Page 429 of A Matter of Time

He was working late, and I was not returning his latest phone call when my friend Aiden called me. He needed to bring a buddy to his self-esteem workshop because they were having group that evening, and people were supposed to share with someone in the room who knew them. The idea was that a person from your life, a friend, could call bullshit on something you said. Only a friend could really say if you were telling the truth or not.

I tried so hard to weasel my way out of going to group once I knew what I was getting into, but by then it was much too late. I was good and stuck at the YMCA with him.

Group is exactly what it sounds like. You sit around in a circle and talk about what’s going on in your life. In Aiden’s case, he had to say what he’d done the week before that had made him feel empowered. He seemed nervous, the way he was shifting around in his chair, doing that thing where he chewed on the inside of his cheek and squinted his left eye. I was staring at him, and he interrupted his monologue about how he had not gone home with the first guy who asked him at the club on Saturday night.

“Shouldn’t even be at a bar,” I muttered.

“What?” he said, turning to me.

I shook my head. “Never mind.”

“Tell me,” he insisted.

“You know,” I said pointedly, scowling at him. “What do I always tell you?”

He groaned, and the woman leading the group, Dr. Riehl, met his gaze. “What does Jory always tell you, Aiden?”

He rolled his eyes. “That I don’t know my own worth, and that I shouldn’t go home with just anybody—I’m special, they should be special.”

“That’s marvelous,” she said to me.

I nodded. “He shouldn’t be at a bar.”

“Agreed,” she told me.

“Then where am I supposed to meet people?”

“Coffee shop,” someone suggested.

“Bookstore,” another person said.

“Jogging club, hiking club, bike club,” a girl who looked like a cherub chimed in.

“Walking club,” I said. “There are art walks, events where lots of people make dinner together and then eat.”

“Ohmygod, that sounds amazing,” a guy told me.

“Right?” I said, looking at all of them. “You go as a group, so no pressure, and everyone participates, and then you sit after, eat, drink a little, and chat.”

“What is the name of that?” a beautiful woman asked.

“Perhaps Jory will tell us all after class,” Dr. Riehl suggested.

“I’ll do that,” I assured all of them. “But really, anything but a bar to meet people for Aiden, am I right?”

Everyone agreed.

After the session, I gave everyone the information for Dinner Date, a company that hosted events for couples that I knew about because my business, Harvest Design, had done some work for them. Dr. Riehl, a very kind-looking woman with white hair and an easy smile, thanked me for participating and for caring enough about Aiden to show up.

On our way out, Aiden smiled and put an arm around my neck, pulling me in close. “Thanks for coming, J. I really appreciate it.”

I knew he did, and before I left, I told him that I would invite him for dinner soon.

On the street moments later, headed to get on the L so I could go home, I heard my name called. When I looked around, I saw Aaron Sutter standing beside his car in the rain under an umbrella. I jogged over to him, and when I was close enough, he reached for the lapel of my peacoat and yanked me forward.

“Hi.” I smiled at him, running my hands through my wet hair. “What are you doing here?”

He just stared at me, at my face, absorbing me with his eyes.