Flirting With Destiny: Aedyn Book 1

Chapter 8

Aedyn 

I looked out the window at the Hometown Reality sign swinging in the light summer breeze in the front yard. My father's house had been left to me in his will, but I didn't want it. It had once held pleasant childhood memories, but then my mother was diagnosed with brain cancer. At that point, everything in my life became divided into before the cancer and after. Everything changed, especially my dad.

I pushed the curtain aside as I noticed Aunt Melissa's car pull into the driveway. It was simple and gray, just like this town. Watching her step out of that dull car was like the sunshine on a cloudy day. Everywhere she went, she brought happiness and light. At least for me she did. She was my one saving grace after my mother passed away. 

 I threw the front door open even before her foot hit the first porch step. 

"Aunt Melissa." We embraced and she smiled her special smile at me. Her hugs were like the smell of freshly baked bread. "Come in." 

As she stepped into the living room, she said, "Aedyn Dell Cumberland, this place is a mess." 

She was right. There were cardboard packing boxes strewn about the room, some half-filled and others waiting to do their job.

She sighed dramatically. "I can't believe you don't want to stay and live in this house in lovely Granger, Iowa." 

She gave me a crooked smile; she knew this small town held no allure for me. I had my life in Chicago. I was the owner of a million dollar corporation; I lived in an upscale apartment in downtown and had no attachments. I could party with whomever I wanted, wherever I wanted and whenever I wanted and that's the way I liked it. 

Damn. I wished I was partying now; a nice shot of coke would feel good as hell at the moment. I didn't bring any with me, didn't expect to be here this long. Plus, I only allowed myself that special treat on the weekends. 

"You know I can't do that. I have my life in Chicago." 

"I know, sweetie, just yanking your chain. Anyone special there? Any girl who has ahold of your heart strings? I'm not getting any younger, I want to be a grand-aunt someday." 

I rolled my eyes. "My job is my love and my lady." I lied. I didn't have the heart to tell her I preferred to be unattached, or the balls to tell her I preferred several ladies attached to me at the same time. 

I didn't want to burst her bubble of me being a good guy, or maybe such a common guy. I didn't like being viewed as ordinary. The average life wasn't for me anymore and I didn't want to be anyone's knight in shining armor either. Truth was, when it came to matters of the heart, I was broken. 

 Everything had happened so fast and life was so crazy when Mom died. I should have been having the kind of senior year in high school that made memories for the rest of my life. Instead, the girl I adored rejected me at the same time I lost my mother. I often wondered if it was the melding of those two emotionally jarring events that somehow left me damaged. 

She walked over to the window and threw back the dark curtains, letting in the sunlight of the day. "Well, I'm glad you finally came home to grace us with your presence, even if it took your father's funeral to get you back here." 

I tucked my chin to my chest. I almost hadn't come. My first reaction on hearing the news was to say, "So what." I wasn't surprised by it; he had been drinking for years. "When you called, I almost told you to just have the state bury him. What'd he ever do for us?" 

"I know, Aedyn," she said with a placating look. 

"She was your sister and he was mean to her in the end. Why do you even care?"