Page 10 of The Ex Next Door (Charming, Texas #8)

T hat evening when Amy tucked the kids into bed after reading to them, she brushed the soft dark hairs along David’s hairline.

His hair was thicker now, no longer those tiny wisps of fine locks.

His smooth skin was still soft as a baby’s, though she would never tell him that.

She would quietly hang on to those little snippets of his babyhood and tuck them away.

“Why didn’t you tell me what your coach said?”

“I didn’t want you to get mad and go yell at him.”

Oh dear. She was that transparent.

“Well, he shouldn’t have said that to you. It’s discouraging and just plain wrong.”

“Yeah, that’s what Dec said.”

Interesting. Already calling their neighbor by his nickname.

“If you want to quit soccer, it’s okay with me.

I want you to have fun. But you have to promise me you’re not just going to give up on the next sport when it gets hard.

This is it.” She tapped the bridge of his nose.

“I can’t let you give up again. This time, you’ll have a good coach.

But sometimes persistence is the answer when it’s not easy in the beginning. Try and try again.”

“For real? You mean I can play baseball with Matthew? Thanks, Mom!” David reached to give her a hug, and his smile tugged on her heart in a sweet ache.

Her baby. The very least she could do for her son right now, after all she and Rob had put him through, was let him have a fun summer playing the sport he wanted.

In the end, it was Declan’s sincerity that convinced her to let David try baseball.

For an athlete of Declan’s caliber to offer help was not something she could take lightly.

She would get over her humiliation at accepting assistance from her ex-boyfriend for the sake of her son.

The regret she’d carried about Declan was all in the past, unfortunately replaced by Rob’s far greater abandonment of his family.

That last year together, she and Declan were about to go their separate ways but neither one of them knew how to handle it.

She didn’t want to bring up the fact he was going to Arizona with a full scholarship while she would stay in Texas.

She loved him and assumed they’d get married after college.

He was seventeen and hadn’t received the memo her heart sent via the “read my mind” express.

The point was she’d gotten over Declan, which had been possibly the deepest cut to her heart since it was the first. She would get over Rob too.

Just before she turned off the bedroom light and pulled the door halfway closed, Amy thought of one more thing to ask.

“Are you okay? About me and Dad?”

“No, I don’t like it. I wish we could all live together again like it used to be.”

“I know, honey. But… We’ve talked about this.”

“I know, I know. It isn’t my fault, or Naomi’s, but Mommy and Daddy can’t live together anymore. But I don’t see why not!” David threw his hands up.

Because he doesn’t want to be married anymore.

How does a mother tell her children their father doesn’t want to be married to their mother?

What if they get it into their heads that he might decide he also didn’t want to be their father anymore?

Amy couldn’t explain what she didn’t completely understand.

For some reason, she and Rob had grown apart.

It was all the traveling, all the loneliness, she guessed.

When Rob was gone, she and the kids bonded and, without realizing it, they’d failed to include him.

This was obviously going to be a much longer conversation and Amy didn’t have any platitudes left in her tonight.

She’d given David baseball. Now all she wanted to do was go to bed with a good book and not think about jobs, finances, teaching, baseball and far-too-good-looking exes who lived right next door.

Her brain was fried. She’d like to hang up a sign that read, “Gone fishing. Try again tomorrow.”

But moms didn’t get to take vacations. Actually, she had been hoping David would say, “I’m okay,” and a rush of shame hit her. It wasn’t her son’s job to assuage her guilt. He was simply being honest.

“That’s a tough one to explain,” she summed up. “Do you know how sometimes you used to ask me and Daddy about a certain joke you heard on TV that you didn’t understand and we’d say that’s grown-up stuff?”

“Yeah?”

“Well. This is grown-up stuff, honey. I’m sorry.”

David sighed and rolled over in bed. “Okay.”

Amy pulled the door closed and strolled into the quiet of the kitchen. She wasn’t used to all this alone time in the evening, something she used to crave.

Just give me a minute alone, she used to say.

Just one or two minutes in which she didn’t have demands on her time.

For years, it was either the kids or Rob.

He’d always been so needy, too, like a third child.

If she didn’t pay Rob enough attention, he pouted and complained.

But if she let go of one of the many chores she did for him to spend time with him instead, he’d also complain. She couldn’t win.

Now she had all the time she needed and hated every second.

She was truly alone. All her friends were still where she used to be: evenings were family time, and for connecting with the husband.

Talking, watching movies, eating the junk food they wouldn’t let the kids have.

Amy and Rob were the first in their group of friends to get a divorce, and to hear them tell it, no one saw it coming.

Why can’t you just be happy, how about that? Fake it till you make it.

Amy poured herself a glass of the Pinot Grigio that Lou and Mom had left behind on move-in day and went outside to the porch.

This had quickly become her routine. A glass of wine, sometimes a book if she could concentrate, and her porch swing.

From here, she had a nice view of the coastal skyline in the distance and every now and again she’d see the boardwalk’s roller coaster make its highest turn and drop.

On her right, the lighthouse still beamed its rays even if it no longer led ships to shore.

Next door, the front door opened and Declan walked outside, staring into the black night, apparently deep in thought.

She didn’t know if this was also his routine and had assumed the other night had been happenstance.

The thought occurred she should change her routine and left as quickly as it came.

She was done trying to make life easier for men.

They could both be out here at the same time. It didn’t mean they had to chat.

Declan finally noticed her. “Oh, hey.”

“Hi,” Amy said and waved at him with her glass.

So much for ignoring each other.

He walked over, which shouldn’t have surprised her. De clan had always been a friendly sort, and she imagined he was popular at the Salty Dog with both men and women.

“By the way, I told David he can quit soccer and we’re going to try the rec baseball league. I really appreciate your offer to get him there, but for now maybe you could just give him a few pointers.”

He stopped at the bottom of the steps to the porch, as if waiting for an invitation. “I’ll teach him everything I know.”

She’d make room for him on the swing but sitting close to Declan didn’t suit her guarded heart. Declan was a tough man to ignore. She might be able to overlook the way he’d bruised her heart for the sake of her son, but that didn’t mean her heart was open for business. Besides, Declan was taken.

“That’s all I can ask of you.”

“Well, you could ask for more but I know you won’t.”

At this, that old sly grin of his appeared. The one just this side of wicked, which always made him look as if he’d just told a dirty joke. He was an incurable flirt.

“Can I ask you something?” He took a seat again on the bottom step.

The distance was safe and Amy approved. He wasn’t encroaching on her space and she could live with this geography.

“Sure, ask away.”

“Why did you always trust me so much? When we were going out?”

What a weird question. It seemed to open up some difficult times in their past and Amy would think he wanted to avoid all that right now. But, if they were truly going to be friends, they should probably talk. It was too late to save their old relationship but they could still be good friends.

“Well, it wasn’t easy. I’m sure it won’t shock you to know women love you.”

“You never seemed to mind. It’s like you knew I loved you and that was enough somehow.”

“I don’t think you can have much of a relationship without trust. And I do realize how ironic that is. I’m alone again, and yet I trusted my husband. Just like I trusted you.”

“It’s not your fault, Amy. Believe that.”

“Why are you bringing this up now?” She considered. “Oh, I know. Did your girlfriend already give you a hard time about living next door to me?”

“Nah. But, the thing is, she doesn’t trust me. At all. I’ve given her no reason to doubt me. So, I don’t really understand.” He rubbed the edge of his jawline with his thumb, and she heard the sound of thick bristle.

“Ah, okay. Let me help you out there. You’re a big flirt, Declan. And that can feed a woman’s insecurities.”

“I can’t change who I am.” He lifted his shoulders. “Maybe I’m a flirt, but I’m not a cheater.”

She’d wanted to believe that. “You had me doubting that, near the end. Not that I blame you entirely. We were young.”

“Wait a second—” he interrupted.

She kept talking. “We were going to have to break up and you and I both knew it. And you did it, possibly in the only way you could. At least this way you didn’t have to deal with me trying to figure out a way we could have a relationship a thousand miles apart because you know I would have tried.”