A few hours later, I get a text. Aiden is downstairs and I buzz him in. I meet him at the front door and he gives me a big kiss on the lips. It sends shivers down my spine and I revel in the total feeling of adoration and love. When we finally pull away from one another, I catch a glance of us in the hallway mirror. He has his strong arms wrapped tightly around my shoulders. His eyes are cast down a bit and a few strands of hair fall in his face. He licks his lips and flashes me a smile.

“What ya staring at, beautiful?”

“You.”

Aiden tilts my body back and runs his fingers down my neck and over the top of my breasts as he kisses me behind the ear.

A few moments later, I suddenly catch myself and pull away from him.

“What’s wrong?”

“No, nothing,” I say. That’s not entirely true. “Well, the thing is that Caroline’s in her room. And I don’t want her to come out and see us…”

I don’t really know why I don’t want her to see us. But Aiden fills in the blank.

“Yes, that would be difficult for her.”

I smile at him. We have not known each other for very long and yet he already knows what I’m thinking. Is this really happening?

“So, shall we?” Aiden asks, taking me by the hand. I squeeze it and follow him into the living room.

No fancy night out tonight. No high heels or short black dresses. No suit for Aiden.

“We have quite a glamorous affair planned for tonight, don’t we?” I ask, as I open the drawer with all the takeout menus.

Aiden laughs as he plops himself in front of the television.

“An evening spent in our pajamas, vegetating on the couch?”

“Vegetating?” he asks.

“You know, like Cher from Clueless called it? Being still like vegetables.” I say.

“Wow, now that’s a blast from the past.”

We order some Thai food from my favorite place around the corner and flip on Netflix to try to find the perfect complement to their amazing stir fry ginger dish and yellow curry. Ten minutes later, when the food arrives, Aiden and I fight over who is going to cover the bill. Finally, he gives in. I recognize that this is a small victory, but I’m glad to take whatever I can get.

“Caroline?” I knock on her door. “We got a lot of Thai food. Do you want to come out and have some?”

I don’t hear a response for a few moments. “No thanks,” she says after a while through the door.

“Can I bring you some in there then? You haven’t had much to eat today.”

“No thanks.”

I look back at Aiden who just shrugs his shoulders and digs in. He knows that there isn’t much we can do to make her eat or feel better unless she lets us. But I have a much harder time accepting this fact.

“Okay, fine,” I finally give in and plop onto the couch next to Aiden. He picks some crime thriller on Netflix and I agree to watch it because my mind is elsewhere. I’m really worried about Caroline and I hate feeling this helpless. Whenever there’s a problem I like to take the initiative. I’m not someone who wallows for long. But then again, I’ve never been through anything like Caroline experienced.

“She just needs time,” Aiden says. “It’s going to take a bit for her to process everything.”

“Yes, I know. You’re right. Of course, you’re right.”

As Aiden turns his attention to his fried wontons and the movie, I pull out my phone. My mind is going a mile a minute and somehow scrolling through meaningless stuff online makes it slow down. Maybe not slow down exactly, but at least distract me somewhat.

My guilty pleasure is the juicy gossip sites about celebrities. I hate to admit it, but I love looking at the pictures of the pregnancy and birth announcements. I love reading about how so and so lost twenty pounds and who is dating who now. I’m not proud of it, but that’s why it’s a guilty pleasure, right?

“Oh my God,” I say, nearly dropping my phone. The image that pops up onto the screen makes me jump out of my seat. I look closer to make sure that my eyes aren’t deceiving me.

“This can’t be real,” I mumble.

Aiden is too engrossed in the action on screen to pay much attention to me.

“Aiden,” I say slowly. “Look.”

It takes him a few moments to pull himself away from the television.

“What?” he asks, absentmindedly.

I hand him the phone. He looks at the screen and then at me. And then back to the screen.

“What is this?”

“The Daily Dish,” I say.

“No, I mean, why are there pictures of us here?”

“I don’t know,” I whisper.

But it’s as clear as day, there are two pictures of us. In the first, we are walking hand in hand together from a restaurant. By the outfit, I know that it was taken before we went to Maine. And in the second, Aiden is kissing me under a tree.

“Is this one from the party?” Aiden asks.

“Yes, I think so.”

“So, someone at the Warrenhouse party took a picture of us and sold it to this trash mag?”

It definitely looks like it. But why? I mean, who the hell am I to be in a gossip magazine? And even Aiden? I mean, he runs a big company, but he isn’t a celebrity. At least, not in any real way. Right?

“I don’t understand why we’re here at all. I mean, who cares?”

“Well, with my business blowing up in a very public way, I guess people are much more interested in me than they used to be.”

Of course. Man, am I an idiot. I completely forgot. Aiden Black is a public figure. And even though he was never really in that many gossip magazines before, except maybe on Page Six, when he was seen with a particular socialite, now that Owl is in trouble, there’s much more fodder for gossip.

Before I even have a few minutes to process any of this, my phone lights up. It’s my mom. I press ignore and turn off my phone. A voicemail appears a minute later. It’s then quickly followed by a succession of texts.

---

Where are you?

I just saw your picture in the Daily Dish.

---

You’re seeing Aiden Black?

---

Why didn’t you tell me?

---

Ellie, answer the phone!

---

Shit, I had forgotten that I got my love for gossip magazines from none other than my own mother.

“Who is that?” Aiden asks.

“My mom. She saw the article too.”

“Answer it,” he says, absentmindedly.

“The thing is that I never told her about us,” I say. My mouth can’t keep up with my thoughts as I start to slur my words in an effort to get everything out at once. “Not yet. I mean, you asked me to marry you so suddenly and now it seems like a big secret, but it’s really not.”

Aiden shrugs. “It’s no big deal. I didn’t tell anyone either.”

“So, what should I do now?”

“I guess, you should tell her that you are seeing me. I mean, what’s the point of lying now?”

“You’re right. Of course, you’re right,” I nod.

I take a deep breath and pick up the phone. “Mom?”

---

***

To say that my mom is freaking out over seeing my picture in the Daily Dish would be the understatement of a lifetime. She is over the moon. She wants to know all the details. Where did I meet Aiden? How long have we been together? What is he like? And, most importantly, why didn’t I tell her?

I don’t really have any good answers to any of this, so I decide to be as vague as possible. We met at a party that Caroline invited me to. It was on a yacht, but I don’t mention the auction. He’s wonderful, of course, but I don’t mention that we are engaged quite yet. That can wait until we meet in person. Why didn’t I tell her? Because I wasn’t sure where it was going and I wasn’t ready to talk about it quite yet.

“Well, you absolutely have to invite him over for dinner,” Mom says after listening very carefully. “We must meet him as soon as possible.”

“Mom…” I start to say.

“Don’t Mom me,” she says sternly. “You kept the biggest story of the year from me and I had to find out about you dating a billionaire in an online magazine!”

“I’m not sure about it being the biggest story of the year.”

“It is for me!”

“Okay, I’ll give you that,” I say.

“So, I can give you a choice of dates. This Wednesday or Thursday.”

“Wednesday is tomorrow!” I protest.

“And Thursday is the day after. I’m glad that Ivy League education is finally paying off.”

She can’t see me, but I’m rolling my eyes.

“Okay, hold on,” I say, putting my hand over the bottom of the phone.

“My mom wants us to come over for dinner,” I whisper. “Tomorrow or the day after. I can try to postpone it until next week, but that will probably be it.”

Aiden looks up at me. “Tomorrow is fine,” he says with a shrug.

“Really?”

“Yeah, why not? I’d love to meet your parents.”