Page 62 of The Fall Fix Up

The warmth Aiden had felt sitting with Rowan in the diner slowly leeched from his body as he read page after page. He closed his eyes and sat back. There was no denying it now. He knew exactly what he had to do.

Chapter 25

Aiden sat on his bed. The door was closed, but he could hear Janae moving around in the bathroom. The past couple days, he had been walking around, not really present. Janae had been perceptive and given him space. He’d hated coming back to sleep in his own bed after having spent days in hers, but the way his mind had been racing left him barely getting sleep and spending most nights tossing and turning.

He had gone to see Rowan a couple times, and they had caught up in a way he’d only dreamed of before. There were tears shed and a few loud conversations that bordered on arguments, but overall, he thought they were finally in a place that was more real than anything they’d had before. It was weird to realize they had grown up in very different places and ways and yet they were both still undeniably harmed by the same man—the man who should have been there for them. Seeing his sister cry, her hazel eyes red and wet with tears had given Aiden the final push he hadn’t known he needed.

And now he sat, phone in hand as he dialed their dad’s number. His head already hurt at the thought of the conversation he was about to have and there was a hard pit in his stomach. He had everything spread out in the bed with him: his sister’s paperwork and documentation as well as his own. There were bank statements, utility bills and a personal loan that Aiden hadn’t even seen the first time. Every word blurred together until there was a pulsing push under his skin telling him that enough was enough. This stopped now.

The phone rang twice before his dad picked up. “Aiden. It’s a little early to be calling, son.” His voice was sharp and already a little suspicious. It had been a few days since their last call and that one hadn’t gone any better than the ones before. This time, Aiden was determined to find a resolution one way or another. He couldn’t live in this limbo anymore, not if he wanted to move forward with his life without the specter of his dad’s bad choices hanging over him. “I didn’t expect to hear from you so soon after our last catch up.”

“Well, I figured I should call you one more time and talk before I make my decision to move forward.”

“Move forward with what?”

Aiden swallowed hard against the lump in his throat. This was big. This meant a severance of not only the line between him and his dad, but also him and his grandmother. Aiden knew that by doing this, he likely wouldn’t get a chance to talk to her again. It made him sick to think about his dad holding that relationship over him, but that was what he’d done for years, and everyone allowed it. He was done letting his family hold him hostage.

“It means I’m contacting the utility company and the police. I can’t do this anymore, Dad. It isn’t right and I know you know that.”

There was silence over the line and then finally a bark of unamused laughter. “Are you fucking kidding me right now, boy? You’re going to call the police on your own family? You plan to drag your own father through the mud over a little debt that I told you I would pay back?”

“The last time I asked you,” Aiden insisted, “you didn’t even have a plan for it other than telling me to just wait and give you time. Well, I’ve done that. I’ve given you almost two months and nothing has changed. I checked the reports, and you haven’t paid anything down.”

“You know I’ve been caring for your grandmother,” his dad bit back. “How do you expect me to do that and work? Maybe if you came around more instead of running off like you have no responsibilities to this family, I could have paid some of it off.”

“I didn’t run off. I got a career and started living my life.”

His father snorted. “You ran off just like that no good sister of yours.”

“Do not talk about Rowan like that,” Aiden hissed. He balled his fist and slammed it down on the mattress. “She left because you did the same thing to her that you’re doing to me. She had to claw her way out of the hole of debt you put her in and she didn’t even have a support system to fall back on. I thought she hated me, but she hated you.”

“Oh, come off it, boy. You’re still talking about that nonsense.”

Aiden stood up from the bed. “It’s not nonsense when you made me feel guilty for something that wasn’t my fault.” Old feelings bubbled up in his chest. “You spent years making me feel like I owed you something for taking Mom away, and you made me think Rowan felt the same way.”

“You did take your mother away,” his dad growled out. “If you hadn’t been born, she would still be here. That’s the truth.”

“No, the truth is we lived in a shitty town with a half-assed maternity ward that didn’t give a fuck about her.” Aiden pushed through the pain of talking about the day he was born—a day he rarely if ever celebrated because it was the day he lost the one parent who could have ever truly loved him. “I didn’t kill her, Dad. Their lack of care did, and I won’t be blamed for it anymore.”

“Ever since you moved to that town, you’ve started acting all self-righteous, like you’re too good for where you came from.”

Aiden shook his head, though his dad couldn’t see him. “No. I’ve just grown up. You should try it sometime and stop blaming everyone else for your bad choices.”

“Grown up? Were you grown up when you left me to take care of your grandmother?” His dad’s voice rose. “Were you grown up when you refused to help me keep things together, instead running away and leaving me to handle everything?”

“You’re an adult,” Aiden countered. “I was twenty-one, trying to build my future instead of sitting around and watching you drink yours away. You didn’t want my help. You just wanted someone to blame for your life not turning out the way you thought it should and I was just the convenient fool who still wanted your love.”

The silence after his words didn’t feel comforting. It felt sharp and brittle like it was just waiting to break apart into pieces that could never come together again. Aiden exhaled, his shoulders slumping as the fight drained out of him. This conversation had gone on long enough. He knew there wouldn’t be the type of resolution he needed, but he couldn’t take his next steps without trying first.

“I’m not letting you drag me down anymore. I’m reporting everything and I’ll deal with the fallout on my end.”

“You have some nerve,” his dad said, voice cold and flat. “You think you’re better than me and can just make a decision that affects this family? Who the hell do you think you are?”

The question landed like a brick to the chest. Who was he? Was he still the boy desperate for his dad’s love? Maybe he was, but that was such a small part of him now. He had rebuilt his life like he’d helped rebuild this house. He was a man who gave his all and had the support of a woman who made him want to stand a little taller and dream a little bigger.

“I’m someone who can look at himself in the mirror and know, without a shadow of a doubt, that I am a good person,” he said simply. He didn’t wait for his dad to say anything else before ending the call.

The silence after felt so final. He stared down at his phone as the screen went dark, his father’s anger melting away until the only thing left was Aiden’s own inner voice. His throat was tight and his breathing felt somewhat labored, but he was lighter. He had always wanted the type of dad that his friends had. The dad who came to games to support him and didn’t use guilt to make him feel small. Unfortunately, that wasn’t who Aiden got. It was time to stop wishing for different and start living the life he needed to for his own happiness.