•Familia•

Chapter 21: Secret Setup

Aaron POV
After the night of Roni and Nessa's birthday, I can't stop thinking about the number that Jermey gave me. I haven't told Roni, Nessa, Kian, and Alex yet. I think Roni might have heard Jermey and I talking, so she might know. I think I might need her help planning something.

"Babe, can you help me really quick?" I ask her.

"Sure" She says and put Vi back in her play pen. "What do you need help with?"

"Well you might have over heard Jermey and I talking, but if you didn't I'll fill you in"

"I heard. He came in Lauren's place and gave you his number so that he can resolve any problems between he and Alex"

"Right, I haven't told anyone else this"

"Should we?" She asks

"That was one of the things that I needed your help with."

"I think we should let them know that he was there but not tell Alex that we're setting something up"

"Perfect" I say "The other thing that I need your help with is the planning. What do I do?"

"I can handle that" She says. "How about you go and tend to the kids needs and when I start the phone call you can talk to him. Once we finish that we can tell Kian and Nessa"

"Gotcha" I say. I go down and get the kids son juice and some snacks. Before I give it to them Vinny says he has to go potty. I take him. They still wear diapers just in case they have an accident, and they only know how to pee in the potty. I give them their snacks and drinks and turn the tv on for them. They play with their toys and each other. Their in their own little fantasy world. I watch them for awhile then Roni tells me to come up and start the call. I type in the number that Jermey gave me. It rings three times and then he picks up.

"Hello?" He says. He doesn't know my number and that's probably why he's confused.

"Hey, this is Aaron" I say

"Hey Aaron, I'm glad you gave me a call. What's up?"

"Well I was wondering if you would like to meet up with Alex. Veronica, Vanessa, Kian, and I will be there but we will give you guys your space."

"I would love that. I just want to talk things over with him. I know what happened has hurt him and I just want to make sure that he and I are cool." He says. We continue to talk about a meeting spot and time. Once we're all on the same page, I hang up the call and go to tell Kian and Nessa. I call a group meeting.

"Wassup?" Kian says standing in the doorway.

"Come all the way in and close the door behind you" Roni says

"This must be serious"

"What about Alex? Shouldn't we leave the door open for him?" Nessa asks

"That's the point of closing the door" I tell her. It clicks in her mind and she clicks the door closed.

"Ok. At the restaurant the night of the twins dinner, the person I was talking to was Jermey. He came in place of Lauren" I say

"That littl-" Kian says under his breath.

"Don't worry, Lauren told him to come. She was being petty, not him." I say. I don't think that made it any better.

"At least he has morals" Nessa says, trying to look on the bright side of things.

"Once I figured out who it was, I politely told him that he had to leave. I didn't want to ruin anyone's night. He apologized and said that he wouldn't want to ruin anyone's night either. He said that he had told Lauren that it was a bad idea. He was nice about it. Before he left he gave me his phone number to see if it was possible to sort things out with Alex"

"Cool, He's polite. What did you do with the number?" Kian responds to the news.

"We planned a meeting spot and date. He agreed with it. We wanted you guys to be in the same page as us so you wouldn't be lost. The one person that can't find out is Alex, so keep your mouth shut" Roni says

"Don't day anything about it around the kids because we all know they like to repeat stuff" I say

"Can do" Nessa says

"My lips are sealed" Kian says

"We should probably get out of her so we don't seem suspicious" Roni says

"Very true" Nessa says. We all come out a resume back to our regular duties. Passing by Alex is hard because I know that I'm keeping a secret from him. I rarely keep secrets from my brother, but I know him all to well. I know that if he finds out, he's not going to be open minded when it comes time to meet Jermey. It's best just to keep it away from him. A secret being kept for a few days can't hurt, right?

After my self conscious gets the best of me, I know I have go at least hint something at him. I tell him to mark the date that we have set up on his calendar. I don't want him to have something to do on that day. It would ruin the whole plan.

"Actually I have something planned two days after that" He says when I tell him.

"What is it?" I ask. Everyone stops what they're doing to listen. That's totally not suspicious at all.

"I'm taking the kids to Canada" He says. We all look at each other and at him. "Don't give me they look, just because Lauren and I aren't together anymore doesn't mean the kids can't see their grandparents" he says "I've already planned it out and I doubt that Lauren is there right now"

"You have more strength then I" I say and pat his back. "There's a huge chance that Lauren's up there. She had to have a little get away"

"I can't live my life running away from her. That would be horrible and that would make me just like her" He says. I want to spill it all when he says that, but I keep quiet and wait for the secret setup.