Chapter Twenty-two
The evening had started out on a happy note. When he and Tommy arrived in town, they headed straight for Gino’s Bar, a local watering hole for anyone who had a few cents to throw down for a little rest and relaxation.
Jerry Glass and Mike Foster were already there. He and Tommy pulled up two more chairs to the crowded table and ordered beers. The group of friends laughed, joked, and talked. One beer led to another, and soon Aidan was feeling the effects. Gino Demotto had blacked out the bar’s windows to keep unwanted wives and law enforcement from quashing the working man’s fun, so Aidan had no idea what time of day it was. Every time he tried to ask Gino the time, Tommy ordered another round of beers. Jerry and Mike chimed in. "What's your rush, the old ball and chain got you on a time schedule?" They would all laugh and poke him in the ribs. Aidan was finding it less and less funny with each jab.
Jerry brought out a deck of cards and dealt a hand of poker. No one had any real money to speak of, so they played for matchsticks. The player with the most matchsticks didn't pay for his beer.
Conversation drifted from player to player, everyone catching up on what they’d been up to since his wedding.
They played poker for a couple of hours. Aidan hadn’t eaten anything, and the beer was starting to fog up his brain. He needed to go home, and if Tommy didn’t want to drive him, he’d catch a ride with anyone headed in that direction.
The door opened and closed from time to time, patrons coming in and going out. He didn’t pay any attention until Tommy stood and hollered across the room. "Beth! Beth Chaplin! When did you get into town?"
It took Aidan more than a minute to realize the girl of his dreams was walking toward the table. And looking as good as ever. He stood to greet her. The movement caused his head spin. She reached out to steady him. Her touch sent him in to a tailspin, but the sound of her voice punched him hard in the chest.
"Whoa, there, handsome. You look a little unsteady on your feet. I'm sorry I'm late, but my mother spent the last two hours reminding me I'm still not married, and she still has no grandchildren."
"Late?” Aidan's brain grasped hold of the word but was having a problem making sense of it. The shock of seeing Beth again muddled his soggy brain.
Tommy stood and gave her his chair. "Here, Beth. Sit right here. Next to Aidan." Tommy pushed him back in his seat and stood behind his chair. Before he had a chance to ask Beth what she meant about being late, Tommy took over the conversation.
"So, Beth, how have you been? You look great. Doesn't she look great, Aidan?" Tommy prodded.
The other guys nodded in agreement. Aidan nodded his agreement too. She did look great. Her willowy shape hadn't changed one bit since he had seen her last time. It had been sometime last year when she came to visit her mom in New Dawn Springs.
"How long you in town for, Beth?"
Again, Tommy with the questions. You would think he was interested in her. It would make sense. Beth was a city girl. And she dressed nice. Smelled nice. She would fit right in with Tommy's world. The thought should have made him angry—but it didn’t. Before he could analyze his feelings, he realized Beth was speaking to him.
"So, Aidan, Tommy here tells me you tied the knot. With a Jackson. I thought you had some kind of feud with them. What happened?"
Tommy answered for him. "Yeah, Sully and Harvey Jackson arranged to marry off their kids to one another to save their lands from the bank. Ain't that a dirty deal for a parent to do to their kid?"
Beth turned her face to him and leaned into him. "Aidan, how could you? I thought you were going to wait for me?" she whispered, inches from his face. He could feel her breath feathering his cheek. Suddenly, Aidan was very uncomfortable.
He shot Tommy a look that left no doubt what he thought about his friend making his private affairs the subject of public gossip. He would talk to Tommy about that on the way home.
"That's not exactly what happened." Aidan found himself defending his parents. And Maura.
"Then tell us. How did it happen you ended up married to that Jackson girl?" All the guys leaned in to hear his story.
What could he say? It started out that way, but somewhere along the way, he got to know Maura and what a good person she was. It was unseemly to be talking about his wife to an ex-lover and a crowd of men drinking beer in a bar.
"I'll admit, at first, it was a strictly business arrangement—"
"Yeah, but I added a new paragraph to the contract before his dad and Harvey signed it. Now, he can leave anytime he wants, and he gets to keep her land."
Bernie leaned forward. "You are gonna steal your wife's family's land? That doesn't seem right, Aidan."
This conversation was getting way out of hand. "Shut up, Tommy. Again, that's not the way it happened."
"Well, however it happened, Aidan was looking for a way out. Now that you are back in town, Beth, you can talk some sense into our boy here."
Tommy looked up, and Aidan watched his friend's expression change to unbridled joy. "Hey, there's someone I need to talk to. Beth, mind keeping Aidan company? I'll be back in five minutes tops."
Before Aidan could follow Tommy's line of sight, Beth scooted Tommy's chair closer and leaned into him. "Aidan, I know Tommy can be obnoxious at times, but he has a point. You don't want to be married to someone you—aren't attracted to. You remember us, don't you, Aidan? We had a definite attraction to each other. It's still there, I can see it in your eyes." She reached under the table and placed her hand on his knee.
His brain was soggy, but he wasn't drunk. He knew what she was doing. He just wasn't sure what Tommy was doing. Beth was late because Tommy arranged this little meeting. But why, when he knew he was married?
He removed Beth's hand from his leg. "You don't understand, Beth. Things have changed since you left town. And, Tommy has no right sharing my business. And he doesn't know what he's talking about."
Aidan stood to leave.
"Hey, hey, brother. Where are you going? The night is young." Jerry hollered from the pool table in the corner.
"I've got to go home. Work in the morning." Aidan stood, but the lack of food and too many beers made him wobbly on his feet. He tipped backwards into his chair with a thud.
"See, Aidan? You can't leave. The party is just getting started."
"Beth, I—"
"Tommy told me you weren't happy. You were looking for a way out of this arrangement. Was he lying?"
Beth was the woman he thought himself in love with. He had pined for her when she left town. Left him. But now she was back looking for a new beginning. Did he want that?
"Aidan? Was Tommy lying about you? Is it too late for us?" Beth leaned in to him and kissed him full on the lips.
He talked around her lips. "Maura is a good person. She's hard-working. And smart. And…and—"
"Aidan. You make her sound like a Girl Scout. Not a wife. And certainly not a woman. Not like me, Aidan. Not like us."
Beth stood and pulled him to the dance floor. "Dance with me, Aidan. For old times’ sake."
He let her pull him to the middle of the floor surrounded by tables. She moved into his arms, and she felt—familiar. And yet he was uncomfortable. They swayed to the music, Beth pressing against him from knees to chest. Her breasts pushing into him. He should feel something. After all, it was Beth. His Beth. She had come back for him after all this time.
But with sudden clarity, he realized—he didn't feel anything for her at all. Beth was a beautiful woman. And he had pined for her the last eight years when she left him to follow her dreams. Dreams that didn't include him. And now she was here. Wanting him to take her back. And he felt absolutely—nothing.
“Aidan, talk to me." Her head on his shoulder; she whispered into his neck. "Tell me what you want. Better yet, take me somewhere private. Somewhere we can be together." Her hands roamed his back. Then lower.
"Beth…I'm not sure what's going on tonight, and I can only imagine what kind of crap Tommy has told you, but the truth is, I just came tonight to meet my buddies, have a few beers, and go home to my wife."
Aidan stepped back and looked at the woman he thought of so often. Beautiful Beth. His Beth. But she was a stranger to him now.
"But, Aidan, Tommy said you were forced to get married, and you only did it to save your family legacy or some such nonsense."
"Beth—" He pulled her hands away from his body and dropped them to her side. "Tommy had no business involving you in this. And he's wrong. Dead wrong. I'm a married man now and quite frankly, I'd like to stay that way. I'll admit it didn't start out as a love match, but—I have feelings for her. I think we have a chance at a good life. A happy life. I don't want to mess that up, Beth. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
She hesitated for a moment. And then she smiled. "I understand more than you know, Aidan. I realized only too late I missed my chance with you. When I heard you got married, I was crushed. I guess, in my own self-centered way, I thought you'd wait for me to come home. When you didn't, I convinced myself you were a very unhappily married man. And then Tommy called me and played on those regrets. He told me everything I wanted to hear, and he begged me to come back and rescue you. I can see now none of it was true. It’s obvious by the way your eyes light up when you talk about your wife, you have fallen in love with her. You don’t need rescuing, do you, Aidan?"
"No, I don’t. And thank you, Beth, for understanding. I'm sorry Tommy brought you back to New Dawn Springs under false pretenses. I'll take care of Tommy later. Right now, I need to get home to my wife.”
Beth hugged him and kissed him on the cheek. "Go on. Get out of here before I realize what a mistake I'm making by letting you go. Again."