Always Aimee

 

This feels like shit. Aimee Harper was accustomed to being in the offices of the Benson and Taylor Law Firm, just not on the client side of the table. She didn’t like the feeling. While there were times she felt bad for the clients who sat opposite the lawyers, her heart aching for what was happening to them, this time was different.

This time, the usually warm and inviting wood paneling sent a cold shiver of dread through her. This time, the soothing landscape portraits on the wall mocked them and their hope. This time, the comforting cup of warm coffee in front of her made her nauseous, while the dark burgundy drapes, which were meant to offer a soothing semblance of comfort from a cold, harsh outside world, suffocated her, making her claustrophobic. This time, a cold sweat made her keep wiping her palms on her slacks, the fluttering of her heart due to her anxiety, and the twisting in the pit of her stomach all came from what she was forced to endure. Well, what she and Clint Asher were forced to endure.

This was it, the final consultation before any real action happened. From what Ginny Taylor, Clint’s lawyer and Aimee’s boss, just told them, there wasn’t really much they could do outside of Clint divorcing his wife, Bonnie, and filing for primary custody, which in Florida was tough since it was a fifty-fifty state. If Bonnie met specific criteria, then she could legally gain joint custody of their three-year-old daughter, Abigail. With every word Ginny uttered, the knot in Aimee’s stomach twisted tighter until she thought for sure she would vomit all over the conference table.

Glancing over at Clint in his dark blue suit and bright yellow necktie, his hair, usually shaggy and unkempt, was combed straight. His scruffy face cleanly shaven, she knew he suffered even more inner turmoil than she did at the moment. This was his life, after all. The future of his daughter and her happiness, as well as her sanity, rested in the balance. Aimee stretched out her arm, taking his hand in hers and squeezed it tight. She couldn’t begin to imagine what was going through his mind right then. To have everything thrown back in his face like this, to relive it over and over, had to be gut-wrenching. Everything he did over the past three years had been for that precious little girl, to protect her from a mother who never wanted her in the first place. Now it seemed as if everything had been wasted effort.

“This doesn’t seem fair,” Aimee said, turning her gaze back to Ginny. “Bonnie walked out on them without so much as a kiss my ass or wish me luck. How can the courts be on her side?”

“As the courts see it,” Ginny said, her voice soft and sympathetic, a tone Aimee heard the woman use on other clients way too often, “they aren’t on Bonnie’s side. They’re on Abigail’s. They believe it’s in the best interests of every child to be with both parents.”

“Even when that parent didn’t want them?” Aimee pressed her point, while Clint sat there, staring at the tabletop. “Even when they walked out on that little girl in the middle of the night? How, in any sane, logical world, is that in Abigail’s best interest?”

Clint reached over and wrapped his other hand around Aimee’s, squeezing it. “It’s not Ginny’s fault,” he said. “She didn’t make the laws. She’s just trying to help us navigate them.”

“Well, the laws suck,” Aimee said, letting out a frustrated sigh. None of this was what she expected when Ginny had her set up a meeting with Clint. Aimee assumed her boss discovered a loophole in the system somewhere that would continue to protect Abby.

There was no loophole.

There was no protection.

There was only the unfairness of the unsympathetic law.

“I’m sorry,” Ginny offered. “I researched everything I could, but there just isn’t any grounds to block Bonnie from your daughter, regardless of what she did before. I can help you draw up divorce papers and look into the custody issue, but that’s about it. Again, I’m sorry.”

Aimee watched as Clint nodded, his gaze downcast, staring at the table again. “We can look into other options,” she urged, Clint’s beaten expression ripping at her heart. “We won’t give up.”

He turned his gaze to her, his smile weak, his expression defeated. “I appreciate your hope but,” he shook his head, “as Ginny just said, there isn’t anything else to do except fight to make sure I get primary custody. That’s about all I can do right now.” He squeezed her hand, and Aimee wanted to cry.

He turned his gaze back to Ginny. “Thanks for all of your help. I appreciate you trying.”

Ginny smiled, trying to offer some semblance of sympathy and understanding. Aimee recognized the expression from the many times she sat in this very room, on the other side of the table. “I’m sorry it didn’t work out the way we wanted. I’ll get started on the other paperwork.”

He nodded as he stood, reaching out to shake Ginny’s hand. Aimee didn’t say anything as she followed him out of the conference room and then outside the offices. She wasn’t sure what to say to him. Everything they hoped to accomplish had been ripped from their grasp. She had nothing tangible to offer him, no hope to give. No answers. She wasn’t sure how to help him at this point, and she hated the helpless feeling that enveloped her. She was supposed to be his strength, but she didn’t know how to do that right now.

That, however, wasn’t her only fear. While Clint was alone, a single father taking care of his daughter, Aimee didn’t feel threatened. Bonnie was an absent mother, who ran off with some over-indulged playboy promising her exotic adventures with no kids. Now, the woman was back in Abigail’s life, in Clint’s life. How would Aimee be able to handle Clint with his ex on a regular basis? Abigail had her mother back. How could Aimee get in the way of that? Worse, what if Clint discovered he wasn’t really over Bonnie? Aimee had only been dating him about a month. He had been with Bonnie for over three years. They had a history that Aimee was afraid to even consider competing with.

The morning air felt warm against her face as she stepped out into the parking lot, holding Clint’s hand as they walked to his truck. When they reached the driver’s side, he turned and fell back against the door; his shoulders slumped. “Well, that felt like a complete waste of time,” he said, blowing out a breath through his nose.

Aimee nodded, pulling stray strands of her blond hair out of her eyes with her free hand. “What are you going to do now?”

He glanced off into the distance, staring at traffic passing by in front of the lawyer’s office. “To be honest, I’m not really sure. I’m not looking forward to surrendering to her, but it seems, thanks to Florida’s stupid laws, we don’t have much choice.” He took a deep breath. “I’ll fight for primary custody, that way I can keep Abby with me and protected most of the time. I don’t know Bonnie well enough to know how she would take care of our daughter. She didn’t do it even when she was still around. I’ve always done it. Bonnie was always the partier.” He turned his gaze back to Aimee, taking her other hand in his and holding them in front of his chest. “Thanks for being here with me today. It felt good to have you with me.”

She smiled, feeling a slight blush heat her cheeks. “I wouldn’t be anywhere else. Did you need me to take the rest of the day off? I can go with you and help you figure this out.”

He pulled her knuckles to his lips and kissed them softly. “Thank you, but I’m not going to do any figuring just yet. I’ve got to get over to that abandoned house and start the remodel. Ben will be meeting me there in about thirty minutes to get the crew started.”

She nodded, trying to hide her disappointment. All she wanted to do right then was hold him, wrapping him up in her love.

“How about dinner tonight?” he asked. “I’ll even make my famous lasagna with garlic bread, extra garlic.”

She smiled, trying to appear upbeat and positive. It was all she could do for him at the moment. “Sounds wonderful. I’ll bring the wine.”

“Then it’s a date.” He kissed her knuckles again. “I can’t wait.”

Aimee leaned up and kissed him. “Neither can I.” She kissed him again. “I’ll see you later. Have a great day.”

“You, too.” He squeezed her hands, and then opened his truck door and slid into the driver’s seat. He started the engine, glanced over at her, and smiled, and then shifted the vehicle into gear and drove off.

She stood there for a moment, watching him as he left the parking lot, turning south into traffic. Life had been going so well these past few weeks. She was afraid that time was over.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The late morning traffic sucked, just like Clint’s mood. While he would admit that he hadn’t expected the meeting to go completely in his favor, he hadn’t expected it to go as sour as it did either. Even if he had divorced Bonnie a year ago, he would still be in a custody fight for Abby. It just didn’t seem fair that a woman could run out on her family, get her rocks off, and then just prance back in and lay claim to everything she abandoned. It wasn’t right…wasn’t fair.

Clint squeezed the steering wheel, twisting it in his hands as he steered through the happy people on the road, people whose lives didn’t just take a downward turn. How was he going to protect Abigail from her mother?

And what of Aimee?

He sighed, his grip on the wheel loosening. Aimee stood by him, holding his hand through it all, ever since Bonnie popped back into his life. She even used her resources at the law office. Yet, did Aimee deserve to be dragged through this? Knowing Bonnie the way he did, he knew the situation would get worse before it got better. Was it fair to Aimee to make her trudge through his garbage? No, it wasn’t fair, he knew, but he also knew he didn’t want to go through this nightmare alone. He needed Aimee’s quiet strength to help bolster his resolve. Why couldn’t Bonnie have just stayed away?

As Clint pulled up in front of the old western-style home, parking by the dilapidated front porch that wrapped around the house, he stared up at the faded paint and broken windows. Gazing at the wooden shutters dangling from rusted hinges, he thought back to how, just a few weeks ago, Aimee walked the floors of this house, snapping photographs, lost in the world of her camera lens. It was the first time he managed to get her alone without Abby squeezing between them. He used Aimee’s passion for photography to get her to join him as he made notes and measurements about the house. His ploy worked better than he expected and, later that night, she joined him for dinner, just the two of them. They had been together ever since—even after Bonnie showed up at his door one day.

“You going to get out of that truck, or just sit there using your mental powers to get the work done?” Benjamin Tucker stood at the side of the house, hands on his hips as he stared at Clint.

Clint turned the engine off as he opened the driver’s door. “Sorry,” he called out, grabbing a clipboard that sat on the front seat, as he slid out of the vehicle. “Lost in the past for a second.” He chuckled, thinking that the past he referred to was actually his present, and he loved every minute of it. “I was thinking back a few weeks when I was here with Aimee, and she shot some photographs. She takes amazing pictures.”

Ben chuckled as he left his spot and joined Clint as they walked toward the front steps. “Alone with your girl in an abandoned building and you were taking notes on the structure of this place? Dude, we need to work on your game.”

Clint squeezed the clipboard as they started climbing the steps, making sure to test the boards before putting their weight down. “Sure, if I was in it for the short game. However, I’m in for the long haul, and so far, it seems to be working out perfectly.”

Ben shook his head. “My friend, you’ve always been a romantic. It’s kind of sickening, really.”

Clint shrugged. “What can I say? I’ve never been a one-night stand type of guy. I want the romance and the happily-ever-after.”

Ben opened the front door of the house. “Not me. Too many gorgeous women out there to settle down with just one. That would be totally unfair to them. Now, settling down with a different lady every night, maybe.”

Both men laughed as they entered the house. “The crews ready to begin?” Clint asked, bringing the topic back around to work. It’s not that he wanted to because he could talk about Aimee all day. However, he needed the distraction from what was going on in his life at the moment. Aimee wasn’t a distraction; she was his life. Bonnie was the interruption he needed to deal with so he could get back to his life.

Ben nodded. “Toby and his crew are out back, pressure washing the house. Walter and his men are tearing out some walls upstairs. So far, we’re on schedule.”

“Good.” Clint glanced around the room the two of them stood in, soaking in the opportunity that existed in the place. He loved his job. They tore down the rotten pieces of a building, tossed out the old, faded, and broken-down parts, and replaced it with new, sturdier materials. “Okay, let’s schedule the drywall subcontractor to come out next week after we get the electricians in here.” If he thought about it, it was just like his life at the present moment. Bonnie was the part he needed to rip out, toss into the dumpster out by the curb for pick up, while Aimee was the sturdier stuff that he needed to fortify his life, making the walls of his existence erect and sound. She was the fortress that protected his sanity right then. God, I sound so pathetic. Aimee doesn’t deserve this. He took a deep breath. But I don’t think I can go through this without her. He didn’t want to go through this without her. If he was honest with himself, he didn’t think he could go through this without her.

And that was probably the very reason why he should.

 

“That sucks,” Karla said before taking a sip of her lemonade.

When Aimee made it back home, Karla was already sitting on the balcony, drink in hand, enjoying the waves rolling in from the Atlantic. Aimee dumped her purse on the dining room table, fixed herself a drink, and joined her sister on the balcony. She didn’t take the other chair, though, but instead, leaned back on the railing, the ocean breeze tugging on her blond hair. She went all day without venting her frustration, not wanting Ginny to think she blamed her for what couldn’t be accomplished, but the moment Aimee saw Karla, she couldn’t hold it in any longer and just let her annoyance out. “I feel for Clint; I truly do,” Aimee said. “That woman ran out on him, left him with the responsibility of raising their daughter alone, and now she just gets to waltz back in and pick up as if she never left? It’s not right. To be honest, the whole thing is pretty fucked up.”

“But it’s not like she’s picking everything right back up where she left off,” Karla said, her head tilted a little as she studied her sister. “I mean, he’ll have to deal with Bonnie being around here and there, and in Abigail’s life, but she doesn’t get to playhouse again. At least, not with Clint. People do it all the time. It’s not fun, but it’s part of life. And part of being a parent.”

Aimee didn’t say anything, not wanting to hear anyone, even Karla, rationalize the horrible situation away. She turned her gaze out to the barreling waves. Two surfers paddled out, determined to catch some afternoon sets before darkness blanketed the ocean. Off in the distance, she noticed a family sitting out underneath a canopy, two kids playing in the small waves that broke upon the shore, while their parents ignored them and played on their phones. That wasn’t how Clint would be. He’d be out in the water with Abby or watching her dig a hole to build a castle. However, from everything she heard, she could picture Bonnie being that way. Still, that was supposed to be Clint down there, instead of in a broken marriage. It’s what he wanted when he first discovered Bonnie was pregnant, to be a family, doing family things, outings, dinner, vacations. Aimee stared at the couple under the tent. Now, Bonnie was back. They didn’t know what she wanted, but what if it was to be that family now? What if she wanted to make it all come true, everything Clint always dreamed? Could Aimee stand in the way of that?

“Stop,” Karla said, using her foot to nudge Aimee’s knee, pushing her out of her reverie.

“Stop what?”

“Stop overthinking. Stop being you. You’re always Aimee, always doing what you think everyone else needs, always giving up what you want out of life to do what you think is the right thing. Well, stop it. Stop always being you. Don’t give up on your man. Until Clint tells you he wants to be back with Bonnie, don’t assume that he does.”

“But Abby deserves her mother.”

“Perhaps, but that doesn’t mean Clint deserves that bitch for a wife. The two don’t necessarily go together. Wait it out and see what he does. Having watched him pant around you for the past couple of weeks, I can’t imagine him putting you to the side for her. It just wouldn’t make sense.”

Aimee nodded. She knew what Karla said made sense, but…

She took a deep breath. But it still confused the hell out of her. Then she looked at her sister, and the fact that Karla sat on their balcony finally struck her as odd. “Why aren’t you with Mitch?” Ever since Karla committed to Mitch Greenway and started working at his auto shop, she was barely at their condo. It wasn’t that Aimee hated being alone—that was the plan from the beginning, after all, when she moved back from Gainesville—she just found it odd, is all. Karla was never happier than Aimee saw her over the last couple of weeks.

“I needed clean clothes,” she said with a shrug. “Then when I got here, I heard the kids screaming down on the beach, and decided to take a short break and enjoy the scenery.” Karla turned her gaze back out to the ocean, just as a pelican skimmed the cresting waves. “It seems like forever since I’ve just sat here and enjoyed looking out at the water. I know why you insisted on the back bedroom.” She sighed. “Seems like forever since I’ve been at the beach. I miss it.”

Aimee turned and gazed back out at the curling waves. She missed the beach as well, and she wasn’t sleeping anywhere else like her sister. “We need a beach day soon.”

Karla sipped her lemonade after nodding. “That we do. That we do.” Aimee then felt her sister’s eyes on her again. “So, what are you up to tonight? As if I didn’t already know.”

Aimee took a deep breath. “Clint’s making lasagna with garlic bread. Extra garlic, he promised. To be honest, though, I have no idea. He wasn’t in the best mood when he left the office today. He may just want to be alone once he thinks it through.” She shrugged before lifting her glass to her lips.

“You’re serious? I’m fairly sure Clint Asher wants his precious Aimee around him all the time, especially after the day he’s suffered.” She cocked her head a little bit, narrowing her eyes at Aimee. “You’re not thinking of being silly again, are you?”

“What are you talking about?” She didn’t even convince herself with her tone.

“You know what I mean. Just a few days ago, you stood right where you are now contemplating breaking up with lover boy. There’s no reason for that. He needs you. Now more than ever.”

Aimee just nodded; her gaze focused on the wooden deck of her balcony. She remembered the evening Karla referred to, and it wasn’t a good night. Aimee’s insecurities had risen to strangle her, and she felt that suffocation once again. She wasn’t sure what to do or even think. If the laws had protected Clint and Abigail, that would be one thing. However, the law didn’t protect them. Instead, it allowed the woman who abandoned them, who walked out for another man and a looser lifestyle, to waltz right back in and pick up right where she left off. For better or worse, Bonnie Asher was back, and what that truly meant, Aimee had no idea. Clint didn’t say he wanted Bonnie back or that he would even consider it. Still, Aimee knew he had to be suffering an overwhelming bout of emotions surging through him, feelings that were once gone, faded with time as well as the responsibility of raising Abigail, filling his mind and pulling at him. How did she compete with that? How does anyone compete with their lover’s past when it shoved its way back through the door?

“I’m not going anywhere,” Aimee said. “I’ll stand by him for as long as he wants me.”

Karla took a long pull of her drink. She nodded as she licked the excess moisture from her lips. “That’s my girl.”

Aimee smiled. She would do it, stand by Clint, but she wasn’t sure whether it was the right thing or not for Abigail. How would the little girl act when she finally heard her mother had come back? Aimee couldn’t compete with that. Wouldn’t compete with that. Bonnie was a bitch, for sure, but she was also Abby’s mother. The girl had a right to her mother, didn’t she?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Clint shut Abigail’s bedroom door, making sure it didn’t make a sound, before returning to the living room and Aimee. Only she wasn’t sitting on the couch where he left her, but rather on the balcony with the sliding glass door still open. He stood just inside the door for a moment, staring at her, taking her in as she sat there, staring out at A1A and passing traffic. He could only imagine what went through her mind. She didn’t ask for any of this, for Bonnie to reappear and demand things. When he started hanging out with Aimee, she expected a normal dating relationship, not one dealing with Clint’s ex-wife. With the way the meeting went earlier, it was obvious that there would be more to endure. Bonnie was back in his life, just as fast as she left.

Clint stared out the window, waiting for Bonnie to return. She left right after supper, a supper he cooked, and she barely ate, saying she was going dancing. He tried to get her to stay home, watch a Disney movie with him and Abigail, but Bonnie only laughed at him as she snatched her purse off the table by the front door and left. She never even said goodnight.

He watched the movie with Abby, made sure she had a bath, and tucked her into bed, reading her One Fish, Two Fish twice before he was able to get her to lie still. He sat there, watching her sleep for a few minutes before he stood, left her room, and poured himself some scotch. He sat on the sofa, staring at the front door as he sipped his whiskey, waiting.

He heard the slam of a car door shortly after midnight, along with laughter. Clint pushed himself off the sofa to peek out the front window. He should have stayed seated. By the time he peered outside, Bonnie stood there, another man’s arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her tight against him as one hand slid up into her hair. Clint stood there, watching, as the two of them kissed, not even caring that they were in front of her home while her husband waited inside.

She laughed again when the kiss was over, her hand on the other man’s chest as she pushed away and turned toward the house. The other man—the stranger who just made out with Clint’s wife—watched as she walked away, a shitty grin on his face before he turned and slid back into his car. Clint felt a pain grip his chest, his heart aching, breaking really. He thought she would get enough of the wild nights, thought that once she held little Abigail in her arms, she’d be happy being a mother. Yet, she couldn’t care less about Abigail, Clint, or being a family. For two years, he put up with her behavior, watched as she left every night to do who knows what and with whom, while he took care of their little girl all by himself. He couldn’t take it anymore. As much as he loved Bonnie, he loved himself and his little girl more. He wouldn’t put up with Bonnie’s behavior another night.

As the front door opened, he downed the rest of his scotch, set the glass on the coffee table, and turned to face his wife.

“You’re up,” she said, as she staggered through the door. Clint could smell the alcohol on her breath. “I thought for sure you would have gone to bed hours ago. I know how you like to get a good night’s sleep before working all day in that mundane job of yours.”

He took a deep breath, refusing to allow her to bait him into a fight. Not yet anyway. “Who was that who dropped you off? I didn’t recognize the car.”

She arched an eyebrow at him as she slammed a fist against her hip. “Are you spying on me from the window? That’s kind of creepy, isn’t it?”

“You’re my wife. I have a right to know where you were all night and with whom.” He felt his temper rising, but there was nothing he could do to stop it. “For Christ’s sake, Bonnie, I watched the two of you making out right in front of our house. What if the neighbors saw you?”

“What if they did? Big deal. I don’t care what our neighbors think. I don’t care what anyone thinks. I don’t even care what you think, to be honest. I told you, Clint. I don’t plan on staying home every damn night. I’m young. Hell, I’m barely twenty-five years old. I plan on enjoying my life.”

“We have a daughter,” he hissed at Bonnie.

She rolled her eyes as she started toward the kitchen. “And whose fault is that? I told you I didn’t want kids. I never hid that from you. You talked me into this, into motherhood and family life. I’ve stayed and played house, but I’m not going to allow it to ruin my life, a life I deserve.”

“And what about Abigail? What does she deserve? Doesn’t she deserve a mother? A family?”

“She deserves you. And, lucky for her, she has you. You’re such a good daddy.”

Clint sighed, as he turned to the hallway, making sure Abby was still asleep. With a deep breath, he turned back to Bonnie. He loved her. He was willing to do anything for her. Did everything for her. Now, however, he needed to do everything for Abigail, their daughter, his daughter. “It needs to end, Bonnie. Now. Tonight. No more going out at night. No more drunken nights with strangers bringing you home. We’re a family, and we need to act like it. You need to act like it.”

She laughed. She just stood there and laughed, a sound that shattered his heart. “Are you seriously giving me orders? You really think you have the balls to make stipulations about our marriage? Clint, dear, I told you, over and over again, I will not shackle myself to a child. There is too much life to explore and I’m not going to miss a moment of it.”

“This is not a stipulation,” he said. “This is our life. You’re needed here. We need you here.”

“Forget it. Never going to happen.”

“Yes, it is. I’m tired of living this way. It’s not a good environment for raising our daughter.”

“Well, then, far be it from me to cause you to live in a way that makes you tired.” She pushed past him, punching something into her phone as she made her way to their bedroom, a room he slept in alone most nights. “I can make it all better for you.”

He followed her into the room, watched as she pulled a bag out of the closet, and began to stuff her clothes into it haphazardly. “What are you doing?” he asked.

“What I should have done over a year ago. I’m leaving you and Abigail to get on with your lives.” She stopped and glanced up at him. “I warned you, Clint. You know I did. I told you I didn’t want kids. I’m not the motherly type.” She went back to packing her clothes. “You, however, are the fatherly type. You’ll do great.” She zipped the bag and grabbed its handles as she straightened up. Her phone dinged as she did. She read the text, nodded, and then started toward the front door.

He followed her. “Where are you going? When will you be back?” He could feel the panic gripping his chest, the anxiety stirring nausea in his throat.

“I’m leaving,” she said as she turned around at the door. She stared at Clint, her eyes cold, distant. “And I won’t be coming back. Ever.” She jerked the door open. “Goodbye, Clint. Have fun playing Daddy.” She left, slamming the door behind her.

He stood there, staring for a moment before forcing himself to go to the front window. He watched as Bonnie—as his wife—climbed into a red convertible, laughing with the man behind the wheel. Clint could only stand there and watch as the man chauffeured her away from him, away from Abigail, and out of their lives. The only thought in his head being what he would tell Abigail in the morning.

Clint stepped out onto the balcony, running his hand over Aimee’s shoulder as he shook the memory out of his mind. Taking a deep breath of the night air, he allowed it to soothe his troubled soul as he walked around Aimee and took the seat on the other side of her. Two cups of hot tea sat on the table between the chairs, and it brought a smile to his face. She always took care of him, even in the midst of the chaos that was his life right then. That was what a relationship was, what family did for each other. He reached out and took her hand in his, squeezing it as he gave her his most reassuring smile.

She returned the smile, her head tilted to the side. “You okay?”

He nodded. “We’re together. Everything’s great.” He squeezed her hand again. “Really great.