Role Playing(69)

“Jesus.” That bitch.

“I brought up my relationship in college, in Spokane. She actually doubled down and said it was impossible, because my family didn’t know, or they’d have told her. So I spit out that I had been dating a man in college, and he was in the closet, so nobody knew, least of all my parents.”

Maggie let out a low whistle. “Bet that went over like a lead balloon.”

“She lost her shit. Kicked me out that day. I had to move in with Malcolm and his wife until I could get a new place to live.”

Now Maggie didn’t hold back. “That bitch!”

“No, she wasn’t,” he said. The sheer virtue this guy had. “She was angry, sure. But it was my fault too. I knew we weren’t working, but I didn’t do the hard thing and just break up. I just kept thinking things would work out somehow.”

“I bet you put in a ton of effort,” Maggie countered. “Because I know you. You probably did all kinds of shit you didn’t like to try to make it work. And again: Why is she pissed now? She kicked you out!”

He let out a long exhalation. “Because I should’ve been honest,” he said. “I should’ve been up front with her, right from the start.”

Maggie blinked. “Why?”

Now there was a long pause. “What do you mean, why?” Aiden asked, sounding genuinely baffled. “Because . . . I should’ve disclosed it.”

“Again: Why?” Maggie felt anger bubble in her bloodstream. “I don’t hand over a résumé of my past partners when I start seeing someone. Did she tell you all about her boyfriends from college? Provide you with a list of past lovers?”

He was still quiet.

“Wait. ‘Disclose.’ That’s why she’s still angry? Because you didn’t disclose you were bi, or whatever?” Maggie was almost shaking with fury by this point. “You come out when you’re ready, when you feel safe with it. Obviously you didn’t feel safe.”

“She thought we were going to get married,” Aiden said, but his voice was softer.

“Did you, though?”

“I thought we were supposed to.”

“There’s a difference.”

He seemed to mull that over. “She said she felt cheated. Like she wasted all that time with me. Like I’d lied to her, tricked her. She is convinced that I’m gay. I think she’s hurt, thinking that I never loved her.”

“Did you?”

“I did,” Aiden said, and Maggie could hear it, the truth of it, resonating through his voice like a tuning fork. “I really, truly did. But we both changed, and we both wanted the other person to be different than we turned out. She wanted me to be more like the husband she’d envisioned, more conservative, close to her family, living in Spokane. I wanted her to be someone who understood me and accepted me for who I was. Neither of us was happy. But yeah. I really did love her. At heart, she’s a good person.”

Maggie felt her heart break for him. “I’m so sorry, Aiden.” Then she frowned. “How the hell did she marry Davy?”

“Davy came out to the west side to help me move out of our apartment, actually,” he said. “She was a little younger than me . . . same age as Davy. Turns out Davy had always had a thing for her. She moved back to the east side shortly after I moved out, back to Spokane, where he was working in the sales department of this manufacturing company. He comforted her, listened to her. They got closer.”

“You must’ve been hurt.”

“I was,” he said. “Again, I did love her. But I felt guilty, too, for not telling her. And I wanted her to be happy. Davy seems to make her happy . . . happier than I ever did, anyway. The fact that he already had his son and was eager to have more kids was a big plus for her, as well.”

“Shit. And now you’re stuck at this wedding with the two of them.” Speaking of guilt: she should’ve gone. She could’ve kept her crush locked down, her feelings buried. This wasn’t about attraction. This was about helping a friend.

“Yeah. Hopefully I can sit somewhere else at dinner. Or maybe I’ll fake stomach cramps and just disappear until I have to drive Ma home the next morning.”

His mother . . . her memory jogged. “You said that your mother was winning a bet with you. What’s that about?”

“Oh. We had a deal,” he said. “If I brought a date to the wedding, she would finally agree to talk to Davy and me about some stuff that we really need to discuss. Like her not driving. And finally filling out some legal paperwork: durable power of attorney, life directives, stuff like that. Stuff she doesn’t want to deal with, but really, really needs to.”

“Are you kidding?”

“No. Too many people think it’s macabre and put it off, but it’s—”

“No, I mean you had a deal with your mother? That’s why you needed a date to the wedding?” Maggie said, aghast.

“Well, yeah.”

For fuck’s sake. “Give me the name of your hotel, where the wedding is.”

“What?” Aiden sounded startled. “Why?”

“Because you’re going to have a date,” Maggie said in her best Linda Hamilton impression. “No arguments. I’ll meet you there.”