Page 6 of The Ex Next Door (Charming, Texas #8)

“Tell me about it.” He sat on the top step. “Seeing you with kids? I don’t mind telling you, that’s a hard one to get used to.”

“My twins are nine .”

He heard the hint of amusement in her tone. “I know!”

“They saw Rob today.”

“Oh yeah?” He turned, hoping she’d sit next to him. Honestly, he wasn’t quite ready to go inside.

The date with Samantha tonight had thrown him for a loop.

She didn’t think she could trust him to be faithful to her.

Old girlfriends were apparently talking to each other.

Just because he hadn’t been ready to settle down for years didn’t mean he couldn’t be ready now.

But Samantha wanted a guarantee. He refused to give her one.

It should be enough that he would consider being exclusive and see where it went.

He was talking with someone right now who could tell Samantha that there were no guarantees.

His older brother, Finn, had been married and divorced.

Almost all of his classmates in his graduating class, if they’d married, were getting divorced or already divorced.

It wasn’t just Amy and Rob. Probably half their class.

He decided it best not to mention this. His duty was to cheer Amy up, not make her realize she was part of a growing, not-so-elite club.

Amy took the invitation and sat next to him, leaving a healthy two feet or more between them.

“This was to be his weekend, but he had to work yesterday and nearly forgot about today. It’s not like this is the first time he’s conveniently let it slip his mind or been late to get them. We started doing this a few months ago after he moved out.”

“How do they like spending the night away from you?”

“Oh they’re fine. I’m the one with the problem. I don’t know what to do with myself without them.” She rubbed her hands up and down her shins. “That probably makes me sound like a neurotic helicopter mom.”

“Nah, it makes you sound like a good mom. You love your kids. What’s wrong with that?”

“Nothing. Right? Nothing at all.”

“Of course, Rob would say I forgot to have fun. That once I became a mom, it became all about them and I forgot who I am as a person.”

Ouch. It sounded like the idiot might have a point. After all, his father had some saying about a broken clock being right twice a day. Not that Declan would be caught agreeing with Rob.

“Do you think that’s true?”

“No, just ask my kids. I’m full of fun.” She sighed. “Not so much lately. It’s my job to be the bad guy. Rob has a place with a swimming pool, and he serves pizza and junk food.”

“How disgustingly predictable. He wants to be ‘fun weekend’ dad.”

As a rule, Declan knew enough divorced couples to not make broad statements about any one of them.

Some of them even got back together, or attempted to, anyway.

Especially when kids were involved. That might even be the case with Rob and Amy.

He could see it happening the moment Rob realized Amy was still young and beautiful.

Maybe the moment she remembered and started dating again.

He remembered now there was something he’d wanted to say to Amy for a long time. It probably wasn’t what anyone would expect but it had weighed on his mind for years.

“Meant to tell you, I was very sorry to hear about your dad.”

Amy’s father died when Declan was away at college.

His mother had phoned him, in tears, because a good man was suddenly gone from the world.

Declan hadn’t come home for the funeral, but he’d heard all about it through his family.

The entire town, just about, came out for his wake.

Naturally, Amy was devastated to lose the man she’d long considered her hero.

“It feels like a long time ago, but thanks.”

“I wanted to call you, but…you know. I figured I was the last person you wanted to hear from.” Declan held the keys in his fist tighter.

“Anyway, a few months ago we had a scare with my dad. It was nothing, but for a while there when I heard he’d been taken by ambulance to the hospital…

Let’s just say I thought that for a moment, I might know what you were feeling. ”

“He really loved you.”

Declan shook his head slowly. “It was the baseball, Amy. Always the baseball.”

Not that Amy’s father wasn’t a great guy, because he was in every way. But when it came to the people who loved him in this town besides his family, it was all about his baseball career for years.

“How was your date?” Amy asked, completely changing the subject.

He’d almost forgotten he told her about that this morning. But Amy was the last person he wanted to talk to about his love life. It was a sensitive issue for him, the whole trust thing.

“Good.”

“Making progress toward your goal of becoming a family man?”

“Slowly. We’re not exclusive.”

“If you leave it up to her, that won’t be for long.”

“Think so?”

“All I know is it’s hard to find a good man. Even harder to keep him.” And with that, Amy stood and moved toward her front door. “I’m going to take my sorry sack inside. Good night, Declan.”

All kinds of replies were swirling through him, such as some men weren’t worth hanging on to. Like Rob. Such as it wasn’t her fault she’d lost herself in her children. It wasn’t her fault Rob had bailed instead of trying to rediscover her.

The marriage vows were for better or worse, not “until things get tough.”

But instead, all he could say was, “Good night.”