Athena nodded.
Humphrey pulled her into another hug. “I’ll fix it. I’ll fix everything.”
~56~
Two Weeks Later...
Aaron opened his arms to envelope Rena when she showed up on the doorstep of his home that afternoon. The day had been a horrendously dreary one that precisely matched his mood.
Aaron soothed her, rubbing Rena’s back when he heard her quiet sobs into his sternum. He bowed his head low to press his mouth to the top of hers. A few seconds passed before he realized she was trembling. He pulled her inside.
“Hey? It’ll be alright,” he hugged her to him again. “We’ll get through this.”
“They’re gone...they-they’re g-gone.”
Aaron pulled back, shook his head faintly. “Who, love?”
“They’re gone...G’s family, they...”
“That can’t be,” Aaron said.
“I should’ve seen it coming, I-I knew something was going on with them even before G.G. ...I knew.”
“Rena,” Aaron held her at arm’s length then. “Tell me what happened.”
“One morning,” Rena blinked as though she were trying to focus on the moment in the past. “Miss Audrey, G’s grandmother, she-she said I would need to take care of G.G. and Brogue when they were gone. ‘Take care of my Guiya and little Brogue when we’re gone,’ she said. We like none of them would be here to do it.”
“But her dad’s business,” Aaron noted.
Rena withdrew a folded sheet from her jean’s pocket. Handed it to Aaron. “It’s all in there.”
Aaron browsed the page. A note from Giselle’s grandmother. “Someone bought his business?” he looked to Rena. “Who?”
Rena shrugged, tucking a lock of her dark bob behind an ear, she settled into the living room sofa. “I think the offer was on the table for a while. Her father only accepted this week. If I hadn’t tore into the note before they left, I wouldn’t even know that much.” She hugged herself and began rocking slowly on the sofa.
“Miss Audrey left me the place. Lease all paid up through the next year. Like I could live there alone after-” she burst into a new round of tears then.
“Rena...” Aaron came to her, faking annoyance as he pulled her close yet again. “I thought you were tougher than this,” he sighed.
“Guess I-I’m crying for two,” her breath hitched on the observation and she turned watery red eyes to Aaron. “You haven’t cried once.”
Aaron blinked, his arm stiffening around her shoulders. “How do you know that?”
“Because I know,” Rena was undaunted by his simmering temper. “Am I wrong?” She shook her head suddenly, throwing out a wave that seemed to negate her need for an answer.
“I’m scared Aaron, I’m not too proud or tough to admit that,” her thin shoulders slumped when she huffed. “What am I going to do? They were my family too,” she used the back of her hand to angrily swipe at the moisture clinging to her cheeks. “How could they leave me alone like this?”
“Wait?” Aaron’s hold tightened and then slid from her shoulders. “Everyone’s gone?”
Rena nodded. “Brad and Gwen’s husband Shawn both work for Mr. Brogan. They’ll be running the headquarters from Wisconsin or someplace...”
“Why would they leave Brogue?” Aaron wondered.
Rena sniffled, shrugged. “I don’t think they believed they’d ever get to spend any real time with him. I can’t say I disagree with their thoughts on that. The way your mother is, it’d be a nightmare for that baby.”
She started to weep again and again Aaron tugged her near.
“You’re not alone, Rena. Do you hear me?” he insisted when she didn’t react. “Hey?” He took her wrist squeezing until her brown eyes met his. “You’re not alone, Rena. Don’t I mean anything to you? Can’t I be your family too?”
She blinked, the effort sending water droplets from her long lashes to her cheeks. “Aaron...I’m sorry,” she smoothed the back of her hand over his jaw. “I love you. You know I do.”
He kissed her forehead. “I know it, bella.” He began to rock her. “You can stay with me. You never have to be alone again. Neither of us do.”
After a few moments in the shelter of the embrace, Rena eased back. Her nutmeg brown face held a childlike meekness, enhanced by a woman’s awareness. “I can’t be Giselle for you, Aaron,” she said.
Aaron nodded. “I know that and I can’t be Giselle for you either.”
Rena pushed out a garbled sound that seemed suspiciously like laughter. Aaron laughed then too, but his forced glee soon shifted into real sorrow. Grief and anguish finally slammed into him with the full weight of their furies. His body shook with deep sobs that seemed to make the entire sofa quake.
Rena shifted, scooting to her knees on the cushions. She drew Aaron into the same kind of soothing embrace he’d held her.
“Imani is there for Roman,” Aaron said, when his tears curbed. “Candace is there for Pitch. Being in this house on my own right now, isn’t as great as I thought it would be. I meant what I said. You can stay here. God knows there’s enough room.” He sighed, his darkly handsome face softening into sober lines. “Stay with me Rena, we can be there for each other.”
She sniffled again, nodding on his shoulder. “I’d like that,” she said.
They held their desperate pose for long moments and mourned their friend.
~57~
