Cadence continued. “I know. I just… I didn’t really want to go to lunch with her, but I thought that I might as well do it if it could also get Christian off of my back.” He said nothing, and she knew it sounded pretty despicable, but the girl could’ve said no. She ran a brush through her hair and approached a nearby mirror with her makeup bag in hand. “Anyway, no lunch with Jamie. But I will see if he wants to talk soon.”
“Okay,” Aaron said quietly, and it began to annoy her how much it bothered him that she’d set Ashley up with Christian. She knew he would deny any mention of the fact that Ashley clearly had feelings for him as she’d brought it up before, and she was sure he didn’t like her that way, but it was bothersome, nevertheless.
Cadence finished putting on a touch of brown eye-shadow and lip gloss, thinking that was good enough for what she had planned and pulled her damp hair up into a ponytail. “Why hasn’t Jamie had a girlfriend in so long?” she asked. It struck her as odd. He wasn’t stunningly gorgeous like Aaron, but he wasn’t bad looking, and he was one of the nicest guys she’d ever met, even if she might’ve been a little biased since he’d saved her life more times than she could count.
“You’re asking me that question?” Aaron replied. “I’m probably not the authority on how to get over your deceased lover.”
“What do you mean?” Cadence asked, loading everything up in her makeup bag and carrying it back over to her locker where she kept it.
Aaron sighed again. “Cadence, I don’t really think now is the time to talk about what I mean if you don’t already know what I’m talking about. Jamie has dated some, but he’s never met anyone who came close to replacing Ellie, and until he does, he’ll probably remain single. And I can’t argue with him about that or try to push him to do anything he’s not comfortable with.”
Realizing she was still missing something, Cadence decided to let it go. “Okay. Well, I have a few things to go over before I meet Ashley.” Even saying the words made her feel unsettled. She’d rather have another IAC put in without anesthesia than sit through lunch with the girl.
“Okay. Are you coming to Cassidy’s procedure his afternoon?”
“Oh, I haven’t spoken to her. What time is it?”
“I think 1:00,” Aaron replied. “Not exactly sure. Aurora moved their training to this afternoon since everyone was so exhausted this morning.” That explained the empty gym.
“I didn’t talk to Cass this morning when I got up. It sounded like she was on her computer, so I figured she was working on school.” She seemed to be doing really well at her online high school. “I’ll message her.” She remembered that there seemed to be something going on between her sister and Brandon the night before, too. She hoped they’d gotten that all straightened out. Regardless of what that idiot Christian had to say, Cadence knew that Brandon was there for Cassidy, not her, and that they made a lovely couple.
“All right. Keep me posted. I’ll see you in a few hours,” Aaron said, his tone conveying he was already thinking about how much worked he had to do.
“Will do. Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
He turned off his IAC, and Cadence slammed her locker shut, picking up her gym bag and deciding to take it home before she headed to lunch. She was hoping not to see anyone else in the meantime. A thousand thoughts flickered through her mind, each of them a separate puzzle, and while sometimes talking things out with a friend made things clearer, it seemed the more talking she did today, the more confused she became.
The cool February breeze helped to sharpen her mind slightly as she walked. Very few other people were out, which she noted was a good thing. Less of a chance at having to talk to people. “Cadence Josephine,” she muttered to herself. “How does that help me remember Aaron’s middle name?” She went over everything he’d told her about his life in Ireland. His mother’s name was—Bree. His father was Justin. That sort of sounded like Josephine, but not really. She thought about his sisters and brother. They all had odd names, though she knew his brother’s name was Channing because she’d thought of Channing Tatum. The sisters’ names escaped her, though, which was slightly embarrassing, especially when she knew he was very close to one of them. He’d grown up mostly with his mother and Granddad Ferris.
So what was his middle name?
Once she was in their shared apartment, she thought she could go through his paperwork and see if she could find it there, but that seemed like cheating. She took her gym bag straight to the laundry room and put her clothes in the washer so he wouldn’t be upset if he found them later and the stench had taken over an entire room. “Cass are you here?” she called. No answer.
Once the stinky clothing was taken care of, she went to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water. “Cadence Josephine…” she mumbled, her eyes surveying the room. Where had they even been when he’d mentioned it? When had they talked about his family? It wasn’t until her eyes fell on a discarded Christmas card sticking out from a pile of papers he’d stacked for her to go through months ago that she hadn’t dealt with yet that occurred to her what he had meant. There was a picture of the Holy Family in the manger. “I am an idiot,” Cadence muttered. “Aaron Joseph,” she whispered. She really needed to find a way to make the people around her more of a priority. Though she’d tried to make each of them more significant before, this time she was serious. With a sigh, she headed out, deciding that no matter what it took, she would find a way to be nice to Ashley… uh… Stone. Even if it killed her.
