Page 53 of Aiden & Lily

Jasmine sighed and slumped in her seat. Then she shook her head. “Okay. That changes how serious this is. It doesn’t erase what he did.”

“I know.”

“But it does mean I need to meet him before I decide whether or not I hate him.”

Lily laughed. “Fair enough.”

“Heck, invite his brother, too. The four of us can be in some kind of secret club until Aiden figures out how to tell Mathew without being disowned by his best friend.”

The words were teasing, but Lily felt the weight beneath them. The secrecy wasn’t funny.

Not really.

Still, it would be a relief to have someone else know. Someone she trusted.

“So,you’ve been pulled into their vortex of secrecy, too, huh?” Parker nudged Jasmine.

Lily exchanged a look with Aiden, who rolled his eyes.

Then he muttered, “Parker, enough.”

His younger brother chuckled. “What? I can’t poke fun at the situation? If we can’t laugh at ourselves, then I’m pretty sure we’re doomed.”

Jasmine plucked a grape from her plate and nodded. “I think I like your brother, Christopher—I mean Aiden.”

Parker tossed his head back and laughed.

Aiden didn’t look amused. All Lily could do was squeeze his hand. What had they expected? That they could get their siblingstogether and not have the whole meeting turn into one big teasing fest?

She offered him a small smile. “Just let them get it out of their system. It doesn’t change how I feel about you.”

To her relief, Aiden smiled. They had chosen to make dinner at Aiden’s place. It was private, and they could talk freely. The best part of all was that Lily could share her relationship with others. She was too much of a social butterfly, and she’d missed this sort of thing.

But even with Jasmine and Parker there, a small part of her remained aware that this wasn’t the same as being open. It was one more safe room. One more place where the truth could exist without reaching the people Aiden feared telling most.

Jasmine nodded toward Parker from across the table. “So, your brother is a nurse. Lily mentioned you work construction?”

Parker nodded. “That’s right. I’m going to be overseeing and building the new church.”

Jasmine’s eyes rounded, and she leaned forward, her palms on the table.

Lily bit back a smile.

Jasmine loved attending church when she could. They’d heard about the new church being built in Copper Creek, and she’d been thrilled. But then they realized it was going to be at least a year before it was completed, and that had taken the wind out of her sails.

“That’s amazing. So, I guess you have all the inside scoop on it?”

Parker laughed. “There’s not much to say. Most of what I know is already out there for the town to gossip about.”

Jasmine pouted, and Lily chuckled.

But it was Aiden who satisfied her curiosity.

“Town gossip is like bread and butter to these two.”

Lily’s mouth dropped open. “I like other things, too. Like volunteering.”

“Oh yeah?” Parker asked. “Where?”