To ease the chill of emotions, she rubbed her hands together. Aidan reached forward and turned the heater on. She glanced over at him. Her heart thumped wildly at his continued attentiveness. “Thank you.”
“You wanna grab some dinner?” he asked.
“I’m not really hungry,” she lied.
Aidan grunted. “Guess Dr. Nadeen filled you up, huh?”
Emma tensed at the jab. “He just brought me a snack.”
“Well, you need to eat.” He glanced away from the road to pin her with his stare. “For Noah’s sake, if not yours.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “I’m well aware of what Noah needs, thank you.”
He grimaced. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for it to come out like that.” He sucked in a ragged breath. “It’s just I figured you needed to eat for him, even if you were still upset about what happened today with Pop.”
The sincerity in his voice, along with his compassion, softened Emma. Her eyes took in his thinner frame. Patrick hadn’t been exaggerating when he had said Aidan hadn’t been eating. “From the looks of it, you could stand to eat as well.”
His jaw tensed. “Maybe if you’ll eat with me, I can.”
Emma knew the last thing in the world she should do was agree to dinner. But she felt her resolve slowly fading as her traitorous stomach growled. She winced when it caused Aidan to smirk at her. “Hmm, so you are hungry? Was it just the company you wanted to refuse?”
She twisted her fingers into the hem of her top. “Let’s not argue anymore, okay?” At his hopeful expression, she sighed. “Take me to dinner.”
The corners of Aidan’s mouth turned up, and Emma could tell he was suppressing a beaming smile.
When he pulled into a familiar parking lot, she couldn’t help but gasp. “Here?” she squeaked at the flickering green and orange neon O’Malley’s sign.
Aidan shrugged as he turned off the ignition. “It was the first place I saw. Besides we both like the food here and atmosphere, right?”
A rush of painful memories crashed against her like ocean waves in a turbulent storm. “I suppose,” she murmured.
Ever the gentleman, he held the restaurant door open for her. For a moment, she was thankful not to see Jenny at the hostess stand. Then a piercing squeal caused her to snap her gaze toward the bar. “Emma!” Jenny screeched. Her face lit up as she hopped off her stool so fast it crashed to the ground.
After bounding over, Jenny threw her arms around Emma’s neck. “Oh my God! I can’t believe it!”
Warmth filled Emma’s cheeks as well as her heart at Jenny’s over the top enthusiasm. “It’s good to see you, too.”
Jenny pulled away. Her blue eyes flashed with happiness as she took in Emma’s appearance. “You look absolutely stunning!” Her gaze honed in on Emma’s protruding belly. “Man, I hope I look as hot as you do when I’m pregnant!”
Emma laughed and placed a hand on her stomach. “Thank you. I don’t exactly feel hot at the moment.”
“Trust me, you look it, sexy mama! Hell, you barely look pregnant, and you’ve got to be what, like six months now?”
Emma nodded.
“Congratulations on it being a boy.”
“Thank you.”
Jenny turned her attention to the hostess. “Why don’t you take Aidan on back to a booth? I want to hear more about the baby.”
With a nod, the hostess grabbed two menus and motioned for Aidan. He reluctantly followed her. He even threw a few cautious glances over his shoulder at Emma.
Jenny took Emma’s hands in hers. Her once jovial expression faded into one of concern. “I just want you to know how worried we’ve been about Aidan. That first week my dad had to drive him home a few nights.” Shimmering tears pooled in her eyes. “We were afraid we were going to lose him.”
Emma sucked in a breath. Before she could respond, Jenny shook her head. “Look, I know he screwed up. I tried to warn him when he had the audacity to bring that skank in here.”
“H-He brought her…”
Jenny bobbed her head. “Sometimes I wish I hadn’t refused him a table. I think maybe if he had thought about it a little longer he would have never taken her home.”
Over Jenny’s shoulder, Emma saw Aidan staring expectantly at her. “I have to go.” She started to pull her hands away, but Jenny squeezed them tight.
“I don’t know what I would do in your shoes. I hope and pray I never have to. But I do know I’ve never seen a man more miserable over screwing up in my entire life. He’s been so eaten with guilt and remorse that we’ve been afraid it would consume him.”
Emma didn’t know what to say, so she merely jerked her head in acknowledgement. On wobbly legs, she made her way over to Aidan. Thankfully, the waitress hadn’t put them in the same section where they had been before.
Aidan had already ordered their drinks. Since she hadn’t had any caffeine so far, she didn’t ask for something different than the Coke that was already on the table. After taking a sip, she started scouring the menu. Glancing up, she asked, “What sounds good?”
Aidan shrugged. She could tell from the way he twisted his bottom lip back and forth between his teeth that he was struggling with something. She opened her mouth to question him when their waitress returned. “What can I get for you?”
Emma peered at the menu. “Hmm, I’m having a hard time deciding.” When she looked up, she met Aidan’s haunted eyes. She knew she needed to do something to ease the tension a bit. “Are you paying?”