My brother's best friend

Chapter Thirty-Two

"Daniel, promise me, you'll try and stop your mom. I really don't need anyone making a big deal out of this." I ask as I rock Aiden back and forth in the rocking chair he built. Daniel shakes his head, "I'm guessing it's too late, Linds, your birthday is in two days. There's no way she hasn't done anything." 

"You have to change her mind." I plead. He pushes off the wall and crouches in front of me, "You have met my mother, right? There's no changing her mind once it's made up." He grabs a hold of the chair, stopping the rocking motion. My heart hammers in my chest and I am pretty sure he can hear it. He leans in close, kisses my cheek and whispers, "Just go with it." He releases the chair and the back and forth movement start again. 

I look down at my baby boy, slowly closing his eyes and going to sleep. He scrunches up his nose and his mouth opens ever so slightly, reminding me of the morning I woke up next to his father, the same sleepy look on his face. 

Daniel heads to the door, "I'll bring you some tea." I sigh when he leaves. He's only been back for a day and he's been such a help. Just knowing there's someone other than myself to take care of Aiden makes me feel better. 

When Aiden is finally asleep I put him down softly and place the soft grey and mint green blanket over him. I leave the door ajar and head down to the kitchen. Daniel is leaning against the wall, a coffee cup in his hands. I sit down at the counter and wrap my hands around the teacup in front of me. The warmth spreads into my hands and I close my eyes as I let the heat travel through me. 

"Have you been on other dates?" I open my eyes and frown at Daniel "Why?" He shrugs, "I was just wondering. I mean, you wanted to go out with that other guy, and then, well, you know. I just wanted to know if things are going alright." I roll my eyes at him, "No, Daniel, I haven't gone out on a date again, and I don't plan to." 

"Why not?" He asks, pushing off the wall and heading to me. "I just don't want to right now. Aiden needs me." He looks away. "What Daniel? What do you want to say?" He doesn't look at me but he does respond, "I have been thinking of asking Abby to marry me." 

Now, I am glad he wasn't looking my way. I am trying to look happy but am pretty sure my expression is betraying me. I take a sip of the tea, hoping it would calm me. It doesn't. He still isn't looking at me. "What does it have to do with me?" I ask, hoping I don't sound too horrible. 

"I don't know. I guess I just want to know that you are fine." He finally looks at me, his blue eyes looking sad. "Daniel-" He shakes his head, "I know it's silly of me, but I just need to know that you're alright with this and that you've-" He stops and stuffs his hands into his pockets. He looks down at his shoes, avoiding my eyes again. 

"You wanted to know if I've moved on." He doesn't respond. "Daniel, we have a kid together. We have something that connects us, but you have something with Abby as well. I am not going to tell you what to do, we already had that argument, all I'm saying is that I hope you're keeping Aiden in mind when making these life-changing decisions." I get up and walk to him. 

I stop in front of him, inches away. I look up at him, his head slightly hanging. His blue eyes settle on me, "I am not the important one here. I don't matter, Aiden does." He shakes his head, "That doesn't answer my question." I shrug, still looking into his eyes, "It's the answer I'm giving you, Daniel." I step away, fighting the urge to hug him. 

I grab my cup of tea, "I'm going to take a nap while he's still sleeping." I disappear into my room and sit on the bed. There's a new picture on my stand, next to the Greene-Moore family photo, It's of Daniel, Aiden and I. Daniel's arm is wrapped around me. Aiden is wide awake and by some miracle, he's looking a the camera. We look like a small, but happy, family. 

But that's not the case. No, he has Abby. And he's going to marry her. I look at the other picture. We all seem to belong, we're all part of the family. Though Daniel and I seem out of place. We still fit. If not in the big picture, then at least together. But now, I'm all alone.  I have Aiden, of course, but other than my baby I'm alone.

I place the picture back on the stand and fall back onto the bed. I roll onto my stomach, I smile to myself. I haven't been able to do this in quite some time. Not being able to just lay down. I let out a sigh. 

There's a faint knock on my door and I softly curse before getting up and pulling it open. Taylor is on the other side holding papers in one hand and glitter pens in the other, two pink balloons floating behind her. "It's time." She rushes in and throws herself onto my bed. 

"Time for what?" I ask, shutting the door. She lets out a gasp, "Time for your wish list. You didn't do one for me before my birthday, but I forgive you, since, you know, your parents and everything. But I'm still doing it for you." I sit down next to her. "Sorry about that." She shrugs, "Like I said, all is forgiven." 

She puts a piece of paper in front of me and takes one for herself. "Right, just to recap. You write two and I write two. We release them into the sky with balloons," she points to the balloons that are slowly moving around the roof of my room, "and we hope they come true." I nod. "Great." 

We each grab a glitter pen and start writing. I decorate mine with a border of flowers and add a few doodles. We each roll up our wishes and put a rubber-band around each. We then take the helium balloons and tie a ribbon around the wishes. We move to the window and lean out with the balloons in hand. We take each other's other hand and slowly count to three. Just enough time to review your wishes. 

Keep my family safe and healthy. 

Happiness. 

Taylor looks at me, "May all your wishes come true." She gives me a side hug and we watch as the pink balloons fade into the bright blue sky.