Page 37 of The Ex Next Door (Charming, Texas #8)

B y the time the weekend rolled around again, and Rob took the kids, Declan was dying for his Amy fix.

He’d learned later that after his dinner with the family, Amy had come clean with the children and told them she and Declan were dating.

But they’d mutually decided it would be best to take it slow around the kids, limit the PDA and leave the deep affection for after hours, closed doors and weekends.

He’d been over a few times to watch TV with them, and the problem with these summer hours was that the kids stayed up late.

Amy assured him it would be different come fall when school started up again.

Bedtime would be eight then, leaving plenty of time for adult fun.

Eventually, they’d have every weekend together, but it would take a ring for that to materialize.

Declan was ready to go ring shopping, but he’d decided not to scare Amy off.

She’d just come out of a marriage, and probably didn’t want to pole-vault right back into another one.

Were it all up to him, they’d elope and get it done in Vegas tomorrow.

He didn’t need a big wedding, just his life with her and the kids to start immediately.

They were both scheduled to work the entire weekend, which would cut into some of that time, so he was pleasantly surprised when Amy showed up at his door on Friday after noon. She wore jeans and a cami top with those thin straps, her hair down, her eyes shimmering, lips lush.

“The kids just left.”

He hauled her inside, never able to resist her eagerness. They were kissing before the door was closed. He turned and shut it with one hand while busy kissing the breath out of her.

“I missed you so much.”

She jumped into his arms, straddling her legs around his waist, climbing him like a tree.

He carried her into the bedroom, where she slowly slid down the length of him.

Then she surprised him by pulling off his T-shirt in the middle of ravishing his mouth with her wicked tongue.

When her fingers glided up and down his back, he thought he’d lose his mind with lust. Her fingers settled on the waistbands of his jeans and there was no shyness in her now.

Her lips were soft and warm. While she was busy undressing him, he unzipped her jeans and tugged them down over her hips.

She stepped out of them, pushing them aside with her feet, and he nearly swallowed his tongue when he saw her underwear.

His Amy, his sweet and shy and conservative Amy, wore a plunging black bra and a matching thong that barely covered her. He took a moment to enjoy the view, the milky softness of her curves. Her long and luscious legs.

“Wow.”

“I went shopping for fun underwear,” she said. “For you, mostly.”

“Thank you.”

“No, no. Thank you .” She took his hand and led him to bed. “You’re the only one who makes me want to blow my lingerie budget just so I can see your face when you take off my clothes.”

“It will always be my pleasure to relieve you of your clothes.” He grinned. “Slowly.”

And, as it turned out, they were both late for work.

* * *

To Amy, the weekend passed in a glorious state of domestic bliss.

She and Declan were definitely playing house, and for the sake of ease, they were mostly staying at hers.

His toothbrush and shaver had migrated to her bathroom, which hadn’t seen evidence of a man in ages.

Now all the pain of the past year, all the grief at the loss of a marriage dissolved.

She was happier than she could ever recall, the blush of love coloring every minute of her day.

Had someone told her in the dregs of her despair after Rob left that she’d be this happy again this soon she wouldn’t have believed it.

It almost seemed unfair to be this happy because she hadn’t done anything to deserve it.

She woke up on Declan’s arms late Sunday morning after their late-night shift the night before.

He cooked her breakfast, too, and then they wound up sitting next to each other on the couch, each with a laptop.

Amy was still studying for her certification test and Declan was researching lesson plans.

He was also—he wasn’t kidding her—working at a strategy to take their team to the state division.

There were phone calls to Mr. Sheridan, who had his own ideas and input.

Declan took notes. Amy couldn’t help but think all of it was very familiar.

Once, she and Declan sat together side by side on a couch but at that time they were the students.

Soon they would both be the teachers. Full circle.

She was so proud of Declan for going back to teaching, not allowing that one horrible experience to take away the joy he found in molding young minds.

He would make a difference that would be felt for decades to come, she was sure of it.

But when they didn’t once go out all weekend, Amy worried. It occurred to her that most girlfriends might want to go out more than she did.

She crossed her leg over his and got his attention. “Am I boring?”

“Boring?” He squinted. Declan wore glasses whenever he used the computer, and they made him adorably geeky in a way he could never achieve otherwise. “You?”

“I don’t drink, I don’t dance and I’m not big on going out to eat.” She listed them off one by one. “I thought I’d do more of that when the kids got older but somewhere along the way I became a homebody. Maybe I always was.”

“You’re not boring, babe. This is what I signed up for. Guess who else is secretly a homebody?”

“That’s right . Isn’t that what you said to me on the first day I moved back in? How you also wanted to get married and have children.”

“On the first day we met again, you mean.”

“I confess I didn’t think you really meant it.”

“Now you know better.” He squeezed her thigh. “I’ve always wanted what my parents had. Love and a partnership. I got all the drinking and sowing my oats out of my system in college, anyway.”

Later, they ate lunch together, a quick ground beef and vegetable stir-fry that Declan threw together.

“Are these tater tots?” She asked.

“Yeah. Why?”

“Delicious.” She wouldn’t have thought they belonged in a stir-fry before today.

They washed the dishes together, Declan rinsing, Amy stacking. They already had their routines, and to Amy they were as comforting as melted butter on a cinnamon roll.

Rob texted after lunch, letting her know they were on their way.

Knowing it would be a week or more before they could be like this again, Amy squeezed every last moment of togetherness.

She insisted on sitting side by side on the couch as they watched old reruns of Friends .

To them, it was feel-good comfort. They’d both pretty much grown up watching it as kids and it was funny to know the actors were now so much older than on the show.

In fact, Amy and Declan were now the age of the characters.

“I should get going,” Declan said, lifting her hand to brush a kiss across her knuckles. “They’ll be back any minute.”

“Don’t go,” Amy said, reaching for his arm as he moved to get up.

He turned. “I thought we—”

“We’re not doing anything wrong. You can be over here with me in the middle of the day watching TV or, you know, whatever.” She smiled.

“Yeah, well, we spent an entire weekend doing whatever.”

“I’m not hiding you. What we have is nothing to be ashamed of.”

“I know, sweetheart. Look, I’m a big boy. It’s about the kids. We don’t have to shove it in their faces that I’m in love with their mother and shagging her every chance I get.”

“Not that,” she said with an eye roll. “We don’t have to make that obvious, but I would think TV-watching together is allowable. Holding hands. Etcetera. And so forth.”

“Whatever you say.” He tugged her by the waist and pulled her into his arms for a kiss.

The doorbell rang just as they were breaking apart.

“Here we go,” Amy said, squaring her shoulders. “United front.”

Naomi’s smiling upturned face greeted her. “How’s Fern? She probably missed me. I’m going to go give her a drink of water.”

Naomi rushed inside and down the hallway.

“Hey, Rob.” Declan came up from behind Amy and offered his hand. “Declan Sheridan.”

“Oh, hey.” Rob shook Declan’s hand. “Good to meet you. Heard a lot about you. Amy, can I talk to you outside for a minute?”

“Um, sure.” She threw a look at Declan, hoping he’d distract the kids.

Rob probably wanted to complain about something or the other if he wanted to talk outside. Maybe he didn’t like that he’d found Declan making himself at home, but hey, this was her house now.

“Why don’t we throw the ball around outside?” Declan suggested, motioning to their backyard.

“I’ll go get my glove.” David went toward the bedroom.

Amy followed Rob outside. “What’s up?”

Far from tearing into her, Rob dragged a hand through his hair and awkwardly shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

“I’m… Okay, this is hard. Just bear with me. I have something to say.”

Amy crossed her arms in an automatically defensive position. “Go ahead, but if this is about Declan—”

“No, it’s not. This is about you and me.”

“You and me ?”

“Look. I made a mistake, Amy. I want another chance. Let’s get back together, make a home again for the kids.”

For a moment, Amy couldn’t take in a breath. It was too cruel to suggest this now. They’d sold their home, which now belonged to another family.

“We sold our home.”

“Then I’ll buy us another one, a better one. We can start over, you and me, and the kids. We—”

“What are you talking about? We’re divorced. What happened to Shannon?”

“It didn’t work out, but that’s not important. I still love you, Amy, and David said you told him you still love me. This could work. We gave up too quickly. We didn’t really try to fix our family, and our kids deserve that. We owe them that.”

The words were like bullets, each one hitting a major artery.

Those were her words, said before their divorce, when it seemed Rob had lost his mind.

She’d wanted to fight for them, to solve their issues.

Rob had not. Except now he did, somehow.

Now that she was finding her way to a new life, a new career, with a man she’d fallen in love with all over again, now Rob wanted to fix their family.

When she finally spoke, her words were salty. “I wanted to work on our marriage, but you didn’t.”

“Yes, but—”

“You said, and I quote, ‘I don’t want to be married anymore. You can’t fix that by staying married.’ Your words.”

“I know, my mistake! I own it.”

“Honestly, I can’t help but think this has something to do with the fact that I’m dating Declan.”

Rob shook his head. “It’s not that. Even before he showed up, I was already regretting this divorce.”

“No, you weren’t. You signed up for the dating apps and rented a condo with a swimming pool. You were in your ‘bachelor era.’” She made air quotes.

“For about two minutes and then I slowly started to come to my senses.”

Those were words she wished he’d said about a year ago but they were too late now. He had to be joking that after putting her through everything she’d give him another chance.

“I don’t know what you expect from me now.

We’re di vorced. The kids are just starting to get used to the idea and now you want to come in and upset everything.

When you wanted the divorce, I didn’t make you the bad guy.

I didn’t tell the kids the real reason we were divorcing is because you didn’t want to be married anymore.

I hauled out all the platitudes, all the vagueness, followed all the advice when I really wanted to tell them, ‘Talk to your father! It’s his fault.

’ No, I didn’t do that, and I’d appreciate it if you return the favor now. ”

“You won’t even consider it?”

She threw up her hands. “There’s nothing to consider!”

“If you won’t do it for me, Amy, do it for our kids. They both want us back together. They want things how they used to be. You’ve always put the kids first, which is what made you a fantastic mother.”

Below the belt. Way below.

Rob knew her far too well. He knew how best to exact the maximum amount of damage. He knew how and where to slice, and which veins bled the heaviest. She’d do anything for her children and Rob knew it well.

He studied the ground, regret pinching every feature on his face. “I couldn’t have picked a better mother for my children.”

“Stop. This isn’t fair. I’m not the one who wanted the divorce.”

“I know, because you understood better than I did that we belong together.”

“Not anymore, we don’t!”

“We could change that if you’ll give me a chance. I told the kids when we get back together, we’ll go on a vacation to Disneyland again.”

“You did what ?”

So, he was going to make her the bad guy! “You told the children?”

“I had to be honest. The first thing I had to do was apologize to them for wrecking their home.”

“As usual, you forget to make these things age-appropriate.”

“I made the mess, I have to fix it.” Rob slowly walked to his car and swung open the driver’s side door. “Talk to the kids. And think about it. I’ll call you.”

Talk to the kids? It was just like Rob to put it in those terms. She was not going to talk to the kids about this.

They didn’t get to make these decisions, no more than they got to make the one when they divorced.

So, yes, Rob had now put her in the position of having to break her children’s hearts when she informed them that no, she and Daddy were not getting back together.