“Dude what are you doing here?” I ask excitedly.
“I thought I’d surprise you but you definitely one upped us.” Lisa laughs.
“Aren’t you a pretty little girl,” Lisa says, playing with Caylen.
“I’ll take her while you guys catch up,” my mom says, taking Caylen from Lisa.
“It’s so good to see you, Aidan,” she says, giving him a pat before she scurries off to the kitchen.
“Chris, you’re a dad. When you told me the other night it didn’t really sink in, but holy shit!” Lisa says, pushing me in the chest.
“Yeah, I heard you guys started getting wasted without me. Is that anyway to treat a solider coming home?” he says, punching me in the arm. The double-teaming has started already.
“Is her mom here?” Aidan whispers, looking around.
“Is Jenna here?” Lisa whispers.
“Her mom’s upstairs taking a nap, and I haven’t talked to Jenna in about a week, other than the occasional text. It came today, so that’s a good sign” I say hopefully.
“You don’t really think Ice Queen is still going to marry you?” Aidan laughs in disbelief.
“She’ll still marry him and just guilt-trip him his whole life,” Lisa says to Aidan.
“Want to put money on it?” Aidan retorts.
“Name it.”
And for a minute, you’d think I wasn’t even in the room. “Uh, this is kind of my life you’re placing bets on,” I interrupt them.
Aiden turns toward the kitchen and yells,” Mrs. Scott, whatever you’re cooking smells de-licious!”
“It’s your favorite. Lasagna,” she calls back.
“I can’t wait!” he says, completely ignoring me.
“Wait. You’re not staying for dinner,” I laugh but I am very serious.
“You guys suck at welcoming me home. Since when can’t I stay for dinner?” he asks, amused.
“Since there’s a girl here he doesn’t want you to embarrass him in front of,” Lisa says, nudging him.
“Wife to be exact, right?” Aidan nudges her before crossing his arms.
“I’m glad you guys think this is so funny.” I’m a little offended but I expect this from them.
“It’s better to laugh than cry buddy,” he says, putting his arm around my shoulder.
“So really, what the hell is going on?” Aidan says, tossing around one of Caylen’s alphabet blocks.
“Lisa didn’t fill you in?” I sigh.
“I did but he doesn’t believe me,” she says.
“Hey you had your one-on-one with him. Can we get some guy time?” Aidan says tightly.
“You mean stupid time,” Lisa says, rolling her eyes.
“So this girl’s going down on me and her mouth is...”Aidan starts excitedly.
“Eww eew eww! I’m going!” Lisa says, leaving in a playful huff.
“Let’s go out back,” Aidan says, and we cut through the dining room, head to the back porch and sit on the steps.
“It’s good you’re back. I’m glad you made it home safe,” I say genuinely. Aidan’s always been the type to live on the edge but was never one for authority even with his dad being in the army. We never thought of him as being disciplined enough to join the army, but when his dad was diagnosed with lupus, I’d bet Aidan enlisted for him.
“Don’t start going all crybaby on me,” he says, pulling out a pack of gum from his jeans pocket.
“How was it over there?” I say, taking a piece of gum from him. He’s still a “Big Red” guy. I didn’t even know they still made it.
“I’m home, the details aren’t so important, right?” he says with a wide smile as he rests his elbow on his knee. “Besides, while I’m off the deep end, it’s like you’re floating in it,” he gives me a nudge and I sigh.
“You’re a fucking dad, man!” His excitement is apparent and I sigh but can’t help smiling.
“How does it feel? I know you always wanted enough kids to fill a stadium,” he says, frowning at the idea of it.
I chuckle. “It didn’t feel like anything until I saw her. Now it’s real. I have this little person with my DNA that I’m responsible for.”
“When Lisa told me, I was like screw that. You need a paternity test. But it’s pretty obvious she’s yours. Like a little girl version of you…it’s kind of creepy actually,” he jokes. At least I think he's joking.
“So DID, that’s pretty messed up man,” he says with a sigh.
“You think?” I ask.
“Really, all the signs were there.” He stands up and stretches. “Like pieces to a puzzle but no picture on the box to guide you.”
“Really, Dr. Grunnel,” I say, rolling my eyes at his supposed psychiatric expertise.
“DID isn’t all that uncommon a condition when you come home from combat,” he says in a serious tone. “Along with all the other glorious perks,” he says, his tone returning to normal.
“The thing I don’t understand is, from what I’ve researched, the cause is usually a traumatic event. So I can understand why soldiers are high-risk but nothing’s happened to me to cause this. It’s like this guy came out of nowhere,” I say, standing now too.
“Or maybe you don’t remember,” Aidan says solemnly. The thought has crossed my mind. I don’t know if I’d want to remember something so traumatic it’d cause my personality to break.
“If something happened, this Cal guy knows. He knows a hell of a lot more than I do,” I say, noticing the anger in my own voice.
“That’s what he has on you. He knows everything you don’t,” Aidan says. I think back to my earlier conversation with Dexter and his insinuations of the damage Cal can do to my life.
“I need to know what he knows,” I say, almost to myself.
“If I knew why he existed and am able to deal with it, I wouldn’t need him.” I say adamantly, and Aidan puts both his hands up.
“Let’s not go that far. I’m not a psychiatrist or anything but my understanding is ‘alters have a purpose or use’, if there were no need for him he wouldn’t exist,” Aidan shrugs.
“I don’t need this guy.”
“Well somewhere in there,’ he points to my head, “begs to differ,” he says, and I swat his hand away.
“Soo…the kids mom,” he says, leaning on the railing with a sneaky smile on his face. This is what he brought me out here for.
“This is why you aren’t staying for dinner.”
“Your mom made my favorite thing in the entire world. I haven’t had a home-cooked meal in months. I’m staying for dinner, just come to terms with that now.” He laughs.
“One to ten, where’s she scoring?” he says, standing in front of me. I push him and he pushes me back.
“Come on!” he laughs, and I put him in a headlock. In less than a minute we’re wrestling on the porch.
“She’s either a one or a ten. You’re putting up too much of a fight,” he says, out of breath.