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“I’m fine,” he said finally, voice low and calm. “I’ve been checking rentals, and I have a couple apartment complexes I’ll be reaching out to, even though they’re a bit farther away than I’d originally wanted to be. I should have some news by tomorrow night.”

Vini crossed her arms with a huff and looked at him with narrowed eyes. “How far out?”

“About forty-five minutes. Maybe an hour.”

“That’s an expensive drive to do twice a day.” She looked him up and down. “I’m adding a gas allowance to your salary.”

Aiden threw his legs over the side of the cot and leaned toward her. “You don’t have to do that, Vin. I’ll make it work.”

She dropped her arms and leveled a look at him. “I know you will. With the gas allowance. And also—” she started before darting forward and punching him in the shoulder.

Aiden rubbed his arm, even though it didn’t hurt in the slightest. “Ow. What was that for?”

“That was for being a boneheaded man,” she gritted out. She moved again, this time wrapping her arms around his shoulders. Aiden could count on one hand the number of times they’d hugged. Vini wasn’t the most demonstrative person, but he could tell he’d worried her. He wrapped his own arms around her waist and hugged back.

“You don’t always have to carry shit by yourself, Aiden.”

“Okay,” he said, voice soft. Nothing was solved, but in that instance, he felt a little better. By the time the workday started, they were okay, and Aiden resolved not to make Vini worry again.

Thomas’s diner was buzzing at lunch, the hum of voices rising and falling with the familiar rhythm of small-town chatter. The smell of fries floated in the air, making Aiden’s mouth water and his stomach growl. He slid into a booth near the window, nodding at Thomas as he passed by.

“Hey, Aiden. You in for your usual today?”

Aiden nodded. “That and to call you a snitch for ratting me out to Vini.” He smiled to soften his words. “She gave me an earful this morning and essentially grounded me.”

Thomas gave him an unrepentant smile and shrugged. “You never told me it was a secret, plus she would have figured it out eventually. I’m not trying to get on her bad side if she realized I knew and didn’t say anything.”

Aiden didn’t blame him. Vini might have been damn near pocket-sized, but she was vindictive when she wanted to get her lick back.

“Touché,” he conceded.

Thomas shook his head before moving on to a different table. While he waited, Aiden pulled out his phone. He had put in an application to both apartments he’d told Vini about, figuring it was better to quickly see if they had anything available. He was surprised that one of them had already gotten back to him.

He clicked on the message in his inbox, scanning the words before frowning. Rejected. When he read further, his eyes widened. It wasn’t that they didn’t have any availability. It was that his credit report had significant issues.

Unpaid accounts.

Risk too high.

The words didn’t make sense. He hadn’t had any issues when he’d applied for his apartment two years ago. Nothing in his life had changed since then. He was doing the same stuff as always: driving his beat-up but paid-off truck to work and enjoying his paid-off motorcycle on the weekends. He didn’t live an extravagant life, but it was his own. He even was slowly but surely saving to eventually buy a place to further settle into life in Peach Blossom.

When Thomas came back with his food, Aiden forced himself to smile and said his thanks. Truthfully, he wasn’t even hungry anymore. Now he just felt sick. He ate anyway, but his mind was still buzzing with far too many thoughts for him to taste anything. When he was done, he paid, leaving a generous tip, before deciding to make a detour to the library to use a computer there instead of the one at the shop. He couldn’t run the risk of Vini overseeing. He had already worried her enough for the day.

At the library, Aiden made sure to take a computer in the corner, to give himself some privacy. Shame burned through him, though he knew there had to be some kind of mistake. His fingers hovered over the keyboard when he realized he didn’t even know what to look up. After a moment, he remembered that his bank had credit report services he could use and quickly logged on. After some furious clicking, his fingers froze when he found exactly what he was looking for.

What the fuck?

Utilities in his name splashed across the screen along with a cable bill and credit cards he’d never applied for. There was over a year’s worth of charges piled up like Everest. He didn’t remember getting mail for any of this. Sure, he’d occasionally get credit card junk mail promising pre-approval with abysmal APR rates, but he tore those up like most people and never thought of them again. His pulse roared in his ears as he clicked through account after account, each one punching him in the gut. Then, he saw it. He paused again, swallowing hard against the lunch that was trying to reappear.

It was his dad’s name, screaming at him from the screen. His dad’s name was on a credit card as a cosigner. His dad who he hadn’t talked to in months after a blowup over Aiden’s sister, Rowan, who he also hadn’t talked to in quite some time.

Part of why he enjoyed being around Vini’s family was how nice and drama-free they seemed to be. He knew they probably had moments where they blew up at each other, but overall, it was far less drama than he had ever experienced. His family, on the other hand, was a completely different story and not one he enjoyed talking about especially when it came to his mom and the reasons around her death.

With shaking hands, Aiden printed everything out and left the library. Once he was back in his truck, he sighed deeply before reaching for his phone and dialing.

“Aiden. Son, it’s been a while. Are you finally done sulking?” His voice was too damn cheerful for the fury boiling inside Aiden, and he had to swallow hard against the burn in his chest.

“Dad,” he said, keeping his voice even. “We need to talk.”