Chapter Four

Aiden, bravely, turned his phone back on once Tam left. Chatting with the baker had put a few things in perspective for him. Namely, the people he had left back home.

Well, one of them.

With nothing but a phone call and a promise to check in when he had the chance. Aiden had plenty of chances, and he’d been negligent of every single one of them. Mam was probably panicking, wondering if he was all right, if he—

“About time you called.”

It was a rushed thing, dialing her number, just as rushed as her words—a harsh tone that Aiden knew all too well.

Plastering on a cheerful grin that his mam couldn’t see but he hoped she could at least hear, Aiden replied, “Hiya, Mam. How’re you doing?”

“Surviving. Good thing I know how to do that by myself.”

Aiden had been expecting this, the unspoken “well you should be glad that I’m fine, seeing as you aren’t here” lying just beneath the surface of her words. But hearing them through the crackling of her telephone (really, who still used corded phones?) was a whole other beast.

“No, you don’t.” Aiden’s voice was light, chipper. “Kat isn’t too far away.”

“Your sister is a busy woman,” she countered quickly. “She has too many things to be worrying about to be fussing over her old woman.”

“I’m sure she—”

“I have my doctor’s appointment on Monday. Will you be home to drop me?”

Aiden worried at the corner of his thumb, unable to find the words.

“Because you know,” Mam continued, words pointed, “that my knee has been giving me jip again lately. Last thing I want is to go down on a step and crack my head open. No one would find my—”

Aiden screwed his eyes shut, unwilling to let himself visualize that concept. “I’ll order you a taxi. They’ll take you right there.”

“I’ve never been in a taxi in my life, and I don’t plan on starting. You’d be happy sending your mother off in a stranger’s car?” Her voice started to rise on the end of each sentence, a sure sign that she was aghast at the very suggestion. Aiden started to pace. “I thought you’d care more than that. But sure, you jumped on an airplane at the first opportunity to get away.”

“I didn’t—” Aiden took a labored breath, his footsteps quickening. “It’s a holiday, Mam. Everyone takes them. There was this really good deal, and I couldn’t say no.”

Lies. Complete lies. But his mam loved a bargain, and it was the only card that Aiden had to play.

“Well.” Mam softened. Point to Aiden. “If it was so good, then I would’ve appreciated being asked if I wanted to go.”

Point rescinded and directly back in Mam’s court.

“But you hate airplanes…”

“It’s nice to have the option.”

Aiden closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and forcing himself to calm. “I’ll remember that next time. What about Diarmuid? Would he take you to the doctor?”

“The man has his own business. He can’t be dropping things just to give me a spin,” she scoffed, as though the concept was so outlandish.

“I’ll call him. No harm in asking, right?”

“No, ’spose not,” she conceded, her fondness for her neighbor shining right through. Bingo.

“Exactly. Listen, Mam, I’ve got to go. There’s…a walking tour. I’ll call you soon.”

“Do. There’s something wrong with the phone you got installed. My calls weren’t getting through to you.”

“Really?” Aiden’s voice took this high-pitched tone, and he was eager to hang up before she caught on to what that meant. “Weird. I’ll see you soon. Bye!”

Aiden slumped against the wall, his legs sprawled out in front of him, limbs heavy and brain foggy as if he’d ran a marathon. All he wanted to do was snail crawl right back into that four-poster bed and never emerge. As though his thoughts were broadcast to the world, a bird chirped outside and a light breeze floated through the sliding doors. A reminder that there was a world out there, just waiting for him. A world that he needed to grasp with both hands while he could, before he was stuck back home.

Aiden took a breath, holding it just like the hot Pilates instructor on one of Ryan’s exercise DVDs recited. Admittedly, Aiden sometimes just lay on the ground and appreciated their form instead of actually engaging with the exercise—but it was all a work in progress.

A work in progress that he might as well start now. Aiden once heard somewhere that it took twenty-one days to make a habit. That sounded doable. So he quickly made the promised call to Diarmuid, who happily agreed to bring his mam there and for tea on the way back, and then put his phone aside and out of his mind. He then plucked out a Pilates DVD that he actually intended on doing. And when Aiden realized that he could angle the TV so he could see it on the deck outside, Pilates became a lot more serene.

It was nice. Idyllic. And a stark reminder that he wasn’t as flexible as he was in uni.

It was admittedly difficult to keep his thoughts on his breathing and the poses, but some of the more difficult moves required a hell of a lot more concentration than he’d anticipated. So he switched to them the moment his mind went wandering into less-than-pleasant areas. Aiden had no intention of thinking about anything other than what he’d next make for dinner, or if Ruthie and Felix would end up together in that soap opera he’d become alarmingly attached to.

Point being, life was quiet. The next few days ticked by, uneventful and perfect. Mornings with Pilates and evenings with yoga in the sunset. (His form left a lot to be desired, but he hadn’t put his back out yet, so Aiden was happy to keep going.) Aiden felt all the better for it, the lack of having to go somewhere or do something. It felt like a gift that he’d wrongfully received but loathed to return

On Thursday, Aiden was getting his fair use of a cozy sun lounger and taking in the last of the sun’s rays as it set. Despite his brief time here, he’d adapted surprisingly well to the glaring heat—hell, he even welcomed it. He thought of the cold, often damp, and strangely humid climate back in Ireland. Weather that, in the winter, would have him sitting in front of a bright lightbulb in the hopes of boosting his serotonin. He figured that he was more suited for a climate like this.

Even if he did have to battle a little with sunburn.

As the bright day turned to dusk, he figured that he might as well call it a night. With dinner with Tam and Adie looming this Saturday, Tam had seemingly taken it upon herself to introduce him to food he’d never heard of in his life. Which was how he came to be in possession of snowberries that he had absolutely no idea how to serve, but he figured that bunging them into a blender with some juice and ice would do the trick.

Aiden wasn’t sure what his life had come to, but he wasn’t about to complain about it.

So he stood up, grabbed his muted phone and a book, and ambled across the porch to the door.

But then he saw it.

It was impossible not to see, really.

The giant spider was crouched in the left-hand corner of the sliding doors. It was the biggest spider Aiden had seen in his life.

Gulping, he took a step back, eyes locked to the creature that had made its home there.

Its legs were long and thick, almost like corded wire. It looked strong enough to take Aiden in a fight, and he was confident that the spider would win.

If Aiden had taken one more step and opened the door? That demon from hell would have plummeted right on top of his head. He shuddered just imagining it.

Okay, what should he do? Heart hammering in his chest, some part of his mind reminded him about Finn’s number stuck up on the fridge.

Great reminder. Except for the fact that the eight-legged creature from hell was blocking his way to the kitchen. Aiden cursed beneath his breath, clambering for some idea of what to do. His great lightbulb moment resulted in Aiden opening up the Airbnb app and praying to whatever entity was out there that Ryan would answer his phone.

“Ryan here. If I owe you, I absolutely don’t. If you owe me, you absolutely do,” came the cheerful greeting.

“Ryan, hi.” Aiden’s voice trembled as he spoke, words rushing out faster than he could think of them. “There’s a spider in the door, and I don’t have Finn’s number, and I think it’s angry with me, and I really don’t want to be bitten by a spider.”

“What’s that, mate? The line’s absolutely not great. Did you say you got bitten by a spider?”

“No, no. I said I don’t want—” Aiden took another wavering breath. “Send help. There’s a big spider.”

“I think I got you now!” Ryan enthused. “I’ll pass you on to FiFi there. Absolutely fearless bugger, will sort you right out.”

“FiFi?” Aiden parroted the name of his savior.

“Absolutely. You ready to take the number down?”

Aiden dutifully typed out the number as Ryan recited it, barely saying goodbye to the man before calling the other number. His mind conjured images of a badass elderly woman ready to evict the spider without a moment’s hesitation, but the voice that answered the phone sounded the furthest thing from that.

“Y’ello?” a deep, gruff voice answered, and Aiden was thrown off for a second.

Maybe she had a deeper voice.

“Hi, yeah,” Aiden said once his brain kicked back in. “My name is Aiden Cole? I’m staying at Ryan’s house? He told me to call you? There’s an emergency?”

Every sentence sounded like a question, tone rising at the end. There was a pause, a muted shuffle.

“Aiden. What’s wrong?” FiFi, to their credit, sounded immediately concerned.

“There’s a spider blocking the door.”

The line went silent, and for a moment Aiden thought that Fifi had hung up.

“You there?” he asked, just to make sure.

“You’re in Australia,” FiFi continued. They sounded bored. “There’s gonna be spiders.”

“Yes, but this one is hissing.”

Another beat of silence.

“I’m sorry, did you say that it’s hissing?”

Finally, FiFi was taking this emergency seriously. Aiden could at least breathe a sigh of relief.

“Hissing,” he confirmed. “So any tips would be greatly appreciated. I don’t exactly want to be eaten anytime soon.”

Aiden might’ve imagined it, but he was sure he’d heard a breathy laugh.

“I can be there in ten.”

The next ten minutes were perhaps the longest of Aiden’s life. He spent it sitting cross-legged on the sun lounger, eyes set on the spider in case it moved.

He was still in his swim trunks, drying in the evening air, towel and change of clothes inside.

Just when Aiden was contemplating what furniture would make the best kindling, he heard the rumble of an engine, and a motorbike pulled up at the back of the house. Brows furrowed, Aiden stood up, getting a clearer view of the rider the moment that he took off his helmet.

Oh god.

It was Finn.

FiFi was Finn.

He’d know that sharp jaw and those hard calf muscles anywhere.

Since when did Aiden pay attention to calf muscles? Aiden felt like some grand trick had been played on him and the only person that he could blame was himself.

“Hello again,” Finn said as he nothing short of sauntered over, the ghost of a frown on his lips. His expression told Aiden that he was thinking the exact same thing as him—fuck.

“Hey,” Aiden replied, now more than conscious of the fact that he was shirtless and shivering. Not that Aiden thought he looked bad shirtless. Finn didn’t comment on his state of undress (then again, he supposed that wearing swim shorts in November was normal here) as he strode his way over. “You, uh, sound different over the phone.”

“Where’s the bugger?” Finn asked.

“There.” Aiden pointed to the corner of the glass door, following behind Finn as he confidently strolled over.

Finn was fearless in the face of gigantic arachnids. Maybe those Australian movies were on to something. Finn certainly looked like he could be in one, with his ruggedly handsome appearance and gruff voice.

Spider Dundee, maybe?

“Fuck me dead!” Finn jolted back and knocked into Aiden.

Aiden’s balance had barely recovered before his brain registered his words. Fuck him dead? Outside? With the spider? “You… Right now?” Aiden choked out.

“That’s a funnel spider.” Finn looked around to Aiden, who had just about steadied himself after being knocked into what felt like a brick wall.

“That’s…bad?” Aiden narrowed his eyes, and Finn nodded.

“I’m gonna have to call someone.” Finn pulled his phone out and scrolled through his contacts with urgency. “You didn’t touch it, did you?”

Aiden raised his brows, looking at Finn incredulously. “Do I look like I have a death wish?”

Finn’s lips twitched into a smile. “Still up for debate.”

Aiden crossed his arms over his chest as Finn took the call, straight and to the point. But when he hung up, he frowned.

“That can’t be good,” Aiden muttered.

“Won’t be out here until the morning,” Finn said with a sigh, shoving his phone back into his pocket.

“Morning.” Taking a breath, Aiden hazarded a look at the door. “I don’t suppose Ryan has any camping gear out here?”

There was a pause, and a contemplative expression crossed his face. Aiden could practically visualize the cogs of his brain rolling around. “Right, come on.”

“Where? To get camping stuff?”

“You mean to say that you want to try your luck outside? I’m taking you back to mine.” Finn turned back to face Aiden, hands braced on his hips. “Funnel spiders make nests. Could be more around here. Camping out back ain’t gonna help.”

“Got it. So where do you live again?”