Finders Keepers
Chapter 14
Aaron ran the remaining distance to the flat, finding the front door open and Jackson squaring up to some bloke. From what Jackson was saying it seemed he thought the other man was his dad! "Jackson?" Both men's attention turned to him, "He's not my dad!"
"He's not?" Jackson had somehow convinced himself he was. He eyed their uninvited guest questioningly, "Who is he then?"
Aaron shrugged, something told him he should know but he didn't.
"You don't remember me then?"
Jackson could actually hear some warmth in the stranger's voice now; there was obviously some connection between him and Aaron.
"Should I?" The man did look kind of familiar, he had to have seen him before but he couldn't remember doing so. The breakdown truck parked up the road told him he was a Dingle, but other than that he was clueless as to who he was.
"I'm your mum's brother..."
"She sent you!"
Jackson could see that Aaron was on the defensive now, any mention of his mother and up went the barricades.
"No. She doesn't know I'm here..."
"What do you want?" Aaron demanded his patience was fast running out.
"To talk..."
"About what?" Like he didn't already know.
"Your mum she..."
"I've told Paddy. I've told her, and now I'm telling you. I'm not interested, not in her; I don't want to know..."
"Maybe if you did know..."
"No! How many times do you want telling?" It seemed like every other day one of them was in his face, wanting to talk to him, wanting him to listen. They just couldn't seem to understand that nothing any of them said would change how he felt about his mother, he hated her and always would.
"You're angry at her. You don't want to know her, but what about the rest of your family, what have you got against us?"
"I might not know you but I know what the Dingle name stands for round here, what lowlifes you all are."
Jackson was taken aback by Aaron's contempt filled comment, was he deliberately baiting his uncle or what? The older man seemed unfazed, and Jackson realised that he'd probably been expecting some show of hostility from his nephew. When he did speak it was in a quiet even tone and it told Jackson that he was prepared to weather the storm just like Paddy was.
"I own the garage in Emmerdale; I live right next door to it. If you ever need anything..."
"I won't, and a Dingle would be the last person I'd go to if I did!" Aaron moved away from the doorway making it clear he wanted his uncle to leave.
Jackson couldn't help but feel disappointed by Aaron's response, he just wouldn't give an inch.
"As I was saying, if you ever need anything you know where I am."
Jackson liked the way Aaron's uncle had handled the situation, but it only seemed to have angered Aaron some more, as soon as the man stepped out into the street he slammed the door shut behind him, making his opinion of him clear…
"Knob!"
Jackson had thought him one too in the beginning, that and a lot of other things when he'd thought he was Gordon Livesy. He was seeing him differently now, he was also curious as to who else might have some interest in Aaron's welfare, even if it was a little late in the day. "You said you didn't have any other family."
"You wouldn't want that lot as family not if you knew them."
"But you don't them so how can you judge them?"
"I know all about them, my dad told me."
"And his view of them wasn't tainted in anyway? It could have been the bitterness he felt towards your mother talking."
"He never liked them!" His dad didn't like his mum seeing them, he could remember them arguing about that. "Jackson I thought you understood, I thought you were with me on this, I don't want anything to do with her or any of her family."
"I do understand, I..."
"Well drop it then, it's not important, and anyway... there's something I need to tell you."
"What?" Jackson was suddenly concerned, he could see that what ever it was it was troubling Aaron.
" I saw Harley."
"And?"
"He knows about us."
"You told him!" Now that was unexpected.
"No. He guessed."
"Guessed?"
"Yeah, well he just knew."
Jackson wasn't liking the sound of this, and Aaron's discomfort told him his conversation with Harley hadn't been an easy one. "What did he say?" Harley could be a bit of a drama queen at times and it didn't take much to set him off.
"What didn't he say and in a shop full if people... and then out on the street!"
So Harley had made a scene, and with Aaron still having one foot in the closet... "I'm sorry."
"No. I'm sorry. I should have stood there and put him straight but I didn't, I couldn't. I just wanted the ground to open and swallow me up ... everyone was looking at me, they had to know I was gay and knowing they did... " Aaron shrugged "I thought I'd got passed all that, but I haven't. "
Jackson could see just how disappointed Aaron was in himself, as far as he was concerned it was unjustified, "Things have happened really quickly, more or less overnight. I can understand your reaction to being so publically outed like that, and I know that if this happened three months down the line you'd handle it differently."
"I don't know about that."
"I do." Jackson knew all Aaron needed was some time. "You'll get there."
Jackson's confidence proved contagious, "Yeah," of course he would. That problem would sort itself out but as for Harley? Something told Aaron they hadn't heard the last of him, "Harley was really pissed off..."
"Well he's got no right to be. Me and him broke up months back. Who I see is no business of his and once he's calmed down he'll realise he was in the wrong, just like the night he came here and started shouting the odds. Forget about him..." His phone had just started ringing and as he pulled it from his pocket Jackson said "That's probably him now, he's realised what a prat he was and... it's Paddy!"
"Not again!"
"It'll be about the extension." It would almost certainly be about Aaron but dropping the extension into the mix would hopefully take the edge off Aaron's irritation.
"What about it?" It wasn't happening as far as he knew.
"He told me the job was mine if I still wanted it, to think about it and get back to him but..."
"It's good money." Aaron felt guilty about Jackson losing what would have been a lucrative job, if there was some way he could still do it then maybe...
"Yeah but it's not worth the hassle that will come with it. You're not going to want to work there. I'll have your mother bending my ear about you. No, I'm going to say thanks but no thanks."
"But all that stuff you had delivered."
"I've got an account with the supplier, they'll take it back. It's not a problem."
Aaron wasn't so sure about that but with Jackson so reluctant to take the job he didn't think there was any point in pushing him on it, "You'd better let him know your answer then." Not wanting to hear the conversation Aaron made his way into the kitchen, he switched on the kettle wanting a hot drink to go with his breakfast bap, which he'd just realised was probable stone cold by now, he didn't have much of an appetite now anyway.
When Jackson did finally join him in the kitchen, Aaron could tell by the look on his face that his conversation with Paddy hadn't gone the way it was expected too. "Did he give you a hard time?"
"No, he just wasn't prepared to take 'no' for an answer, he tried all ways to get me to take the job."
"Did he offer you more money?"
"No, he knows money's not the issue here."
"No I am!" And Jackson was slap bang in the middle of it all, it wasn't fair he was getting all this aggro, that he was out of pocket because of him. "So what did he say?"
"He said... " Jackson paused a little wary of Aaron's reaction "...Chas was willing go away for a week or so, and that he'd stay out of your face if we took the job ... "
"Yeah, like they would!" Aaron spat scornfully.
"He gave his word." Jackson was certain Paddy would have kept it too.
"But why would they do that?" Aaron couldn't reason it out.
"I suppose because it would mean they had some kind of contact with you, and that something might just change between you because of it."
"Well it wouldn't!" How stupid were they to even think it could?
"I knew you wouldn't go for it so I told him the answer was a definite no."
"Ok." Only it wasn't ok… "Jackson ring him back and tell him you changed your mind."
"What?"
"Tell him you'll do the job."
"No..."
"You can't afford to turn work away."
"Aaron…"
"Go on phone him; tell him we'll be there first thing in the morning."
"You haven't thought this through."
"I have, as long as I don't have to see her then it's fine." It was, no matter what Jackson said he knew he needed this job, he hated the thought of going back to Emmerdale whether his mother was there or not but he was going to have to.
tbc