The Truth Between The Lies

Copyright 2012

By Rachel

Chapter 7

Aspen

AJ scooped Reese up into his arms and followed me to her bedroom. He was tickling her from all the laughter and squealing I heard behind me. I opened the door to her room.

“Wow, that’ a lot of butterflies. Very nice Reese’s Pieces.”  She giggled at his nickname.

“I wuv butterfwies.” She exclaimed as he put her in bed. “Thanks, AJ.”

I kneeled down on the floor beside Reese’s bed. “If you need anything Miss Barb is in the living room. I’ll make sure to kiss you when I get back.” I pushed her dark curls off her forehead and continued our goodnight ritual.

She clung to her teddy bear as her eyes fell shut. I stood up and saw a big grin on AJ’s face. I turned off the light and we left Reese to sleep.

“What’s the big grin for?” I asked curiously.

AJ was leaning against the wall and pulled me to him. “You and Reese are so adorable.” He placed a kiss on my nose.

Adorable is not what I wanted AJ to call me. My daughter was adorable. I wanted to be called hot, sexy, gorgeous, or even pretty. Then I looked at what I was wearing; khaki capris and a form fitting blue blouse. I wasn’t the sexy woman he was used to dating.

Lilly on the other hand was dressed sexy. She was wearing a skirt that showed off her long legs and perfect figure. I’m sure Jade looked just as hot.  My body definitely wasn’t as toned as theirs. The only exercise I did was running after a three year old.

“Thanks. We better get going. I’m sure they’re waiting for us.” Before we left I quickly went over everything with Barb.

Inside the limo, Nick and Jade were in a full make out session. They were so into each other and making up for lost time. Howie and his wife were talking with Lilly and Brian. Brian had his arm around her shoulder looking very chummy. Lilly’s hand was pressed against his thigh. They already had a connection going.

AJ scooted over towards Nick and pinched his ass. Nick jumped up and bumped his head. Everyone started to chuckle.

“What the hell man?” Nick grumbled.

“Save it for the bedroom. We’re in the presence of four beautiful ladies.”

“And one of those was enjoying Nick’s mouth on hers, AJ.” Jade retorted. Leave it to my sister.

“Hi, I’m Howie and this is my wife Colleen. You must be Aspen. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Hi. It’s nice meeting you both.” I said shyly.

The ride to the restaurant was fairly short, only about twenty minutes from where I lived.  Everyone was in their own little world.

“Wow, this is one of my favorite restaurants. I’ve only been here once.” I was excited even though it brought back one of the worst moments of my life.

“I can’t take the credit.” AJ grinned. “Howie picked out the restaurant.”

“Well he has good taste. Have you ever eaten here before?” I asked. It wasn’t a well-known establishment for celebrities. It was a quaint Italian Restaurant with a beautiful patio for outdoor dining and dancing.

“No, this is my first time, but this is Howie and Colleen’s sacred ground. They had their first date here. He proposed to her on the patio. They come here for every anniversary.”

“I think that is sweet.” I sighed more in frustration than anything else.

“What’s the matter, Aspen?” AJ took my hand in his.

“Nothing I care to talk about.” I paused to compose myself. I couldn’t understand why I let this affect me after four years. I needed to move on. “I’m sorry, AJ.  It’s just a bad memory I’m trying to get rid of.”

“I understand.” He said as we got out of the limo.  “We all have demons in our life. But tonight is about having fun.”

We got settled at our table. Our waiter came and took our orders. Nick and Jade were the first to hit the dance floor. It was a slow song and their bodies were so close together, a dollar bill wouldn’t fit between them. I had a feeling Jade was staying at Nick’s place while in L.A. One by one each of the couples moved to the dance floor. AJ and I sat there quietly.

“So.” We both said at the same time. I started to giggle at the awkwardness of the situation.

I looked at my plate, as I started to talk. “I’m sorry I’m not a very good date.”

“Who said that?” He lifted my chin so I could look at him. I could get lost in the brown eyes of his. “It seems to me that you’re a little shy. I don’t mind. I’m an open book. I’ll tell you anything you want to know about myself. Aspen, it’s okay to not want to share every detail of your life with me.”

Why did he have to be so sweet? “It’s not that I don’t want to share things with you. Things have been complicated for me. I haven’t always been shut off like this. You can ask Lilly and Jade. My heart got broken badly and it’s still trying to mend.”

“Can you let me try to heal your heart?” He said tenderly as he took my hand.

“I’d like that.” I smiled as we walked out to the open floor. “So what was Miss Charmer whispering to you earlier?”

“She was just sharing something about her mom and aunties. I’m sworn to secrecy, so I can’t tell you.” He flirted with me.

“Oh fine. Not sure I want to know what my darling daughter told you.” I giggled. I was going to make the best of this night.

“So I take it you’re not a native of Los Angeles.” We swayed to the music as we talked.

“No, we’re from Virginia.” I answered quietly. I was starting to get lost in his eyes.

“How did you end up in la la land?”

“I met my ex-fiancé in college. He got a job working at some research lab and we moved here. The rest is history.” I gave a short summary of my life. There was no reason to go into great detail.

Instead of talking, we stared into each other’s eyes. It was exactly like what you read in a romance novel. It was actually scaring me. I didn’t know if I was ready for this. After four years, you would think I would be ready to be kissed by a man. I was shaking on the inside because I knew his lips were going to be on me in a few seconds.

His lips grazed mine gently; barely touching them. AJ moved in closer and this time his lips remained on mine. I got lost in the awareness of the attraction I was feeling towards AJ. It was a chaste kiss with no tongue, yet the passion between us was noticeable. When it was over, I wanted more.

“Aspen.” AJ brushed my hair behind my ears. “There’s something familiar in kissing you.”

“I don’t know what you mean.” I shoved him away from me. “Excuse me.” I ran off towards the woman’s room.

I leaned against the wall trying to compose myself. Why was my past coming back to haunt me? This is why I was better off being alone. I didn’t have to worry about screwing things up. I looked myself in the mirror and didn’t like who I saw.

“Aspen, what the hell?” Jade asked stepping inside the bathroom. Lilly was right behind her. I didn’t need their sisterly concern at the moment.

“You can’t ignore us. We saw what happened. AJ is a nice guy.” Lilly was always the big sister. For once could she butt out of my life.

“And that’s why he’d be better without me. I just have too much baggage.” I said matter of fact. At least I could pretend to be confident.

“Do you think we’re going to buy that?” Jade asked looking pissed. “We know what you went through with Sebastian. It’s time for you to move on.”

“You don’t know everything that happened.”  I flipped on the water to rinse my face.

“Aspen, why did you hide it from us?” Lilly walked over towards me. “I didn’t think we kept secrets from each other.”

“That’s funny.” I started to laugh. “Jade kept Nick a secret from us. I wonder what else she’s hidden.” Jade had a dejected expression on her face. I didn’t mean to hurt her feelings, but I was angry. It felt better to make someone else feel like I was.

“Aspen Ruby, that’s enough.” Lilly treated me like I was a child. “I don’t what Sebastian has to do with any one this. AJ seems to genuinely like you. God, Brian went on about the two of you for like ten minutes. You’re going to ruin a good thing before it even starts.”

“And that is my choice.” I grabbed a paper towel.

“You know if you tell us what’s bothering you we can help.” Jade was trying to be a united front with Lilly. I wasn’t going to tell them, so they needed to back off.

“You know what!” I raised my voice. “It’s my secret to keep. Just go have fun with Brian and Nick. Tell AJ I’m sorry.” Then I ran out of the restaurant.