Everywhere, All At Once

Chapter 10 - This Time

 After what felt like hours of talking, when the conversation tapered off and they'd both had several beers, Kenna took a deep breath and asked Aaron the question she'd wanted to ask for weeks now.

"Hey, Aaron."

"Hmm?" He replied, and the way he stared into her eyes made her body feel Jello-y.

"I want to ask you something personal."

That seemed to wake him up. He sat up straight. "Okay. Shoot."

"I wanted to know if you'd tell me what happened with you and Laura."

The frown on his face was instant, but he looked at her for a moment and nodded. He took a long pull from his beer. Oh. It was that kind of story.

"There's not really too much to tell," he began. "She left me, is the short version."

"Oh," Kenna said, instantly regretting bringing it up. "I'm so sorry. I didn't know."

Aaron shook his head. "No, don't be sorry. She - We weren't happy. I think we were both done with the relationship for a while, but she had the guts to admit it before I did."

"Wow. So you just 'grew apart', as they say?"

With a shrug, he said, "I guess so. We got married young. We were never really friends first, didn't find out if we were compatible, if we actually liked each other without all the emotions in the way before taking that big step."

"I see."

"We made a lot of mistakes and I don't think we were ever really right for each other." Another shrug. "I've moved on, so... I mean, I still don't like to think of having failed at something as important as marriage, you know? But it's over now. I've dated, she's dated. We're friendly. We get along better now."

Kenna nodded, though she didn't pretend to understand the intricacies of marriage and divorce.

"And so, she sacrificed a lot to stay home with the kids for a lot of years," he continued. "A few months ago, she said she wanted to focus on her career for a while, and we agreed that the kids would live with me full time so she could travel for work. Once things calm down for her, we'll go back to fifty-fifty."

Wow, she thought. That was a hell of a thing to take on, while working full time and never having been the full-time parent. But she admired what he'd done for his ex-wife - giving her the opportunity to follow her dreams, too.

"Thanks for sharing that with me," she told him. "I'm sure it's not something you like to talk about."

Smiling at her, he leaned forward, and Kenna's heart skipped a beat or two.

"You make it easy."

"Oh," she breathed, looking down. "I - Uh -"

"Look," he said, cutting off her stuttering. He reached forward and put his hands on top of her fidgeting ones. "I meant what I said earlier. Reconnecting with you has been a blessing, truly. I didn't realize how much I'd isolated myself until I invited you over to see the kids and it was like... opening a window in a dark, dusty room. You're ao easy to talk to. I enjoy being around you. I just want you to know that."

Kenna nodded, not sure what to say back.

"So thank you," he said, finally. He lifted her hands in his, brought them to his lips, and kissed them,. "For being my friend."

She shivered, looking into his eyes as he held her hands close to him.

What the fuck? What the freaking fuck?