AIDAN
“This morning, I found something incredible, so you’ll have to excuse me if I’m reticent about losing that. That’s also why I can’t just forget about what happened, but I won’t push. We’re both here to relax, and that’s what we should do, okay?”
She nodded, the relief still clear on her face. “Thank you.”
“Oh, and Clio?”
“Yes?”
“Let me know if you want any more help in the water while you’re here,” I told her. I tried to ignore the fresh jolt of want that shot through me, especially when her cheeks reddened and a small private smile tugged at her lips.
Lila bounded back in, her face lit with excitement. “I’m so sorry, guys, you wouldn’t believe all they have planned for me tomorrow.”
“Oh, I’d believe it,” I said, thinking of my own law school days and all the grunt work I did just to get one tiny space closer to my goal. “Fill us in, my girl,” I encouraged, and Lila proceeded to do just that. Ever the planner, she also went into a long list of suggestions for Clio, even though Clio assured her she was perfectly capable of keeping herself busy.
I couldn’t help but pick up on all the musical items on Lila’s list. I seemed to remember Lila mentioning that her roommate was majoring in some sort of art. When I asked for more clarification, I listened raptly as she shyly explained that she was still struggling to figure out exactly what she wanted to do with her degree.
She liked playing, and Lila insisted that she was good enough to play professionally, but she’d also been volunteering at the youth center teaching piano to kids. When Lila brought up the kids, Clio’s face transformed.
I’d been dismayed to see her retreating back into her shell after our talk. But as she shared about her work with at-risk youth and how much it seemed to help them to learn how to play an instrument and how rewarding it was to watch their confidence grow, my heart broke open. I could just picture her helping the kids, and it was further proof that she was the type of woman who responded so strongly to helping others, at-risk kids no less.
That revelation just made my already burgeoning feelings for her that much more complicated.
After watching her go on about all the progress she was seeing at the rec center, Lila and I exchanged amused expressions. “What?” Clio asked self-consciously.
Lila rolled her eyes. “Nothing, Clio. I know that you’re still conflicted, but to the outside world, it seems like a no-brainer. I mean, the way you light up when you talk about the kids…”
“Yeah,” she said while smiling. “I guess you’re right.”
“Just remember,” I told her, “There’s nothing saying you can’t change your mind if you choose one thing and decide in the middle of it that it’s not for you.”
Lila laughed. “Yes, preach!” she exclaimed. I raised an eyebrow in question. “I’m just saying, Clio stuck herself with her deadbeat ex-boyfriend for far too long after she’d told me she told me he didn’t really make her feel anything.”
“Lila!” Clio hissed.
“What? It’s just my dad, we can be open here,” Lila reassured her, but I could tell that Clio was embarrassed.
“Lila, maybe she doesn’t want to talk about it. I can understand that,” I said gently.
“Well, I don’t think it’s good for her to stuff all that hurt and emotion down. What Michael did was really messed up and-”
“Excuse me,” Clio said, removing the napkin from her lap and throwing it on the table as her chair scraped across the hardwood floor when she shoved it back. She looked even more embarrassed by the commotion the noise caused. “I just need to use the restroom,” she muttered, then scurried away towards the back of the restaurant.
Lila looked after her, worried, and started to rise from her seat, but I put my hand over hers to stop her. “Just let her be for a while, sweetie.”
Lila sank back down in her seat. “I really mucked that one up, didn’t I?”
I shook my head at her and smiled. I loved my daughter, but she had the same bull in a china shop mentality that I did sometimes. While it was a quality that would serve her well as a lawyer, it wasn’t always the best one to have when it came to comforting a friend. “I know that’s not what you meant to do, Lila, but you have to remember that people deal with breakups differently.”
“I know, it’s just that Michael was such a waste of space. What she ever saw in him I still don’t understand, and I don’t want her wasting one more second on that idiot. So, I guess I just thought encouraging her to get it out of her system might help,” she said, then looked down at her glass. “I pushed too hard.”
“Your heart was in the right place, sweetheart,” I told her.
She sighed. “My boneheaded move aside, what do you think of Clio?”
I almost choked on the sip of water I’d just taken. Jesus, Aidan, I thought. It was a perfectly innocent question, yet the film reel of that morning rolling around on the beach with Clio in my arms kept rolling in my head.
I cleared my throat. “She seems as wonderful as you described.”
Lila smiled. “I just knew you would like her. I’m really lucky I met her when I did. You know, Mom warned me it could be like a viper pit in college, and she wasn’t lying, but then I met Clio. I just knew we’d be good friends. She doesn’t have a deceptive bone in her body.”
No, it would appear she didn’t, and that just made me like her even more, dammit.
Lila looked at me with a sheepish expression. “You think it’s been long enough now I can go apologize without cramping her space?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. Surely, you two have had disagreements before. How long does it usually take to make up?”
Lila gave me a relieved smile from my use of logic. “I’ll be right back,” she said, jumping up from the table. My mind spun as I watched her head towards the back of the restaurant to where Clio had disappeared to. I couldn’t help but think about what it might have been that this guy Michael had done to Clio. Lila didn’t think much of him, so I knew he had to be trash. But I was also concerned with just how quickly I was ready to punch out this Michael guy when I’d barely met Clio. I really needed to get a hold of myself. I was acting like some punch-drunk teenager.
Lila and Clio emerged from the back of the restaurant, and I shifted in my seat, hoping to God that my emotions weren’t written all over my face. “All is forgiven…I think,” Lila announced as the two took their seats.
“I told you, Rea, it’s no big deal. I just needed to use the restroom,” Clio insisted as she took a sip of her drink. I wondered how often she insisted nothing was wrong when someone had hurt her feelings.
Lila looked like she was about to argue, but I shot her a look, and she closed her mouth. The rest of the dinner went well enough. Lila went on about all the things she was hoping to do in her internship, and I kept a surreptitious eye on Clio. She doted on Lila, and it was obvious why the two were friends.
They seemed to even each other out. Lila had always been boisterous and ambitious, and Clio was much calmer and supportive with a very comforting nature…and I hated myself for the way that drew me to her even more. I guess I hadn’t realized just how much I’d been craving that comfort lately.
I dialed back into what my daughter was saying, kicking myself for getting so easily lost in my own thoughts. “Clio, what about-”
“Lila, really, it’s fine. I’m a full-grown woman completely capable of entertaining myself,” Clio was assuring her.
“I know that,” Lila whined. “I just want to make sure you actually have some fun…and not just holing up in your room listening to music” she said pointedly.
“You just focus on your new gig, and I will handle myself,” Clio told Lila.
“Clio’s right, sweetheart. Don’t worry about us. If it makes you feel any better, I’ll check in with Clio and make sure she’s having some fun,” I assured my daughter. Clio looked at me sharply, but I just smiled at the both of them like nothing was amiss, and at that moment, nothing was.
I’d promised Clio I wouldn’t push, and I’d promised Lila I’d make sure Clio had some fun-both things could be true at the same time…couldn’t they?