Page 44 of Savage Fire
I take a sip of the steaming coffee that Aidan must’ve made for me, and that’s when I notice a post-it note.
Good morning. I ordered bagels. Delivery man should be here soon. I paid ahead of time. I left money for the tip on the kitchen island. I'm going to shower. Be out in a bit. :) Aidan
Oh good, I am starving. I hear a knock at the door. Perfect timing. With my stomach gurgling, I grab the cash from the island and open the door without looking through the peephole.
The mid-fifties woman standing in the hallway looks oddly familiar. It’s something about her eyes. I feel like I’ve met her or seen her before, which is weird because I haven’t been back to NYC in three years.
“Hi!” I blurt. “Um, we’ve already paid for the bagels, but here’s the tip.” I extend my hand with the cash out to this woman, who now looks at me with amusement covering her entire face. Her eyes scan my whole figure–from my crazy hair all the way down to my bare legs and feet.
“Hi. Is my son here?”
Now, I want to crawl into a hole and never come out. The familiar eyes make perfect sense. How could I be so stupid? I look down and process that Aidan’s mother is meeting me when I am half-naked. Wearing her son’s oversized UConn t-shirt that is covering a fraction of my upper thigh. Great first impression, Haley. This has to be my most embarrassing life moment to date. She must think I had sex with her son. Oh my God. Does she think I’m just another one of those girls who want to sleep with her son for funsies? Just because he is Aidan Stone? I can only imagine what she must think of me right now.
Her brow wrinkles. “Are you okay, honey?”
“I…I…I am okay. Hi, Mrs. Stone, come on in. I am so sorry. This isn’t what it looks like. I swear.” Flustered, I reach out my hand as I close the door. “Hi, I’m Haley. Haley Swann. I’m your son’s…”
“Girlfriend.” I hear Aidan proclaim as he walks into the living room, smelling absolutely amazing. Like cashmere and rain. He must’ve trimmed his beard a little. I’m glad he didn’t shave it all off. He’s wearing gray sweatpants and a dark teal shirt, which brings out his perfect blue eyes. He has a huge smile on his face as he embraces his mother. “Hey Mom.”
“Oh my boy. It’s so good to see you!” She turns her attention toward me and I notice how miniscule she seems next to Aidan. I wonder if his dad was a fricken center for a basketball team. “You said this young lady is your girlfriend? Your name is Haley?”
“Yes, ma’am.” I nod as I awkwardly pull Aidan’s shirt down to try and cover my legs. I must be the color of a beet because Aidan’s smirk will not leave his stupid face. Is he enjoying this? What a punk. “I’m Aidan’s girlfriend. And I am sorry for…” I gesture to my just-rolled-out-of-bed-but-defintely-did-not-sleep-with-your-son-even-though-it-looks-like-I-did-look.
“It’s okay, sweetie. I know you two are grown adults.” Sweet lord! No that’s not what happened, I swear! “Have we met before, because I swear you look somewhat familiar? And I know I’ve heard your name before.”
“Well, I am…was…am Aidan’s…” God, can I not form a full sentence today?
Aidan came to my rescue. “She was my assistant, Mom. But we’re together now, so we’re still working out the kinks to our new situation, I guess.” He shrugs and puts his hand behind his head, as if he is also a bit nervous about our new situation.
There is a flicker of recognition in his mother’s eyes, even though we’ve never met before. “Ah yes, the famous Haley!” She pulls me into a hug. Did I mention I am still pantless? “It’s so great to finally meet you. Aidan hasn’t stopped talking about you since you started working for him.”
My eyes shoot directly to Aidan, and now he is crimson. I press my lips together to stifle a laugh. I’ve never seen him so flustered before. He’s been talking about me?
“He goes on and on about how amazing you are,” his mom continues, as if answering my thoughts.
“Well, she’s been such an amazing assistant,” Aidan interjects, rubbing the back of his neck. “I don’t know how I would get through my days without her.”
I tuck my hair behind my ear and smile. “Just doing my job.”
She holds onto my hand and her eyes twinkle with gratitude. “Thank you for taking care of my son out there in L.A. It keeps a mother’s mind at peace knowing that her child is safe and okay. Also, thank you for putting up with him these past few months, especially with all of his shenanigans.” She gave her son an accusatory look. “Wait, something doesn’t add up, how long have you two been dating?”
“Um, a few weeks. It’s really new, Mom.”
“Aidan Miles Stone. Do you mean to tell me that you were running around with multiple women WHILE you were dating Haley?! I saw the tabloids. Shame on you. I know I raised you better than that.”
I have to intervene because Aidan looks like he’s going to pass out. I think I catch a glimpse of how he looked as a little boy when he got scolded by this woman in front of me. “No, Mrs. Stone.”
“Please call me Ellie, dear.”
I give a quick smile. “Ellie…That was all a ruse. We didn’t want anyone to know about this–” I point between me and Aidan frantically. “–yet. So, he had to be seen with those other women so that no one would find out about us. We weren’t sure how everyone was going to take it. But I guess everything turned out fine and now we can really be together. Out in the open. For everyone to see.”
I pull the best fake smile I can out of my ass and try to be as convincing as possible in front of this sweet woman. I walk over and wrap my arm around Aidan’s ridiculously muscular torso and tilt my head against his chest. I feel Aidan’s massive hand wrap around my own waist and tug me tighter toward his body. My pulse is racing. He’s pretending too. He’s such a natural. I’m sure she can see right through me. Silly me for thinking drama class was stupid in high school. It could’ve really come in handy right about now.
“Yeah, Mom, just wanted to make sure Haley was ready for our relationship to be out there in the world.” Yeah, something like that.
“Oh thank God,” Ellie says. “I love you sweetie, but if you would’ve started seriously dating one of those bimbo model types, I would’ve had to say something. You already know how I felt about Natasha.”
What? I look up at Aidan and see his jaw tighten. So his mother didn’t approve of Natasha. Maybe a mother’s intuition that she was going to be bad news. Interesting. For some reason, I can’t shake the hope for her approval of me to stand the test of time. I don’t know why that matters to me so much. It’s not like I’m ever going to see her again.