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opportunity.
    Aria must have found out she was
pregnant later that spring. It was why she’d never see me again and why she
married him .
    It had to be.
     

 
ARIA
     
    I have only been
with two men in my life – only had sex with one of
them – and yet I’m already damaged goods. Not that anyone ever came outright
and said it, but I can always tell what people are thinking. It’s one of my
many gifts.
    In Iowa, Alex’s friends thought I
was a slutty gold digger catching a free ride on his train to the NFL. Here?
I’m a washed-up girl with a shit-ton of baggage. Though if Alex was here with
me, I’m sure the town would have a parade in our honor. People are so messed
up.
    Even Tristan.
    There was judgment in his eyes when
he looked at me and Cade. But I could also feel tension – possibly of the
sexual variety – rolling off him. Yes, I still had an effect on him. And as
much as I hated to admit it, he still had an effect on me, not that it
mattered.
    I mean, while most of my friends
are now hitting double digits in their number of bed buddies, that part of my life is over. I am officially closed for business. Though after my run-in
with Tristan, someone needed to explain that to the rest of my body. 
      I know I shouldn’t be thinking
about this now. It’s so not the time to cloud my vision with sex. But let’s
just say Tristan makes me feel all the things.
    The way he filled out that T-shirt
he was wearing; I so wanted to see just how much he bulked up from high school.
He’d always been hot. Even though he never fit into the typical dream guy box,
the girls were definitely interested. Funny, I’m not sure he ever got that.
Maybe because he intimidated them. His self-awareness, intelligence, and
confidence made him seem off-limits to most girls. Maybe that’s why I always
felt special that he chose to spend his time with me.
    I was so glad when Cade interrupted
our moment at the grocery store because I was getting flustered. Until I caught
the way he looked at us – Cade and me. That’s what I need to remember. He’s an
asshole. Just like Alex. Just like my dad – who I never met, but the fact that
he left before I was born gave me a good idea. 
    Assholes.
    I would never depend on one of
their kind ever again. Instead, I would make sure my son never became one of
them. Looking at him now, Popsicle in his hand as he sits with his Nana on the
sidewalk, he is perfect. The one thing I did right.
    “Hey buddy.” I grab a seat on
Cade’s left side. “You gonna share that?” He turns toward Mom, hiding his treat
from me. “Okay. So that’s how it’s going to be?”
    “He deserves it.” Mom beams,
clearly in her element. “My big boy. Growing like a weed.”
    Cade snuggles against her, getting
grape Popsicle all over her shirt – not that she cares one bit.
    “So how are you settling
in?” she asks.
    We’ve already unpacked and Mom was
right, there’s plenty of room. She even decorated Cade’s room in cars, his
favorite. He loves it and the place feels warm and welcome. At least inside.
Too bad we have to leave our house and face people every day.
    “Good,” I tell her, though I still
can’t be sure.
    “You look tired, honey.”
    “Well, a twenty-hour car ride will
do that to a girl.”
    “I suppose,” she says. “But I think
there’s more to it than that. You seem tapped out. When was the last time you
did something for yourself?”
    “What do you mean? I’m sitting
outside on a beautiful spring day with my two favorite people. Doesn’t get much
better than this.”
    “I agree.” She reaches over and
rubs my back. “But what about a movie with a girlfriend or a long walk?”
    “You know better than I do how hard
it is when you’re on your own.”
    “Well, that’s the beauty of being
back home, my dear,” she says, eyes dancing.  Her long dark hair hangs over her
shoulder with a perfect stripe of white framing her face.  I forgot how
gorgeous she is – a true Italian