Page 21

JEN

AFTER A RELATIVELYroutine day at work, I went to a Zumba class and found Tiffany as the scheduled instructor. I smiled, knowing she liked to keep up a particularly vigorous routine. Good! I need to let off some steam. I dove enthusiastically into the class and hopped, shuffled, and twisted my way through the next hour. Back at home, I had just stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around myself when I heard my phone ring. I scurried into my bedroom and grabbed the phone from my nightstand. “Hello?” I huffed.

“Aunt Jen?” A young voice sounded from the other end.

“Aiden?” I tried to keep the concern from my voice. “What’s up? Is everything okay?” As happy as I was to hear from him, it was unusual for him to call me directly.

“I’m fine. I’m at Uncle Tyler’s house.”

My stomach flopped slightly at the sound of that name. No matter how much we might try to avoid each other, we were going to be connected because we both loved Aiden. Aiden had grown up knowing Tyler, so I was the bigger outsider. I was going to have to learn to handle this awkwardness, or I would be the one to come out the loser.

Aiden’s voice drew me back to the present. “He’s sick, Aunt Jen. He’s puked a couple times. He told me he’ll be okay, but he’s still in the bathroom making groany noises. I don’t know what to do, and I thought since you work in a hospital, you could maybe help him.”

I drummed my fingers on the table, unsure of exactly what I should do. I didn’t think Tyler would truly appreciate my arrival, but I could hear the worry in Aiden’s voice. No matter how confused I was about Tyler, there wasn’t any question how much Aiden loved his ‘uncle.’ I also wasn’t a heartless beast. I didn’t like to see anyone suffer, and from Aiden’s description, Tyler was obviously in distress. He needed some kind of help, even if it was only to relieve him from worrying about taking care of Aiden. And what if it was serious? “Don’t worry, Aiden. Hang tight a few more minutes, and I’ll come over. Have you eaten, yet?”

“Yeah. Uncle Tyler and I got Chinese take-out a couple hours ago. We were watching a movie on TV when he suddenly ran to the bathroom.”

Now I had an idea what was happening. Food poisoning, most likely. Poor guy. He was going to be feeling this for a while.

“Did you eat the same thing as Tyler? Are you feeling sick, sweetie?” I questioned, praying the answer was ‘no.’

“Nah, I only like the fried rice and chicken pieces. He ate something with some weird sounding name.”

Prayers answered. At least I should only have one sick patient. “Okay, Aiden. Don’t worry about your Uncle Tyler. I know he’s not feeling well, but I think he’ll be better by morning. I’ll be over in a few minutes.”

“Okay. Hurry. He sounds awful. I don't want something more bad to happen to him.”

I heard the call disconnect and threw my phone on the bed. Not wanting to keep Aiden waiting, I grabbed the first clothes I laid my hands on—a pair of old, but comfortable cut-off jean shorts and a white shirt that was gathered at the bustline. My hair was still damp, but I braided it anyway while I stepped into a pair of flip flops. I hesitated just a moment, then grabbed a change of clothes, my toothbrush, and a couple other toiletries. I wasn’t sure exactly what I was going to find at Tyler’s, and if I needed to spend the night, I wanted to have a couple things for the morning.

I started to step out my door before I realized I had no idea where I was going. I’d never had any reason to go to Tyler’s place. I called back the last number on my phone, Aiden’s call, but no one answered. Not a lot of help. I called the hospital and asked for the records department. No help there. Confidentiality, yadda, yadda, yadda. I barely let her finish her speech before I hung up. No luck searching for Tyler or T. Cranston in the phonebook, either. Like most doctors I knew, he probably kept his personal numbers private.

Scrolling through my phone to see if we had any mutual connections other than Alex and Kayla, I saw a call from Joanne from a few days ago when we were finalizing the bridal breakfast. Quickly, I redialed the number and breathed a sigh of relief when I heard her answer the phone.

“Hi, Joanne! It’s Jen. I’m sorry to bother you, but do you have Tyler’s address? He’s feeling a little sick, and I wanted to check on him and see if he needed me to take Aiden for a couple nights.”

“Oh, my,” she exclaimed with concern. “That explains why no one answered when I tried calling just a bit ago. I just assumed the boys were out doing something together. Hang on a moment, dear.” I heard some papers rustling in the background, then her voice returned. She rattled off an address for a neighborhood I’d never heard of.

“Thanks, Mrs. North. I’ll be sure to file this away,” I responded.

“I thought we covered that you were to call me Joanne,” she scolded with a laugh.

“You’re right, Joanne,” I smiled. She was such a sweet woman; truly a southern lady, but less proper than my mother who would have never allowed anyone half her age to call her by her first name. My mom was kind and sweet, but she was big on manners, and I knew she’d be very disappointed with my recent behavior.

“Thank you for checking on those boys, Jennifer.” I smirked, thinking it was funny how she wanted me to call her by her first name, but she wouldn’t use the shortened version of mine. “I hated we had to come back to South Carolina and not bring Aiden. But we just didn’t know what the situation would be, and Tyler said he had already taken the time off from work. He’s like another son to us, so please let me know that he’s okay. Things aren’t as bad here as we anticipated, so I can come back up there if needed.”

“Don’t you worry, Joanne. I’m sure it’s nothing serious. Between Tyler and me, we’ve got Aiden covered. I’m hoping to get a little one on one time with him myself and spoil him so much, Kayla has to actually practice her mothering skills.” I laughed softly, knowing Aiden was a dream child and Kayla had a natural instinct with him.

Joanne laughed with me. “I’m not too worried, but give it your best shot. I can’t tell you how thrilled we are that they have you and Tyler to help them out. You’re both such wonderful friends. You know, you and Ty–“

“Thanks for the address, Joanne. I should probably get over there sooner than later. I’ll call you when I know more about what’s going on.” I quickly ended the conversation before she could extol any more of Tyler’s virtues to me. I’m not sure I could handle it.

I scooped up my bags and headed out into the warm night. I was grateful for the long days of summer since the light made it easier to navigate the unfamiliar roads. I was surprised when the landscape became more residential. Single family homes lined the roads, and the sidewalk was scattered with people walking their dogs or pushing strollers. Confused, I pulled along the curb near a playground and double checked that I had entered the right address on my GPS. I had assumed Tyler lived in an apartment since he was a swinging bachelor, yet nothing about this neighborhood screamed, ‘I’m single.’ Confirming I had input the correct street, I resumed my drive. Five minutes and a couple turns off the main road later, the houses spread further apart and increased in size. They appeared older, but no less maintained than if they were brand new. One more turn took me up a fairly long driveway to the back of a two-story white wood house. I parked outside a detached garage connected to the main building by an enclosed breezeway. I climbed out of my car and took in the house, from the beautiful porch enclosed by floor to ceiling windows to some exotic-looking pink flowers surrounding a white light pole at the end of a red brick sidewalk.

My mouth almost fell open in astonishment. This is where Tyler lived?

My mind was running through the possibilities. Maybe Tyler still lived with his dad. Or maybe Joanne had given me the wrong address. That had to be it. I reached into my purse to get my phone to call her back. I had just started scrolling through my contacts when a bark, followed by panting and the clacking of nails on pavement sounded behind me. I turned to see Aiden running up the driveway behind his dog, Holly, who had been his Christmas gift several months earlier.

“Aunt Jen! Finally! Why did you stop?” He pulled on my hand and tried to pull me back in the direction of the sidewalk. “Come on.”