On A Night Like This (Callaways #1)

said dryly.
    "True." She paused. "I wonder what Father Mike has heard from your family over the years."
    "I can't even imagine."
    "It seems like it would be a burden to keep everyone's secrets."
    "Probably. I never thought about it like that."
    "I wonder if my mom told him her secrets. It seems like she would have had to talk to someone. I can see my father locking it inside and throwing away the key. But my mom must have had moments of pain, flashes of memory, especially after I was born. How could she not relive those early years? Baby's first birthday, baby's first Christmas – wouldn't she have been thinking about little Stephen then?"
    "That would be logical," he said.
    "Now you sound like my father."
    "Please don't ever say that again."
    She smiled. "Don't worry, I would never compare the two of you. You're very, very different."
    "Thank you."
    "So when is the last time you saw Father Mike?"
    "A long time ago," he answered.
    "Do you think it might be good for you to talk to him about Kyle?" she asked.
    "Possibly," he conceded. "I hadn't considered the idea, but he's a good man."
    "A good man who can keep secrets." She paused for a moment. "Maybe he knows what secret your grandmother was talking to you about."
    Aiden frowned at the reference to his grandmother. "I'm sure her rambling was just the result of old age and confusion."
    "So you don't believe there are any skeletons in the Callaway closet?"
    "After what you discovered in your basement the other day, I couldn't possibly make that claim, but as far as I know, there's no big, dark secret."
    "I think I'm ready to talk to my father now. Well, not now, tomorrow will be fine."
    "Good, I was afraid you were going to ask me to drive you back to San Francisco tonight."
    "No way. The sun is going down, and I want to see those amazing stars you promised me." She also wanted to spend another night with Aiden, because it was quite possible it would be their last night together before reality returned to their lives.
    While waiting for the stars to come out, they ate sandwiches and drank wine, laughed and talked and enjoyed each other's company. When twilight turned to night, they rolled on to their backs and stared up at the most beautiful starlit sky that Sara had ever seen.
    Aiden showed her the constellations, telling her stories that were half fact, half myth. She was astonished by the depth of his knowledge and reminded again how much he appreciated the world around him, a world she'd barely noticed until now.
    Just before midnight, they crawled into the tent, made love, and then fell asleep in each other's arms.
    Sara woke up in the middle of the night. Aiden was tossing and turning, his breath coming fast, his legs kicking at the sleeping bag that covered them.
    "Stop," he yelled.
    "Aiden, it's okay. You're dreaming."
    She put her hand on his chest. He shoved her away, his eyes flying open. He stared at her as if he'd never seen her before.
    "You were dreaming," she repeated, trying to get him to wake up.
    Awareness slowly seeped into his gaze. "Sara?"
    She nodded. "It's me. We're camping, remember?"
    He shoved a hand through his sweaty hair, his breathing starting to calm. "What did I say?"
    "You yelled stop . Were you dreaming about the day of the fire again?"
    "Yes. It's always the same. I'm running after Kyle, but I can't catch him. I'm yelling after him, but he just keeps going. And then everything goes black." Aiden let out a frustrated breath. "I want to see what's behind the curtain, but I always wake up before I can."
    "Maybe there's nothing to see," she said gently. "You fell down a hill. You were knocked out. It's possible you just don't know anything else. And if that's the case, you will have to find a way to live with it. Kyle wouldn't want you to be haunted like this. He would want you to let go, to move forward. He was your best friend, Aiden. He wouldn't want you to be in this pain. And you know that's true, because if the positions were reversed, you wouldn't want him to hurt the way you're hurting now." She brushed the hair off his face and gave him a warm smile. "Life is going to go on. Someday the pain will ease."
    Aiden pulled her back into his arms and whispered against her hair, "I'm glad you're here, Sara."
    "Me, too."
    She wished they could stay this way forever, but forever was probably only going to last until the morning.

Chapter Twenty

    Sara poked her head out of the tent just after eight o'clock on Tuesday morning. Aiden was