Shooting Stars

CHAPTER 12

Aria had spent the entire night with Tom.

What had started as one drink at Joe's had somehow turned into hours of wandering through Seattle together, the city quieter and softer in the dark than it ever felt in daylight. They had walked until her feet ached, stopped for greasy late-night food neither of them really needed, laughed over stupid things, and talked about everything that somehow mattered more at two in the morning than it ever did in the middle of the day.

For the first time in what felt like forever, Aria had been able to breathe.

There had been no hospital walls closing in, no Meredith drama, no tension hanging between her and Alex, no feeling like she was holding herself together with sheer force. Just easy conversation, a stranger who didn't really feel like one anymore, and a night where she didn't have to be anyone except herself.

Since she had the day off, and since neither of them seemed quite ready to let go of the calm they'd found in each other's company, they ended up getting lunch together the next day at a quiet little place tucked away from the city noise.

Aria sat across from him, picking at her food, watching him over the rim of her glass.

"You came all this way for a girl?" she asked, one brow lifting slightly.

Tom gave a small smile, almost amused by the way she said it. "You say that like it's nothing."

"I'm just asking."

He looked down for a second, then back at her, and the expression on his face softened into something real. "She's not nothing. She's the one. I know she is."

Aria's smile faded into something gentler. She leaned back slightly in her chair. "Tell me about her."

Tom smiled then, the kind of smile that only happened when someone was talking about a person they loved.

"We were high school sweethearts," he said. "And she was always smarter than everyone around her. Definitely smarter than me." He let out a quiet laugh, shaking his head. "She's got these beautiful green eyes, and every time I see them, I swear I just... fall all over again."

Aria listened quietly, chin resting lightly in her hand.

"She's kind, too," he went on. "Like genuinely kind. Not fake nice. She's the sort of person who makes everyone feel safe, and she never judges anyone. Ever. She just... has this way about her." He paused, his expression dimming. "But she's pregnant. And when she told me, I panicked."

Aria studied him more carefully then. "How come?"

Tom exhaled heavily and looked down at the table, rolling his glass slightly between his hands. "Because my dad was never really there. He'd show up, disappear, show up again. In and out until I was ten, and then one day he just stopped coming back." His jaw tightened. "Didn't see him again until I made it to the majors. Then suddenly he's there, telling me how proud he is to be my father."

Aria's heart twisted.

There was something so familiar about that kind of hurt. The sort you outgrew on the outside, but never really stopped carrying.

"I don't want to be him," Tom said quietly. "I don't want to be the guy who runs because he's scared and then turns up later pretending he didn't miss everything that mattered. But when she said baby, I just..." He gave a hollow laugh. "I guess I didn't know if I was ready. And if I'm not ready, what if I become him anyway?"

Aria was quiet for a moment, letting his words settle.

"I had bad parents too," she said softly. "Not in the same way. But enough to know what it does to a kid when the people meant to love them don't do it right."