his awesomeness.

  All that she’d left out in Aiden’s old room, after she’d come through and made it a guest room, was a small collection of his old things, all of which were now boxed up and left by the door like trash.

  He rummaged through the box and marveled that his mother had reduced his entire childhood down to this. His high school letter jacket, an old football, some trophies, and –

  “Baby Puppy!” he yelled, snatching up the tattered and worn stuffed animal out of the box. “Mom’s really serious about me leaving, isn’t she?!”

  “Did she actually keep that old thing?” John frowned, looking at the mangy toy.

  “It’s not an old thing,” Aiden said, cradling the puppy affectionately. “It’s –”

  He stopped short when he saw the look his father was giving him.

  “Oh, fine, it’s an old toy,” he said. “But I slept with it until I was, like, five –”

  “Twelve,” his father corrected.

  “Exactly,” Aiden spat out. “And now, she’s put him out, just like she’s putting me out. Heartless.”

  “I think the fact that she saved him after all these years means that she’s not,” John corrected. “She just wants to do what’s best for you. And after that blow up last night, you got a job and a place to live, so maybe it’s not all bad, huh?”

  Aiden looked over at him even as he hoisted the box into his arms. “Maybe not,” he said. “But probably. It’s probably worse.”

  “She put aside some leftovers for you,” John said.

  With that, Aiden stopped walking, no longer intending to storm out. “Okay, it’s not all bad.”

  John grinned at him. “Want me to heat up some things while you load up your car?”

  “Yeah, that’ll be good,” he said. “Can I go out through the garage? Or do I have to use the front door every time now?”

  “You still get garage privileges,” John said, moving to the fridge.

  Aiden made a couple of trips in and out to move his box and his suitcases to the car. On that second trip, he took in some of the garage, noticing how much emptier it was looking these days as both of his siblings had moved out and moved on.

  Well, maybe it was good that his mother wouldn’t let him come here and face the temptation of staying long term and stagnating and all, right?

  Maybe.

  As he was looking around, he noticed an old toolbox and recognized it immediately.

  “Hey, Dad,” he said, going back inside, just as John was putting food on the table. “Why are Papa’s tools out there, all shut up like that?”

  Papa Pearson, his dad’s dad. He’d passed away several years ago, when Aiden had been in Tokyo on business and hadn’t been able to get home. He’d had a few beers where he was, though, to celebrate his grandfather’s memory and who he’d been – a small town, cowboy church bi-vocational pastor who made his living doing odd jobs for people. When Aiden had been little, he’d gone with his grandfather on some of those odd jobs, and when he’d been a teenager, the older man had taught him a lot of what he knew.

  This was part of why Aiden was so handy, at least. Good genes, too.

  Those handy genes had skipped his father, though, which was likely why those tools didn’t look like anyone had touched them since Papa had passed on.

  “Nowhere else to put them,” his dad said, sitting at the table, indicating the seat across from him for Aiden. After he’d prayed over their meal, he looked back up. “I wanted to sell them, but your mother couldn’t stand the thought, knowing how much your Papa had used them over the years. Thought one of you boys would end up wanting them some day, but it’s probably just old junk, huh?”

  Something about this hit Aiden hard. Did his father think that life here, in the middle of nowhere, was something that Aiden considered just junk? Beneath him?

  Did Aiden really think that?

  “Well, don’t
look so troubled,” John said, helping himself to some of the turkey. “It’s just stuff.”

  “It’s not just stuff,” Aiden corrected him, going straight for the dressing. “They’re tools. Tools are still good. I could use some tools.”

  “When are you going to use tools?” John asked him doubtfully.

  “I’m fixing up one of Travis’s rent homes,” Aiden said. “While I live there.”

  John smiled at this after a brief moment. “That’s good. Two birds, one stone.”

  “Two buzzards, one bullet,” Aiden confirmed, grabbing a roll. “I start today, I think, so the tools…”

  “Take them,” John said. “That would have made Papa proud, knowing that you were going to use them one day.”

  Papa probably wouldn’t have been proud about much else, so Aiden would take this encouragement as it was given.

  “Have you found a car yet?” John asked in between bites.

  “No,” Aiden shook his head. “Would love a truck maybe. I forgot how many gravel roads this town has.”

  “Might know someone who’s selling one,” John said.

  “You serious?” Aiden asked, his mouth full. “How is it that after only twenty-four hours back in this town, everything’s working out for me just like this?”

  “Well, nothing’s a done deal yet,” John said, reaching for his phone, searching for a number, and sending a text, “but sometimes things just work out like that.” He glanced up at his son. “Like maybe this is God’s plan for you or something. Though I know you get freaked out about talk like that.”

  “I do,” Aiden nodded, “but I’ve come to expect it from you, Dad.”

  “Yeah, I’ll bet,” John smiled, putting his phone down and taking another bite. “Sent the guy your info, so hopefully, you can make a deal.”

  A truck. A place to stay. Work.

  Maybe things were going to be okay after all.

  Things were not okay.

  Sure, Aiden had gotten a call about the truck only five minutes later, while he was there at his parents’ house, and after a quick call to Travis to push back the time they would meet at the house so that he could finalize the deal on the truck and turn his rental car in, he’d loaded up his grandfather’s tools and his suitcases in the back of his new-to-him truck and headed towards his temporary home.

  Temporary, praise God, because the place was a dump. Seriously, it was worse than Laurie’s clinic. (Something that Aiden wouldn’t have thought possible had he not seen the carnage for himself.)

  “I fixed the roof, at least,” Travis had said helpfully, as he’d given Aiden the grand tour. “So, if we get snow this year, you’ll stay nice and dry in here.”

  “Great,” Aiden had answered, a list in hand of all that needed to be done. “This is going to keep me busy for months, you know. And that’s a conservative estimate, assuming that I work all day every day.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Travis answered.

  Yeah. Aiden just bet it did. “Do I get to take a break every now and then, master?”

  Travis had grinned. “I think working a 9 to 5 schedule is fair. What you do in your off time is your business.”

  It was his business. So, even though Travis had shaken his head at him when he’d announced promptly at five that he was going out for a drink, Aiden had still showered and cleaned up, then hopped in his truck and made his way over to the Dive, hopeful that he might see Laurie… but mainly just hopeful that he could grab a few beers with dinner.

  Sure enough, as soon as he pulled into the parking lot, he saw Laurie’s car.

  “Show time,” he murmured to himself, looking in the rearview mirror to make sure he looked better than he had earlier, back when she’d checked him out in his underwear and all. “I don’t know, Aiden,” he said to his reflection. “Maybe you were better half-naked.”

  Either way, he was going to win her over. He had to win her over, right? He couldn’t stand the thought of someone not liking him, especially when that someone was beautiful and smart and hot…

  He was grinning as he thought about her, even as he approached the Dive, appreciating things about it that he’d missed the night before. It was old and worn out, but it was all made to look hip, like it was intentionally left a little quirky and off as part of its flair and all.

  The name even helped that perception along. The Dive. He wondered again when they’d made the change and what they’d changed it from. What had that place been called back when he was a kid?

  He couldn’t remember as he made his way in, thinking about all the times he’d come in here as a kid and a teenager on the weekends, eating burgers and making a mess with friends, being so loud and noisy that other patrons would literally get up and move as far away from them as possible.

  Those were the days.

  And for a second, Aiden thought he was right back in those days when he saw the man behind the bar working the cash register.

  Just exactly like old times.

  “Mr. Roberts,” he said, as the man shifted his attention towards him. That guy hadn’t changed a bit. Still as hard-faced and menacing as he’d been back then, but…

  The closer Aiden got, the more he wondered about that, until he was right there at the bar, taking a stool and getting a good look at Laurie’s father.

  He’d aged. A lot. He looked weaker, more frail even.

  But that look on his face. Still mean.

  “You,” he said, shaking his head, giving Aiden a cynical look. “Might have heard that you’re back in town.”

  “Heard it from Laurie, probably, yes sir,” Aiden grinned.

  “Nope,” the man said, closing the cash register. “The Collins sisters. All over here telling me about some businessman from Tokyo who’d sampled their cupcakes this morning. Was thinking some Japanese guy had wandered into town, lost probably, because why else would a Japanese guy come to our town?”

  Why indeed.

  “Can’t think of one single reason why anyone would come to this town, Mr. Roberts,” Aiden said.

  “But then, they said he was a friend of Travis’s, some high school buddy,” the older man sighed. “And it’s Frank.”

  Aiden narrowed his eyes for a second, confused. “Frank was an old high school buddy of Travis’s?”

  “No, you’re the old buddy, you ninny,” Laurie’s dad scowled. “And I’m Frank. Having grown men call me Mr. Roberts makes me feel ancient.”

  “Ahh,” Aiden nodded. “Glad to be on a first name basis with you, Frank.”

  “Yeah,” Frank said, apparently bored with the small talk. “You want something?”

  “Yeah, a beer would be great.”

  “Need to see some ID,” Frank said.

  Yep. Just like old times. Grumpy and gruff. But Aiden was actually legal now and didn’t see any reason for the old man to be so out of sorts.

  “You know how old I am,” he said, grinning. “Just told me I was a grown man, and I’m the same age as your daughter –”

  “Need to see some ID,” Frank said again. “Want to get me in trouble?”

  Good grief, no. How much more irritable would he be if that happened?

  Aiden reached into his back pocket for his wallet, pulling out his driver’s license and sliding it across the bar. “Here you go.”

  Frank picked it up and looked at it. Then, because it wasn’t clear enough apparently, he reached for his glasses by the cash register, put them on his face, and peered harder. “New York?”

  “Yes, sir,” Aiden said. “That’s where I’m from.”

  “You’re from here,” Frank said, still looking at the license.

  “Technically,” Aiden agreed. “I grew up here, so… yeah. But I’m from New York now.”

  “You’re here right now, though,” Frank said, no closer to getting that beer than he’d been when Aiden walked in here.

  Drinking wasn’t going to be as much fun with Frank working the bar.

  “I am here right now,” Aiden said. “You’re absolutely correct.”

  “Staying long?” Frank asked, still holding onto that license.

  “A while,” Aiden answered.

  “Then, get that changed,” Frank said, handing the license back to him. Finally. “Cops pull you over with that while you’re living here without an updated address, and you’re going to get a ticket. On top of whatever other ticket you get for whatever foolishness you’ve gotten yourself into.”