Second to Cry Read online

  ‘I’m home,’ Aiden called as he pushed open the door to his modest home with his free hand, his other clutching his briefcase.

  The small house he had acquired for the move to Avalon was still in need of a complete overhaul. His wife, Isla, was supposed to be arranging things for the renovation but so far nothing had been done which did annoy Aiden, but he chose to not let any negative feelings taint his good mood.

  ‘I said, I’m home,’ he repeated his initial greeting when he was met with only silence. Stepping in to the kitchen he noticed how oddly quiet the house was. Tea was not simmering on the stove as it usually would have been, well in the early days at least. Recently Isla had taken a more relaxed approach to her traditional housewife duties.

  ‘Isla, hon?’ he called through the house, raising his voice so that he could be heard throughout the small structure.

  ‘We’re in the garden,’ came a faint reply, carried on the early evening breeze.

  Aiden placed down his briefcase and loosened his tie before strolling through the house, out through the back patio doors and to the welcoming sight of his young daughter, Meegan, giggling merrily as she was pushed in a small swing.

  ‘Sorry, I know I’m running late,’ Isla immediately apologized from her position behind the swing. In between pushes she nudged a loose strand of hair back behind her ear, and with the dropping sun glowing behind her she looked stunning. Aiden was almost taken aback at just how beautiful his wife was.

  ‘Even after all these months I struggle to get used to you coming home at a reasonable hour,’ she explained, still pushing Meegan in the swing even though the little girl now had other ideas.

  ‘Daddy, Daddy!’ she cried joyfully when she saw Aiden come in to the garden, extending her miniature arms out towards him.

  ‘Hi, Princess!’ Aiden came and scooped her up out of her swing seat and lifted her into his arms, spinning her around as he did so, which made her sequel with delight.

  ‘Daddy!’ Meegan clapped her hands happily before planting a wet kiss on Aiden’s nose.

  ‘I missed you today,’ he confided in his daughter who looked up at him with big, open, innocent eyes.

  ‘I watched Princess and the Frog,’ Meegan whispered in response, almost shamefully as though she had been too busy having fun to miss her father.

  ‘Did you enjoy it?’ Aiden already knew the answer; she would have loved it, as she had done the dozen or so other times she had watched it. It was currently her favourite movie.

  ‘I wish she’d stop watching it,’ Isla sighed, heading towards the house. She was wearing short denim hot pants which showed off her long, lean legs.

  ‘Why?’ Aiden asked, surprised by his wife’s lack of enthusiasm for the movie.

  ‘Princess films just set girls up to have unrealistic expectations of life.’

  ‘Well aren’t you a ray of sunshine today?’ he joked.

  ‘I’m serious, Aid. I don’t want Meegan to grow up to be one of those girls who wastes their lives waiting for Prince Charming to show up.’

  ‘So you want her to be like you and just settle for the first hot guy who comes along?’ Aiden teased.

  ‘I didn’t mean that,’ Isla glanced at him sheepishly. ‘I’m just having a bad day,’ she admitted sadly.

  They were now in the kitchen and Aiden settled at the table, placing Meegan within her high chair while Isla began boiling some pasta in a pan.

  ‘Can I help?’ he offered.

  ‘No, I’ve got it.’

  ‘So why the bad day?’ Aiden asked as he briefly went over to the fridge, retrieving not his usual sole beer, but also one for his wife. He handed it to her and she gratefully accepted it.

  Isla considered mentioning the note but considered against it. It was probably nothing anyway.

  ‘I took Meegan to that toddlers’ group over at the church.’

  ‘Oh yeah, you mentioned you were going to try going there.’

  ‘But it was a complete joke,’ Isla said, shaking her head before taking a sip of beer.

  ‘Joke,’ Meegan echoed without any comprehension.

  ‘How so?’

  ‘Basically, everyone there still treats me as a pariah. After everything you’ve done for this God-awful town and still they cross the street to avoid me. It’s ridiculous.’

  ‘They just need time.’

  ‘Aid, I’ve given them time. And you’ve given them a crooked priest but still they want more! So I took Meegs to the stupid toddler group and everyone just ignored me. If she went over to play with their kids they picked their kids up and moved them. I swear to God, I almost slapped one of the stupid bitches!’

  ‘Language,’ Aiden berated his wife, but only lightly as he could see that she was pretty fired up about the situation.

  ‘I’m just sick of feeling like an outsider!’ Isla lamented, the text of the note still burning in her mind. She drank some more beer to calm herself.

  ‘I’m sorry it’s being so tough on you.’ And Aiden was sorry. The horrid feeling of guilt crept up his spine and pinched at the back of his neck. It was his fault they were here, his fault that Isla was so miserable.

  ‘Daddy, look!’ Meegan called for her father and then began to proudly blow bubbles. Aiden looked at her fondly, and then up at Isla who was now smiling at her daughter.

  ‘I guess she’s why I do it,’ Isla admitted. ‘It’s just so hard sometimes.’

  ‘I know.’ Aiden himself was still treated like an outcast who could potentially be harbouring the plague and he knew it wasn’t a nice feeling. For a town which outwardly seemed so loving and community based, the people could be very standoffish.

  ‘Anyway, how was your day?’ Isla changed the topic and continued to prepare dinner. She handed Meegan a bowl of baby food which the little girl promptly dunked both hands into.

  ‘Meegan!’

  ‘Don’t worry, I’ve got it,’ Aiden offered, already wetting a flannel to clean Meegan up. ‘My day was good,’ he spoke as he mopped the contents of the bowel off Meegan’s little hands. ‘I started working on my next case.’

  ‘Oh?’

  ‘You’ll never guess who it’s for.’

  ‘Who?’ Isla asked, intrigued.

  ‘Buck Fern’s brother.’

  ‘You’re joking!’ Aiden’s wife scoffed as she stirred the pasta. ‘Is he as much of an ass as Buck is?’

  ‘I’ve not met him yet but by all accounts, yes, he is.’

  ‘Sounds like you’re in for a good time at work then.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Aiden sighed, picking up his beer now that Meegan was clean and finally eating her dinner rather than trying to wear it.

  ‘What’s the case?’

  ‘Paternity suit, I think.’

  ‘Ooh,’ Isla’s eyes lit up at the prospect of a scandal. ‘Those are always interesting.’

  ‘I guess.’

  ‘What’s the wife like? I’m guessing he’s married?’

  ‘Yeah he is. I’ve not met her yet either. Apparently she was Miss September one year for Playboy.’

  This last piece of information got Isla’s full attention. She turned away from dinner to face Aiden, a wooden spoon held within her hands forcefully, like a weapon.

  ‘She’s a Playmate?’ there was something accusing in her tone and Aiden instantly wished he’d not revealed that particular piece of information to his wife.

  ‘She was. Years ago.’ Aiden tried to sound dismissive, didn’t want to dwell on the topic for too long. He’d forgotten that during college, Isla had applied to be a Playmate, seeing it as a fun way to make a load of extra cash. She hadn’t been accepted and it had remained a sore point for her ever since.

  ‘She must look cheap as that’s what they go for there.’ Isla said bitterly, watching Aiden intently, her eyes narrowed.

  ‘Exactly!’ Aiden agreed. ‘Can we eat yet?’

  *

  ‘You used to hate paternity cases,’ Isla said suddenly as they lay in bed that night, bringing
Aiden back from the brink of sleep. It was only just past ten but his body was now conditioned to early nights and early mornings and so it felt much later to him.

  ‘Huh?’ he asked sleepily.

  ‘Back in Chicago, you used to hate paternity cases. You said they made you feel uneasy because you worried about the kids involved. Which I thought was noble of you.’ From the tone of Isla’s voice it was clear that she’d been lying in bed thinking, rather than trying to sleep.

  ‘I did hate them, still do. They’re messy,’ Aiden admitted.

  ‘How old is the child?’

  ‘Two.’

  ‘That sucks.’

  ‘Can I go back to sleep now?’ Aiden asked, his eyes feeling heavy.

  ‘I didn’t even know we had an ex-playmate living here,’ Isla mused half to herself, half to her tired husband.

  ‘Maybe you two could be friends,’ Aiden muttered dreamily.

  ‘What?’ Isla screeched, instantly outraged.

  Sighing, Aiden pulled himself up so that he was sitting and looked at his wife. His body groaned from being pulled from the sweet release of sleep so abruptly.

  ‘She’s an ex-playmate. I imagine she is glamorous. I know they used to live in the city so you two would have a lot in common, that’s all.’ He planted a kiss on Isla’s forehead to further placate her.

  ‘She might know decent places locally to get hair and nails done,’ he added, knowing that Isla was constantly aggrieved by the lack of professional beauticians close by. Or at least ones she deemed competent.

  ‘Hmm,’ Isla mulled on the thought. She had to admit it wasn’t the worst idea she’d ever heard.

  ‘I need to get to sleep,’ Aiden pleaded.

  ‘Okay, fine.’

  They both lay back down and settled themselves in the darkness. Isla’s mind continued to flutter ideas around her head, preventing her from sleeping, but Aiden immediately dropped off and a lazy smile pulled across his lips.

  He was dreaming, as he often did, of Brandy. She was on the beach, by the edge of the sea, playfully dipping her toes into the water. Each time she did, she would squeal girlishly at the cold. Aiden was watching her from afar.

  The wind caught her blonde hair and whipped it around her head. She looked messy and carefree and devastatingly beautiful. Turning, she looked over to Aiden, a sweet smile on her face, and she beckoned him to join her in the water.

  ‘Come on in!’ her voice still held its soft, Southern lilt. She bit her lip playfully as she watched him which set his pulse racing.

  Aiden moved to oblige, his eyes taking in the curves of her petite body in the green bikini she was wearing which glistened with an ethereal glow, as though she were a mermaid.

  As he walked towards her, he was enticed by her gaze, by the sound of her soft laughter. He didn’t want to just play in the ocean with her. He wanted to kiss her, to hold her, to run his hands down her almost bare body. He wanted…

  Aiden woke up suddenly, his breath catching in his throat. As his senses slowly returned, he realized that he was in a full state of arousal and beside him Isla was now fast asleep. He considered waking her and then sighed to himself. He was definitely too tired for that. Shaking off the residues of the dream, Aiden headed for the bathroom, wishing that he had not woken from such a pleasant fantasy.

  *

  The following morning the sun was shining brightly, basking Avalon in a sumptuous golden glow. It was hard to feel anything other than happy when the weather was so nice and the air so fresh. But Isla was not happy.

  ‘Another day with just a two year old for company,’ she moaned as Aiden drank his morning coffee.

  ‘You just need to make some friends around here, that’s all.’

  ‘I’ve tried and no one here wants to be my friend. No one here gets me.’

  ‘I’m sorry, hon, I’m sure you’ll meet someone on your wavelength soon enough.’ Aiden wasn’t paying that much attention to his wife as his mind was already at the office, thinking about the working day which lay ahead of him.

  ‘Aid, I’m lonely.’

  Aiden sighed and placed his mug of hot stimulant down and gave his wife a steady, long look. He was as tired as she was lonely of being caught in the same argument. She didn’t like Avalon, he did. She had come because of him, had sacrificed the life she knew. But in his mind it was done now and she needed to at least try and make the best of it. From where he was standing, Isla seemed reluctant to even try, preferring instead to dig in her heels and just lament about how miserable she was.

  ‘Just give it time,’ he told her sternly, hoping the tone of his voice would encourage her to drop the topic for at least one morning.

  ‘I’ve given it time!’ she exclaimed angrily, not sensing his annoyance.

  ‘A couple of months is nothing. It can years to settle somewhere new. Be patient.’

  ‘Patient! Aid, I’m wasting away here!’ Isla bunched her hands into fists as she spoke and began to pace around the kitchen.

  Aiden gestured towards their daughter who was happily eating her breakfast, oblivious to their heated exchange.

  ‘She is the sole reason we are here,’ he said. ‘Her wellbeing matters more than our own. That’s what happens when you become a parent. So next time you feel lonely, or isolated, or frustrated because you can’t get your nails done how you like them, think of our little girl and how much she is benefitting from being around you, from living somewhere without copious amounts of air pollution.’

  ‘Are you calling me a bad mother?’ Isla’s hands instantly moved to her hips as she delivered the accusation, glaring at her husband.

  ‘Jeez, no,’ Aiden sighed, regretting having tried to even make the point about Meegan’s welfare.

  ‘Because it sounds like you’re calling me a bad mother!’ Isla declared again, becoming confrontational.

  ‘Isla, no. You’re not a bad mother; I’m just suggesting you need to get some perspective on the situation.’

  He rose up and went over to his wife and, placing his hands on her shoulders, bent down and softly kissed her cheek. Her body was stiff beneath his touch but loosened slightly when he kissed her.

  He needed the argument to be over, for Isla to be in a decent mood when he left so that he wouldn’t come home to further animosity.

  ‘Meegan loves it here and you will too,’ he whispered soothingly and Isla managed to smile slightly.

  ‘So you don’t think I’m a bad mother?’

  ‘Of course not. You can just be a little self-involved,’ he added the last part lightly, as a tease, so she wouldn’t get wound up again.

  ‘Whatever, get out of here. Go earn the money to put bread on this table!’ Isla’s bad mood had passed and she was now appearing almost cheerful. She always looked so much prettier when she smiled. Aiden wished her temperament would allow her to do it more often.

  ‘See you later! Bye, princess.’ He kissed both his wife and daughter on their foreheads before stepping out the door and into the sunshine to commence a new working day.

  *

  Aiden drove through Avalon with his windows down and his radio on. The station he was tuned in to was playing a country song about loving someone who was with someone else. Though the lyrics were pained, the melody was upbeat and Aiden happily tapped along on his steering wheel.

  He was in a good, possibly great, mood until he saw the flash of blue lights in his rear-view mirror, which was shortly after joined by the scream of a police siren which drowned out the radio completely.

  Checking his mirrors, Aiden signalled and pulled over, unsure what exactly he had done to deserve being stopped. His music wasn’t loud, he had been well within the speed limit, there hadn’t been a stop sign he had overlooked.

  He was still pondering on why he had been pulled over when he saw a familiar figure emerge from the police squad car which had parked up a few feet behind him. Buck Fern stepped out into the sunshine. A large Stetson shielded his eyes from the sun but he still squinted as
he strode over towards Aiden.

  Buck took his time walking over, taking arrogant, deliberate steps, as though he were taking some special joy in forcing Aiden to take time out of his day for him. Eventually he reached Aiden’s car and leant down to look in through the open window.

  ‘Morning, Mr Connelly,’ he drawled the words out almost as slowly as he moved.

  ‘Good morning, Sheriff, is everything all right?’

  ‘You’ve got a tail light out.’ Buck glanced to the back of the car.

  Of course he had. Aiden inwardly groaned at not having noticed it sooner and thus preventing this awkward encounter.

  ‘I have? I must not have noticed. I’ll get that sorted out later today.’ Aiden answered politely.

  ‘There’s a good garage up near the turn pike,’ Buck offered, shifting his weight so that he was leaning against the car, clearly in no hurry to conclude their conversation.

  ‘Okay, thanks, I’ll check them out.’

  ‘Offer good prices too. Not that you lawyer types need worry about money.’ There it was. Aiden knew the old man would struggle to last five minutes without insulting him somehow.

  Buck leant away briefly to spit on the ground and his breath suggested he’d been chewing tobacco.

  Aiden wanted to leave, to drive off and get away from Buck Fern and his bitterness but he felt that the old man wasn’t done with him yet. That the out tail light was merely a front for something else he wanted to discuss.

  ‘I hear you’re working on my brother’s case,’ Buck said lightly, as though it were common knowledge around town.

  Aiden had to give the sheriff credit; he’d certainly wasted little time getting to the point.

  ‘How do you know about that?’ He’d only just started work on the case so he was surprised word could have got round so quickly.