Face to Face

Part 41

He was desperately trying to maintain eye contact with the woman sitting opposite him, but her searching gaze was unnerving him. She wanted honesty and he was prepared give her just that because she was Jackson's mum, but he knew she wasn't going to like what he had to say, "I've got a temper I find hard to control, a mouth I don't know when to keep shut. I've done some bad things. I've hurt the people who love me, I've let them down and I keep on doing it. I don't mean to, I just don't think. But I'm trying to do better." His mouth was so very dry now that he was conscious of swallowing and finding it increasingly hard to speak, he wasn't sure if that was down to nerves or his ever present reluctance to openly express his feelings. But now he'd started he knew he couldn't stop, "I don't know why Jackson's with me, why he cares about me. I don't know why he loves me but he does, and I love him. And that's all I can tell you about me, there's nothing else worth knowing."

To his surprise Hazel was smiling at him now.

"Oh I think there is. My Jackson wouldn't love you unless there was something inside you worth loving."

He found himself smiling back at her, she'd made him unbelievably nervous at first, and had put him on his back foot but he was rapidly warming to her now.

Footsteps on the stairs drew his attention; he looked towards the door wondering how his mam and Hazel would get on.

He'd expected her to be dressed by now but no! She flounced through the doorway with only a towel wrapped around her, a towel that barely covered what it ought. "Mam!" He quickly got to his feet, forgetting all about Hazel as he stepped over to his mother, intent on stopping her from getting any further into the room. What sort of signals would she give Paddy parading around his house like that? "Go cover yourself up!" He demanded.

Only slightly taken aback by her son's order Chas peered over his shoulder, something or rather a someone having just caught her attention.

"You must be Chas?" Hazel lifted her hand and gave the brunette a small wave in greeting.

"Yeah!" Deftly sidestepping her son, Chas moved over towards the table, "You must be...?" She had absolutely no idea who the woman was but the pile of luggage stacked in the corner of the room had her very keen to find out.

"Hazel. Jackson's mum."

"Of course you are!" Chas sat down opposite Hazel, giving the older woman her best smile.

Aaron watched the two women as they silently sized each other up. Listening as they went on to make small talk, looking out of the window as he did so to see if there was any sign of Jackson. Where the hell was he?

As he returned to the table he realised the women's conversation had suddenly moved on from friendly chitchat.

"It's only since Jackson's been grown up that I've done any travelling, I never left him when he was a child."

Anyone else and they'd have taken the comment at face value but not his mam, not Chastity Dingle; she could find reason for an argument in an empty paper bag. Aaron knew she was highly sensitive when it came to her decision to leave him with his dad, and she seemed to think Hazel was having a dig at her about that now. But she wasn't, at least he didn't think she was.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Nothing, Only that I believe a child needs its mother..."

There was something about Hazel's tone of voice that had him start to wonder if she was actually having a go at his mother. But whether she was or not Chas was now in battle mode.

Aaron could only sit and listen as the two of them exchanged barbed comments. They'd known each other all of five minute's and already war had broken out between them. He couldn't believe it and he didn't know what to do about it. Paddy had told him once not to ever get in between two quarrelling women, not unless he was wearing full riot gear!

It was getting increasingly uncomfortable to listen to and he decided to try reasoning with the two of them but found himself being completely ignored. They didn't even notice when Jackson walked in through the door.

"What's going on?"

"They're arguing." Aaron said as he got to his feet and moved to stand alongside Jackson.

"I can see that! What're they arguing about?"

"Me!" Suddenly that fact got to him and he headed for the front door, needing some air, some quiet, some space.

From behind him he heard Jackson's raised voice, "Alright. That's it! Enough!" It wasn't the first time he'd heard Jackson say that, that night at the hospital, when Paddy had been fighting for his life, he'd had to step in and stop his mam and Marlon tearing strips off each other. He'd put them in their place and he was doing the same with the two women in the kitchen now.

Cain was shaking his head at him when he got to work, "You're late. Again!"

"Blame me mam and her big gob!" He knew it would take more than that to satisfy his uncle but the phone had been ringing and he'd walked away to answer it. Cain had been some time on the phone; Aaron reasoned it had to either be a very private call or that Cain was up to some shady business deal because he'd closed the door, making it impossible for him to hear anything. Not that he wanted to. He had enough to occupy his thoughts right now. His dad, he hated him. His mam, he was none too impressed with her this morning either, and then there was the threat she posed to Paddy. He was still to sort things with Jackson and then there was Hazel! He wasn't sure what to make of her now, not now she'd given his mam such a hard time.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see Cain now making his way over to him.

"That was your mam on the phone. She's upset."

"Well it's not down to me!" He snapped back, he'd done nothing to upset her and he was in no mood for a lecture from Cain.

"No one said it was. She was worried about you..." pausing as movement behind Aaron caught his eye he then continued, "...and she's not the only one by the looks of it."

Turning around, he saw Jackson was making his way over to him.

Two big brown concern filled eyes were soon searching his, Jackson going on to ask, "Are you alright?" He was now, Jackson only ever had to look at him that way and all his hurt and troubles would just melt away. "Yeah. I'm fine."

Jackson was nodding, although not entirely satisfied by Aaron's reassurance, "Well it's safe to go home now, I've put a muzzle on both of them and Paddy's standing by with a tranquilizer gun just in case!"

He couldn't help but grin, Jackson had delivered that line without any trace of humour, in so serious a tone he could almost believe what he'd said.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what got into her, she's not normally so...well she can be if she think she's got cause, not that I'm saying she did have, cause I mean."

"It's alright." He didn't want or need an apology from Jackson.

"No it isn't..."

"Jackson!" This wasn't going to be easy for him and Jackson rattling on about their mothers wasn't helping.

"What?"

He had his full attention now, "I'm sorry about before," The brown eyes narrowed questioningly, what with everything he realised Jackson had forgotten all about their own fallout.

"What?"

His heart was racing now, and he had to fight the urge to look around him to see who might be looking. Determindly he took a step closer to the man he loved, wrapped his hand around the nape of his neck and gently but firmly pulled him towards him into a kiss. The same sort of kiss they'd shared earlier. This time he was the one to pull away, not because he was scared of someone seeing but because he was wanting to see Jackson's reaction, he wasn't disappointed but then Jackson never disappointed him. He was beaming at him, and then through his so very kissable lips he heard him say, "Wow!

TBC