Enjoy,
...
He was lying on the couch in the living room, having a morning coffee and looking at the many different cakes Celine had sent him. They were going to choose one together for their wedding.
He heard the doorbell ring, so he sat on the couch and rubbed his numb arms. Then he went to open the door.
"Veronica?" he said, surprised to see Mrs. Garcia in front of him at that early hour in the morning.
"May I ask you for a favor?" His father's wife said, standing in front of him while looking at him in a way that he realized it was very important; he nodded and opened the door wide for her, "Sure, come on in."
They were both sitting across from each other in the living room. Aiden had his elbows on his lap and was rubbing his hands together. He was looking at the woman, who was silent.
She was staring at every corner of the house as if she was thinking of how to choose her words.
"Coffee?" he asked. She shook her head in denial. "No, it's okay; it'll be a quick visit."
The young man nodded slowly and didn't say anything while he waited for her to start talking. Then she said, "I'm going to ask you directly. Are you and your friend Taylor close friends? Can you invite him to your apartment?"
Aiden raised his eyebrows, confused. "Uh, how do you know Taylor? And why are you interested in our friendship, whether it's strong or not? I just don't understand."
"I know this might be a strange question to ask you, but I need to be sure about something," she replied, and he became even more confused. "What do you want to know?"
She took a deep breath and said, "I can't find anyone better than you to help me. I just want you to invite him to your house tonight, and I'll be there. I want to ask him some questions."
She suddenly stopped to swallow, and he kept staring at her intently.
She started rubbing her hands together and said, "I'm trying to discover if he is my son or not."
She put a strand of her hair behind her ear, a sad and excited expression mixed on her face. "Since I first saw him, I couldn't stop thinking about him; it's driving me crazy, and I want to relieve my overthinking."
A heavy silence fell over the room as Aiden tried to process what he had just heard: first, that she was having another child with Ashley, and second, that it was his friend Taylor. She surprised him when she held his hands tightly and said, "I know you're probably in shock and confused right now, and I'm feeling the same. Can I trust you?"
He kept looking at her big eyes for a moment and then asked, "Does anyone else know about this? I mean, about you having another kid."
She shook her head and said, "No, you're the first one to know."
"Wow," he said, smiling, as he ran his fingers through his messy hair. He stood up from the couch, put his hands in the pockets of his wide pants, and then addressed her, "I'm not going to ask you why you kept it a secret or what happened in the past, but I'm going to help you."
She quickly stood in front of him, a grateful smile on her face. "Thanks, Aiden."
"But I don't want you to be upset if what you're expecting doesn't happen, alright?" He said, she shook her hand in denial, "Don't worry."
...
"Nice!" said Taylor with a stunned look on his face as he discovered Aiden's apartment for the first time. "This is fancy." He added, then narrowed his eyes as he smiled a little, "It's too expensive for a simple cop. Do you have another job in secret?"
"Nah," Aiden said, barely laughing. He was in the living room, putting his hands in his pockets and looking at Taylor without saying a word. His smile quickly faded.
Taylor sat on the couch, relaxed, with his arms spread out on the back of the couch and smiled, "So, what's the occasion?"
Aiden gave a shrug and said, smiling, "Nothing. Do I need a reason to invite my friends?"
"Did you have dinner? Because I didn't?" he asked.
"Not yet," Taylor replied.
"Cool, then I'm going to make some food for us. Do you like pasta"? Aiden asked, then headed towards the kitchen. After getting the answer, he added, smiling, "I'm a good cooker, by the way."
He went into the kitchen, leaned his back against the marble counter, and took out his phone from his pants pocket to send her a short message.
"Can I help you with something? I'm a good cook too," Taylor smiled as he suddenly walked into the kitchen, startling Aiden, who put his phone on the counter and nervously rubbed his neck as if he had committed a crime. "Yeah, yeah, come in!"
"Where do you keep the pasta?" Taylor asked, looking at the kitchen cabinets as he put his hands on his waist.
"There, on the left," Aiden pointed with his index finger. "He's going to be mad. He's going to kill me." He said to himself while watching Taylor take the pasta pocket from the cabinet and put it on the counter. His eyes suddenly fell on Aiden's phone screen when it lit up with a message: (I'm on my way.)
He turned his head toward Aiden slowly, his eyebrows raised, and asked, "Are you waiting for another guest?"
"What? No," Aiden replied, a slight smile playing on his face. He was looking at every corner except his friend's face, which made it strange for Taylor. He furrowed his eyebrows in surprise. Why did he lie to him? It was just a sample question, and he wouldn't mind sharing dinner with a third person.
"Okay," Taylor said as he went to the fridge and opened it, ignoring what had just happened. "What do we have here?"
...
"Here we go," Aiden said, putting the pot of pasta on the kitchen table. The doorbell rang as soon as he did, and he widened his eyes and took out the kitchen gloves.
"I will open the door," Taylor said and was startled when Aiden suddenly grabbed his arm. "It's okay, I will; just stay here and set the table," he smiled broadly.
"Alright," Taylor said in a low voice, looking at his friend with a confused look on his face as he rushed out of the kitchen.
He took a deep breath before opening the door, and there she was, standing in front of him. Her eyes were bright, and she looked happy but also scared to face the truth. He saw that she was looking intently inside the apartment. He looked behind him and saw Taylor standing a few steps away with a confused expression on her face.
Aiden tried to smile, but it didn't look very natural as he opened the door wide for her. "Come in, Veronica. We were about to have dinner. Come and join us!"
She nodded while smiling a little.
...
The three of them sat down at the kitchen table, Taylor next to his friend and in front of Veronica, who was looking at her plate without feeling like eating.
"Taylor, this is my dad's wife, Veronica. This is my friend," Aiden said, trying to make everyone feel comfortable, even though he knew he'd never really be able to.
"Nice to meet you, madam," Taylor said with a smile. He remembered Ashley from the restaurant, where she had told him about her mother. He never expected that the guest Aiden was waiting for would be his father's wife.
"My pleasure, Taylor," she said, smiling warmly, but her long, strange stare made Taylor nervous. He coughed before taking the fork. Then, Aiden suddenly said as he stood up from his chair, "I forgot to buy something very important!"
"I'm heading to the store real quick, so please start without me," he added before leaving the kitchen. Then, they heard the apartment door close.
He stopped in the middle of the corridor, his back against the wall, wiping his face with both hands. "Why did I get myself involved with this?" he sighed deeply. "I could've set up another place, except for my house."
"I was trying not to make things obvious, but all I did was the exact opposite!"
"What if he got hurt too? What if Veronica was hasty?"
"What should I do?" He rubbed his hands together nervously, staring at the floor. He had no idea what was going on inside his apartment, and he hoped it would be over quickly.
...
She was trying to have a conversation with him and get to know more about him without making him feel uncomfortable. She smiled and asked, "You look like someone I knew from a long time ago."
He raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Oh, really?"
She nodded and took a deep breath before saying, "Yes, my old friend, his name was Daniel Madison." She kept silent as she tried to read his features, and they were clearly shocked. He asked her, seeming very interested in the conversation, "You know my father?"
"This is great," he said, smiling. He was happy to finally find someone who could tell him more about his dead father. They had never really had time to share; he had lost him when he was only nine years old.
She looked really shocked as she stared at the guy with wide eyes. He, in turn, looked a bit confused as he raised his eyebrows. She got up from her chair and slowly walked over to him.
"What's wrong? Why are you staring at me like that?" He spoke in a low voice before standing up.
"Oh my God..." That's what the woman said before lifting her hand to stroke the back of her neck. Her pale face made Taylor worry, so he helped her onto the couch in the living room since her legs could no longer support her.
She was resting her elbows on her lap and covering her face with her hands. She stayed like that for a moment before Taylor leaned on his knees in front of her and said, "You want to see a doctor? You don't look well, ma'am."
She took her hands away from her face and didn't say anything. She just stared at him, and then she put her hand on his cheek.
That moment gave her heart new life, and the smile that had been missing for years came back to revive her body, which had been exhausted by the bitterness of longing for a piece of her. She said, "Marrying your dad was the best thing that ever happened to me."
She smiled as she said, "Taylor, I'm your mom," and a tear dropped down her cheek.
She was silent, waiting for a reaction from the young man, unable to put the pieces of the puzzle together in his mind, lost in his conflicting thoughts, trying to absorb her words that had touched his soul and press on a wound that had not yet healed.
"You what?" He spoke in a quiet voice, mirroring the incomprehensible emotions resonating within him, and she nodded slowly, a smile lingering on her lips. "Yes, it's me; I'm the one who gave you that name, darling."
She moved closer to him, hugging him tight to extinguish the flames of her longing for him, crying.
But he gently pulled her away from him, took her hands in his, and said, "Ma'am, you must've misunderstood. My mother's name was Scarlett, and my father never married again."
"No, your dad didn't tell you the truth; not one of them did. Let me explain!" She cut him off and tightened her grip on his wrists, as if afraid he would slip through her fingers again now that she had finally found him.
"They lied to you on purpose just to keep you away from me." She kept going, but her voice was shaking, and tears were rolling down her cheeks, wetting the hands of the young man, who shook his head in denial, refusing to believe her, or rather, not believing her from the beginning.
He cupped her face with his hands, trying to comfort her as he thought in his mind. "Mrs. Garcia, listen to me. I told you, it's just a misunderstanding. You're making me feel guilty because you think I'm your son, and I'm sorry for making you get your hopes up that way."
He smiled gently at her before removing his hands from her face and getting ready to leave, but her words made him stop, and he furrowed his eyebrows as he listened to her words that came from the depths of her heart.
"Taylor Madison, born on September 24th; his mother didn't like peaches, but when she got pregnant with him, her heart craved peaches. But it was too late, and he got a tiny birthmark on his back."
He turned to look at her again, and they both continued to stare at each other in tense silence. Then he walked over and stood in front of her, swallowing hard, and his eyes began to fill with tears.
"If you're really my mom like you say, why'd you leave me? Why didn't you show up in my life? Where were you when I needed you the most? Do you have any answers for me? Do you?"
His tone made it clear he was shaken by the last sentence, which broke his mother's heart, then he continued, wiping away his tears, "You have no idea what I suffered in your absence. Don't you know that my childhood was like hell? While the other kids were playing and having fun, I was always playing the role of a responsible big brother. On top of that, I had no one to take care of me or make me feel better when I was crying every night. And you just show up out of nowhere and hug me like nothing happened."
He bit his lower lip so hard that it swelled up, stopping his tears from falling, but he couldn't do it.
He wiped his wet cheek with the sleeve of his jacket, smiled, and moved his face closer to hers, pronouncing each letter sarcastically. "You weren't around to heal the wounds you just reopened. What did you expect? Was I supposed to run into your arms and call you Mom? And let's be real, my dad never mentioned you to me. So don't call yourself a mom, because I won't acknowledge your existence, because my real mother is Scarlett."
He said his hurtful words to her before staring at her for a moment and then turning to leave.
She stopped him, following him quickly and leaning her back against the door, preventing him from leaving and causing the other to frown as he stared at her with his piercing eyes.
"Please get out of my way." He said.
She shook her head, saying, "No way am I moving from here until you hear me out. You're totally doing me wrong."
He was pretty annoyed with how she was acting. He just wouldn't accept what was going on. "I'm not interested in listening to you," he said, feeling irritated.
She kept looking at him with a sad face, then moved away from the door. Her eyes were looking down. Then he walked out of the apartment. He crossed Aiden, who was standing near the door. From the expression on his face, Taylor realized that he had an idea about what happened between him and Veronica.
Taylor didn't say a word to him. He just walked past him until he was out of the building. Then he stood in the middle of the street, head up, staring at the dark night sky. But it wasn't darker than the inside of the hole he was in. He thought he'd never escape that hole, and it just kept getting deeper.
He started to cry again, and his vision got blurred. He let out a faint gasp before he ran to the opposite side of the street. But a car that was coming up behind him startled him with its flashing lights, and then he felt a hand suddenly grab his arm, and his body was pulled back, and then the car passed quickly.
He was sitting on the ground when Aiden's face was close to his; he was scolding him, "Didn't you see the red light!"
Taylor didn't react; he just lowered his head as he got up from the floor. "I'm sorry, I'm really sorry, I'm..." And he was startled by Aiden's voice as he stopped him: "Stop it, I get it!"
"I'll drive you home," he said, and the other one shook his hand in denial. "It's okay," he said. Just as he was about to walk away, Aiden stopped him by grabbing his arm and pulling him against his will to his parked car. "No, Taylor, I won't sleep well until I'm sure you're home and safe."
He opened the door, let him in, and took a seat. He was ready to go; he smiled a little as he turned his head to him. "So, where do you live?"
He shook his head in denial and replied, looking in front of him, "I don't want to go home."
His body shook, and he closed his eyes tightly as Aiden yelled at him, "Where then? the beach? space? I can't stay up all night; I have to work tomorrow!"
"Stop yelling at me! And I didn't ask you to drive me home!" Taylor shouted back at him and was about to open the door, but it was closed. He exhaled deeply and said, "Open the door, Aiden."
"What if I didn't?" he replied, which only made the other more irritated; suddenly he attacked him as he tried to press the button next to Aiden's seat, screaming in anger, "Fine! I'll open it myself!"
"Stop! Okay! I'm sorry!" Aiden screamed while trying to calm down the raging bull in front of him. As soon as Taylor started to calm down, Aiden took the chance and knocked him unconscious with an elbow to the back of the head.
He pushed him into his seat again and wiped the sweat from his forehead, trying to catch his breath. "Oh my God."
He let out a sigh and looked over at his friend. His eyes were closed and his head was leaning against the window glass. He shrugged and whispered, "Well, at least he's safe."
...