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It started with returning Michael Whittaker's text and picking up not only Aiden's last check but also an advance on the stud fees for Seth's prize bull. It took some negotiation, but Seth didn't have so much pride that he wasn't above playing on Whit's sympathy.
"Hang in there," Whit had said, regarding him with a refreshing lack of pity. "If there's one thing I've learned in life, you've got to have faith. Faith that things will work out how they're meant. He'll find his way back to you if it's right."
"The rightest thing I've ever done in my life," Seth said grimly, "was picking Aiden up on the side of the road one random day."
Whit clapped Seth on the back and tucked a check into his shirt pocket. "Then don't give up on him—and let him know his job is waiting for him whenever he's ready."
"Thanks," Seth said, offering a handshake. "But Aiden's coming home with me when I find him."
Whit's smile was knowing. "I figured as much."
Chapter Thirty-Three
SETH
Seth would have been furious at Aiden for leaving his last paycheck like some sort of parting gift, but it was going to come in handy. As soon as the checks cleared his bank account, he implemented the next step of his plan.
It was early morning when he parked in front of Barbara Doyle's picture-perfect house. Tension knotted his shoulders as he crossed the neatly manicured front yard. Two golden retrievers bolted from around the side of the house, barking joyfully and slinging melting slush all over his jeans. Seth paused to greet them, grateful for the distraction. He ruffled their damp ears, steeling himself for the confrontation. Aiden's mother had never intimidated him, but he knew that despite everything, her opinion mattered to Aiden—and so it mattered to Seth.
Barbara opened the door before he could fully raise a fist to knock. "What do you want?" she asked in an icy tone.
"Afternoon, Barbara," Seth greeted, forcing a smile. "I'd like to talk to you."
Her lips compressed in a thin line. "I don't see why," she said with a sniff. "The only thing we've ever had in common is Aiden, and he's gone now. Thanks to you, no doubt. He didn't even have the courtesy to say goodbye to me in person. He didn't even call his mother when he crawled out of town like a worm. He sent me a text."
She was trying to hide it, but her voice sounded thick with tears.
Seth took a deep breath. It didn't bode well for the rest of the conversation if he couldn't manage to hang onto his temper upfront. "Aiden doesn't like confrontation," he said calmly.
She scoffed, snorting inelegantly through her nose. "He's scared of his own shadow. Always has been. I raised him to be a man of honor, and this is how he repays me. He said he'd send some money for my new roof once he got settled, but that hardly excuses running away, now does it?"
Seth's jaw creaked from the force of his grinding teeth, but he managed to keep his tone pleasant when he said, "That's why I'm here. He left the cash with me."
Her perfectly lined eyes widened. Seth couldn't help but notice they were the exact same shade of summer blue as Aiden's, and he softened despite himself. No matter how easy she made it, it was impossible to hate the woman Aiden loved so much.
"Come in," Barbara said, holding the door open reluctantly. "But make it quick."
The house was a Martha Stewart hellscape of throw pillows and fake flowers. Seth's skin itched at the sterile cleanliness. He couldn't imagine what it had felt like for Aiden to grow up in such an environment, how terrified he must have been when he accidentally smeared jelly on the cabinets or forgot to pick up his Legos. It explained the almost deliberate negligence with which he treated his own belongings.
Seth reluctantly took a seat on a brocade sofa when Barbara directed him, accidentally crushing a satin pillow beneath him. He set the pillow aside, half-heartedly rearranging the mussed tassels while Aiden's mother frowned.
"Why would he leave anything with you?" she asked bitterly. Seth noticed with amusement that she remained standing, pulling out all the stops of a boardroom negotiation, as if he wasn't already used to her looking down her nose at him. "All he left for me was a message that he was working out of town. This is your fault, isn't it?"
"What makes you say that?" Seth asked curiously.
"I'm not blind," she said in a scathing tone. "I've always known that my son had feelings for you. He worshipped the ground you walked on back when he was a teenager. It was all I ever heard—Seth says this, Seth thinks that—as if nothing else mattered but your good opinion. It was inappropriate. I was so relieved when you cut him loose. I thought my son could finally move on and grow into his own man without your influence. Little did I know that you'd slither back into his life and poison him against me once more. That boy was always too soft for his own good."
She turned her back on him, smoothing her skirt in a self-soothing gesture, before wandering over to the fireplace mantel. A photo of a young, grinning Aiden sat amid the fake flowers and gleaming figurines. He perched on a fence beside Bandit, dressed in a cap and gown for his high school graduation. Her fingers trailed over the ornate silver frame.
"I wanted more for him, you know," she said quietly. "I wanted my son to rise above this nothing town and make something of himself. Then he met you, and all our plans for his future disappeared. He turned into just another yokel from a hick town, gleefully ignorant of everything he's missing out on."
Seth's eyes narrowed. "With all due respect, those were always your plans, ma'am. Never his. Aiden is a good, strong man. That's all that should matter to you."
"Oh, spare me," Barbara snapped, whirling on him with a sudden flash of irritation. "We both know Aiden is perfectly content to just drift through life wherever the wind takes him. No ambition, no drive. But I suppose that's exactly what you always wanted from him—to keep him chained to that godforsaken ranch while it falls down around your ears. Well, where has that gotten you now? Aiden's gone. He left you—left us both."
Seth's stomach twisted painfully. The hollow ache somewhere below his ribcage seemed to grow with her words. They stung, no matter how he tried to convince himself they weren't true. He took a deep breath to steady himself.
"Aiden didn't leave me," he said evenly, "and he'll be back. I know that in my heart."
