Can You Keep a Secret?

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Jenny surveyed the street again, wondering when Aidan would be arriving. He had promised her all week that he would be on time for a change but she hadn’t believed him. That seemed to be happening a lot lately – her not believing him. But that was hardly her fault, she hadn’t seen him for months. She straightened the curtains again, grabbing her phone to make sure she hadn’t missed a text. Nothing. She swallowed the disappointment and threw the phone onto the sofa.

“You okay Jenny?” Jess called from the kitchen, pots and pans banging. “Talk to me, I can feel you stressing out.”

“It’s nothing,” Jenny muttered, mooching into the kitchen. “He’s just a little late.” She didn’t like to talk to Jess about it because she knew how Jess felt about Aidan. But the feeling that everything was slipping beyond her grasp was overwhelming. “What time is Alex getting here?”

“Half an hour. But you know, if you need me, I can cancel. Alex would understand.”

“Oh come on, Alex would be so upset if you cancelled. And so would you. It’s fine, I just…it’s nothing. Listen, when did Dad want us to visit again?” Jenny was rambling, eyes restlessly flicking to the door every couple of moments. Jess rolled her eyes.

“Look, I know you think I don’t like Aidan,” she began but Jenny just shot her a look. “Okay, so I don’t like Aidan. But I know how you feel about him. I’m not stupid. He’s just…I mean, look at me and Alex. He makes me happy and you like him. Aidan doesn’t make you happy Jenny. In fact, I’d go so far as to say he makes you miserable.”

Jenny was about to answer when there came a rap on the door and they both started. She felt a little ball of worry tighten in her stomach. She had seen this coming for weeks, an argument with Aidan but she hadn’t known when. She had tried to waylay it, tried to fix their relationship but nothing seemed to work. When she tried to make him visit, he seemed to pull away more.

When she opened the door, her heart ached. He hadn’t changed a bit in the months since he had left, his hair still a shocking blonde and eyes a striking blue. He was well built, his biceps bulging out of the jacket he was wearing and his jeans hanging comfortably on narrow hips. She tried to smile at him but felt the way her stomach dropped and couldn’t hide it.

“Hey babe,” he drawled, smiling at her beatifically. “Going to let me in? Or do you want to go grab a drink somewhere?”

“I…come in. We need to talk and I’d rather do it in private.” Jenny ushered him in and shouted to Jess that they were going to be up in her room. Once the door was shut and locked, Aidan pulled her into an embrace and pressed a kiss onto her lips. She resisted for a moment and then melted in his arms. She couldn’t help herself, he made her feel so wanted. But when his hands started roaming she broke away.

“What’s wrong?” he whispered, hands still groping for bare skin. “Come on Jenny, I know you want to, why don’t we just…Christ,” he muttered and pulled away abruptly. She shivered but didn’t go after him. Something needed to give but it wasn’t going to be her. “Every time, every freaking time, we start to get closer, you shut me off. Do you know how frustrating that is? Do you know how absolutely infuriating it is to want something as badly as this and then get shut out?”

“I don’t know, Aidan, infuriating enough that you went looking somewhere else for it? I told you, I’m not ready. You knew that we weren’t going to be doing anything, especially since you live so far away. But hey, I guess that didn’t matter. Who’s Melissa?”

“Jesus, Jenny, I told you, Mel’s just a girl from my school. She studies with my group and we hang out sometimes. It’s not whatever you’re thinking.”