Finding Home in Redemption

Chapter Five

Pop woke me up earlier than I'd planned, explaining that he needed to have a talk with me. I wasn't looking forward to being reprimanded, but I sat and listened anyway.

After an hour of arguing over my stupidity, I agreed to be more careful, and he promised he'd not look at Aaron like a villain unless he did something that deserved it. I wouldn't entirely call it a win since he still thought I'd made a mistake by being so vulnerable with a stranger in my home, but I took it anyway.

When Pop left, I got ready and headed to the diner. No matter what my father said, I was excited about having a real conversation with Aaron again. When I walked in, he was already sitting at a table, and the crew was wide-eyed and confused.

"Hey, guys!" I said, giving them all a little wave. "I'm going to be having breakfast with Aaron in here today." I didn't know how it was possible, but Sylvia's eyes got a little wider.

"Aaron?" she mouthed the question. I smiled and nodded to her.

"Good morning," he said when I got to the table. "I'm not sure why but no one's come over yet. I've only been here a few minutes though."

I handed him his bag of clothes he'd forgotten the night before and turned to get Sylvia's attention. I waved her over, but they were all still staring. Shaking my head, I laughed and said, "I think you broke them."

She finally arrived at the table to take our order and hurried away. If it hadn't been strange, I probably would have been bouncing in my seat a bit. Breakfast inside was Aaron's idea, but I'd been secretly nervous that he would have gone back to sleeping all day; forgetting I existed.

"Thanks for bringing me my things, I completely forgot about them last night after you hit your head," he gave me an apologetic smile. "So, how do you feel?"

"I feel great," I replied. "My bump went away for the most part."

"That's good! I'm glad." We sat in silence until Sylvia brought our food and we dug in.

"So, there's something I wanted to talk to you about," he said, pushing his plate aside when he finished.

"Okay, shoot," I stated before taking another bite of my pancake.

"I want you to stop buying me things. Food, deodorant, all of it." I choked on the bite I had just swallowed. I was not expecting that.

"Um," I paused for what felt like forever. "Why? Did I do something?"

"No, you didn't do anything. I just can't let you do this anymore. I've let it go on for too long."

"How will you eat?" I asked, feeling like my heart was breaking.

"The same way I did before you; when I can. You can't worry about that. I can take care of myself, I promise. I just can't have you buying things for me all the time."

"Do I annoy you or something?"

"Sure, if that's what's going to make you stop then, yes."

That hurt.

"Did you even have somewhere to be last night, or am I that unbearable that you made something up?" I asked. I was still curious about his whereabouts, but I was also wounded and wanted to understand what was happening.

"I did have somewhere to be. This isn't about you being unbearable; I shouldn't have said that. Last night I was willing to miss something I needed to do so I could make sure you were okay. I only left because your father arrived. I just can't let you spend any more money on me. I owe you too much as it is."

"Is that what this is about?" I asked, getting angry. "You think I want you to pay me back? I already told you I don't expect you to so why is this a problem? I'm just helping someone that needs it!"