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23. Aiden

CHAPTER 23

Aiden

Levi didn’t say a word, not after he handed me his keys, not when I turned the engine over, not during the entire drive to the hospital.

His silence felt like a weight pressing down on the car. I wasn’t good at this—whatever this was. Comfort? Support? All I knew was that my chest ached watching him sit there, staring straight ahead with his jaw clenched so tightly I thought it might crack.

So I did the only thing I could think of. I rested a hand on his thigh, a light, steady pressure, and hoped it would be enough to remind him he wasn’t alone.

He didn’t brush me off. That had to count for something, right?

We pulled into the hospital parking lot, and Levi was out of the car before I even turned off the engine. He moved like a man with a singular purpose, his long strides eating up the distance to the hospital doors. I hurried to catch up, following him inside as the automatic doors hissed open, letting in a blast of antiseptic air.

Upon entering the hospital, Levi walked up to the reception desk, his voice tight but controlled. “I’m here to visit George Kincaid. I’d like to speak with the doctor before the visit, if possible.”

The receptionist nodded. We handed over our identification, confirming our relationship to George—Levi as his grandson and I as a close friend of the family—and signed the visitor log.

The receptionist gave us a polite smile. “Please have a seat in the waiting room. The doctor will be with you shortly.”

Levi nodded, and we made our way to the small waiting room just down the hall. The quiet hum of the hospital seemed louder in the stillness of the space. It was an odd feeling, waiting in this sterile, impersonal room, as time seemed to drag on. Levi paced briefly, his footsteps soft against the floor. After a moment, he sat down beside me, his fingers immediately tapping against the armrest of his chair, clearly anxious.

After a moment, he pulled out his phone, scrolling through his contacts before holding it to his ear. “Hey, Mom,” he said, his voice tight but steady. He walked to the far corner of the room, speaking in low tones. I couldn’t make out what Carol said, but his posture relaxed slightly, and he nodded a couple of times, even though she couldn’t see him.

When he ended the call, Levi made his way back to where I was sitting. “Mom and Paige got here a while ago,” he said quietly, lowering himself into the chair beside me, “and are just about to finish their visit with Grandpa.”

I nodded, sensing that he was still carrying a heavy load of tension despite the update. His fingers resumed their rhythmic tapping against the armrest, a small outlet for his unease.

We didn’t have to wait much longer before a doctor appeared at the door. He was a tall man in his late 40s, wearing a crisp white coat, with a tablet tucked under one arm.

“Mr. Kincaid?” he asked, addressing Levi directly.

Levi stood immediately, his posture tense but respectful. “That’s me.”

The doctor nodded, giving a reassuring smile. “I’m Dr. Matthews. I’ll be briefing you on your grandfather’s condition. Would you mind if we speak in a private room?”

Levi and I exchanged a quick look, and he nodded. “Of course. Lead the way.”

The doctor ushered us down a hallway to a room just off the main area, where he motioned for us to sit. After Levi took a seat, the doctor stood by the door, taking a deep breath before addressing us.

“You’re George’s grandson, correct?”

“Yes,” Levi replied, his voice steady despite the underlying tension.

“Good. Now, your grandfather was brought in after a fall earlier today. He tried to get out of bed on his own at the senior care facility, but he lost his balance and fell. He’s stable, but we’ll be keeping him under observation for the next 24 to 48 hours.”

Levi’s expression tightened, though he didn’t interrupt. He simply nodded, waiting for the rest of the information.

“We’ve completed a CT scan and X-rays,” Dr. Matthews continued. “No fractures or internal bleeding. However, with falls like this, we watch for delayed symptoms—swelling, bruising, or pain that might not show up immediately. We also want to rule out any underlying health problems that might have caused the fall—a stroke or other issues. Right now, he’s resting and stable. We’re monitoring him closely, but it’s too soon to know if there will be any long-term effects.”

Levi leaned forward, his brow furrowed. “What are we looking out for, long-term?”

“We’ll assess his mobility and balance before discharge,” the doctor explained. “Depending on how he recovers, he may need physical therapy to regain strength and coordination. The good news is, we don’t believe there’s an underlying problem and as long as there are no complications, he should be able to return to his normal routine fairly soon.”

Levi let out a long breath, the tension easing from his shoulders. “Can we see him now?”

“Two visitors at a time, and your mother and sister are with him now,” the doctor replied. “Short visits are best for now, so we don’t wear him out.”

The doctor gave a small nod and then turned, stepping back toward the door. As he opened it, Levi and I stepped into the hallway, where we were met by Levi’s mom and Paige. There was a brief flurry of movement as they all stepped forward and I instinctively hung back, unsure of my place. But Paige wasn’t having it.

“Aiden,” she said, her smile warm despite the worry etched into her features. She hugged me briefly before turning to Levi, who was already pulling his mom into a tight embrace.

“We’ve already seen him,” Carol said. “You and Aiden go.”

I was caught off guard by her words, a strange mix of warmth and confusion blooming in my chest. Why would she want me to visit her father when I wasn’t family?

For so long, family had meant three people: my mom, Nicholas, and me. Then it was just two, Nicholas and me, struggling to make it through the holidays without her. And now, with Nicholas engaged to Markus, our family would expand, but it wouldn’t feel the same. Markus would be Nicholas’s family—and what would that leave for me?

Levi gave me a look—a silent request—and I nodded. He needed me there, and for some reason, I felt like I belonged in that moment.

The thought lingered as Levi placed a hand on my lower back, guiding me down the hall to the room where his grandad was resting. He opened the door. Inside, the soft beep of monitors filled the quiet space. His grandfather lay on the bed, his face pale but his breathing steady. He looked smaller than I’d imagined, as if the weight of this moment had diminished him somehow.

Levi stepped closer, his grip on my wrist loosening but not letting go entirely. “Hey, Grandpa,” he said quietly.

His grandfather’s eyes fluttered open, recognition sparking in his gaze. “Levi,” he murmured, a faint smile tugging at his lips.

Relief flickered across Levi’s face as he leaned in, his voice gentle as he spoke to him. “You scared us, you know that?”

His grandfather huffed a weak chuckle. “Didn’t mean to.” His gaze shifted, landing on me. “And who’s this?”

Levi glanced at me, a soft flush coloring his cheeks. “This is Aiden… a friend. He drove me here.”

His grandfather’s smile widened just a touch. “Good. It’s always nice to have someone to lean on.”

Levi nodded, his jaw tightening as he fought the emotions flickering across his face. His thumb brushed lightly against the inside of my wrist, a subtle grounding gesture that made my chest ache in ways I didn’t want to examine too closely.

Watching them together, I couldn’t stop my mind from wandering. What would it be like to belong to something like this? If Levi and I were more than just... whatever we were now. If one day, his family became my family too—a family that wasn’t just built on blood, but on love and belonging. The thought bloomed in my chest, bright and unexpected, and for a moment, I let myself imagine it.

But I shoved the idea down almost as quickly. Happiness like that wasn’t meant for me, it wasn’t something I deserved. Not really. Still, the thought lingered, no matter how hard I tried to push it away.

Levi rubbed his hands over his face as we pulled out of the hospital parking lot. His fingers lingered at his temples, pressing hard, like he could physically push the weight of the night away.

“Can I stay at your place?” His voice came low, almost rough, like it had been dragged across gravel. “I know it probably makes me a terrible person, but I can’t go back there tonight. It’s just... too much. The house, the memories. Grandma dying there... I just?—”

“Yeah.” The word was out before I thought about it. “Of course.”

His shoulders dropped a fraction, but he didn’t look at me. I wasn’t sure he even heard the certainty in my voice.

We drove the rest of the way in silence, the quiet not as heavy as earlier but still thick enough to make me glance at him every so often. His profile was etched with the faint glow from the dashboard, the tension in his jaw a little softer now but still present.

When we got to my place, we toed off our shoes and he followed me without hesitation, moving like someone walking through quicksand—slow and deliberate, as if every step cost him something.

I grabbed a couple of glasses from the cabinet and filled them with water. He took one with a muttered “thank you,” gulping half of it down before setting it on the counter.

“You want us to...?” I trailed off, suddenly unsure how to navigate this.

“I just want to relax,” Levi said, his voice low, the tension of the night still clinging to him.

“Would you like us to go to bed?”

“Yeah,” he said softly.

This was the first time we’d been in my bed together without tearing each other’s clothes off. But it didn’t feel awkward or like something was missing. Levi needed me right now—needed this —and being there for him felt natural, not scary.

He sat on the edge of my bed, pulling his shirt over his head and folding it neatly before setting it on the back of the chair by the desk. He reached into his pocket, pulling out his phone, only for his brows to knit together.

“Phone’s dead,” he muttered, letting out a breath that sounded more resigned than frustrated. He looked at me, hesitation flickering across his face. “Do you mind if I use your laptop? I just want to look something up—about what the doctor mentioned earlier. The delayed symptoms that could happen from Grandpa’s fall.”

“Of course,” I said, grabbing the laptop from the nightstand and passing it to him. “Go for it.”

I climbed into bed next to him, propping myself against the headboard. His fingers moved quickly over the keyboard, and for a moment, I thought he’d gotten completely lost in whatever rabbit hole he was digging into. Then he stilled.

The pause stretched long enough that I glanced over, noticing the furrow in his brow and the way his lips pressed together.

“You’ve been looking up visa requirements?” He angled the screen toward me, the tabs glaringly obvious. “Thailand. Spain. Portugal. What’s this about?”

My stomach twisted. There was no point in lying. “Digital nomad visas. I was doing some research.”

“For what?” His eyes stayed on mine, unblinking.

I took a breath, steadying myself. “I’m not planning on staying in Juniper Hollow forever, Levi. This town... it’s never felt permanent to me. I’ve been looking into what it would take to work remotely, maybe spend a couple of years hopping around different countries.”

His jaw tightened, the lines of his face hardening as my words sank in. “You’re leaving.”

“I told you from the start?—”

“I know what you told me.” He cut me off, his tone sharp enough to make me flinch. “‘ This is supposed to be casual ,’” he said, lifting his hands to make air quotes.

“But?”

“But nothing.” His voice cracked and he looked away, his throat bobbing as he swallowed hard. “I get it. I really do.”

It was not nothing. That much was clear when he handed the laptop back to me, his fingers lingering a little too long on the edge as if he were trying to hold onto something that wasn’t there anymore.

“Levi—”

He smiled… a smile of regret that cracked open my heart, a smile that rendered me speechless. “I wanted something more,” he continued, “but I let myself settle for less. And that’s on me. You’ve always been upfront with me, Aiden. You never lied. I did. I lied to myself, thinking I could be okay with something that wasn’t enough for me.”

I swallowed, the weight of his words hitting me. He wasn’t angry with me; he was angry with himself.

“I’m tired.” He pushed himself off the bed, reaching for his shirt from the back of the chair and pulling it over his head. “I should probably head back after all. Mom’ll want help in the morning.”

I stayed where I was, the weight of his words pressing into me like a physical thing. “You don’t have to go.”

His back was to me, his shoulders stiff as he reached for the door. “Thanks for tonight, Aiden. I mean it.”

The door clicked shut behind him, leaving me alone in the silence.

I stared at the empty space where he’d been, the sting of rejection sharper than I wanted to admit. Guilt clawed at me, twisting tight in my chest. I’d been honest—clear, even—but somehow, it didn’t feel like enough.

Because part of me wished I hadn’t insisted that what was happening between us was just casual.

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