Chapter 108

Aria’s POV

At the office the next morning, I was still reeling from William calling me Mom. It had been such a special moment, I was sure it would stay with me forever, until the day I died. I hoped beyond hope, that he would still consider me his mother, even after he had grown up.

At the very least, I hoped he would think of me fondly.

With a smile on my face, I walked through the hallways to my office. There, on my desk, I found a small bag and a cup of coffee from my favorite café. Inside the bag was my favorite jelly pastry from that café’s bakery.

This was an exceedingly nice gesture, made by someone who knew me well, but what would be the occasion? It wasn’t my birthday.

Maybe Liam was just trying to be nice?

I had been giving him the runaround lately. Even though Sophia’s accusations had gotten tangled up in my head, there was a very real possibility that she was lying just to upset me. If that was the case, then I’d been pushing Liam away for no reason.

This could be an attempt from him to try to repair whatever bridge he thought he might have broken this time.

Guilt slowly swelled within me.

Last night, he’d held me for a full twenty minutes, while I fell to pieces over William’s declaration. I’d been so affected, so overwhelmed with joy, that I was reduced to a blubbering mess for the full duration of those twenty minutes.

Yet still he had held me, even as I made a mess of myself, and of him, smearing runny mascara all over his shirt.

Now, he was buying me my favorite morning drink and treat.

It had to be him who bought it. No one else would know that I liked these things as much as I did.

Settling into the office, I sat down behind my desk. I sipped at my coffee and took a bite of the pastry. Oh my God, it was like heaven in my mouth, better than I even remembered.

Once it was gone, I made a note to remind myself to thank Liam later, and focused fully on my work. At lunchtime, an assistant from the front desk knocked on my office door.

“The delivery man brought your lunch order,” she said and carried a bag in to me.

“I didn’t order anything,” I said, confused. Then I looked in the bag.

Inside, was a cheesesteak sandwich, prepared with grilled onions and parmesan cheese, just how I liked it. I loved these sandwiches, especially when they were prepared right, which was difficult to do for most places outside of Philadelphia. Yet years ago, Liam and I had found a local place that did it right.

This had to be from there, with how good it looked.

Which meant that Liam treated me for a second time today.

It tasted delicious, too.

At the end of the day, I picked up the phone to call Liam and thank him for feeding me today. But his office line rang and rang. Hanging up, I dialed his assistant instead.

“He had to leave early today,” she said. “He said he had something going on at home.”

Something at home? I hadn’t heard anything about it. Did something happen with William?

Worried now, I hung up with her, then gathered my things and rushed to my car. Somehow I managed to drive myself home, though I sped the entire way, thinking something might have happened to the kids.

Leaving my stuff in the car, I rushed into the house. “Joe? William?” I called, but no one answered.

The kids didn’t, anyway.

“Over here, Aria,” Liam called.

Following the sound of his voice, I walked down the hallway and rounded the corner into the dining room. There, I froze, taking in the sight before me.

A white tablecloth had been draped over the table, and the fine china brought out. A silver candelabra was lit with four different candles, lightly flickering. On the table was a dish of mashed potatoes. Another had corn inside. There was a gravy boat, too. And a plate with two delicious-looking salmon filets.

“What is this?” I asked. “Where are the kids?”

“The kids are with Isabella,” he said. He was smiling but it seemed shy. He kept dipping his head as if to hide it from me. “I thought we could have an evening to ourselves.”

I wasn’t against it, but… “What’s the occasion?”

“You’ve forgotten,” he said gently, though his smile never wavered. “It’s our wedding anniversary today.”

“No, that’s on the…” My voice trailed off. Retrieving my phone from my pocket, I checked the date. “That’s today.”

“It is.”

“That’s why… the coffee and the lunch…”

“Yeah,” Liam said. “I hope you didn’t mind.”

“I didn’t. It was nice.”

“Good.” He gestured toward the table. “Should we?”

I didn’t want the dinner to get cold, so I said, “Okay.”

I kicked off my shoes and left them, my purse and my phone in the corner of the room. Then I moved toward the table and sat down. Liam helped me with my chair, then moved around to his own side.

Once we had both sat, I dug into the food. It tasted so good, I couldn’t quite believe it.

“Where did you order this from?” I asked.

“I made it,” Liam said.

I nearly dropped my fork. “You… cook?” He hadn’t before. Before if I didn’t make anything to eat, we had to order in.

“I’ve taken a few classes,” he said. “It’s not something I do all the time. I don’t particularly enjoy it, but… It’s good to be able to eat and to be able to cook for the people that I care about.”

“Liam…” I didn’t know what to say.

“Eat up,” he said. “That’s the best compliment you could give me.”

That was no great ask, as the food was delicious.

“Oh!” he said. “I almost forgot.” Standing, he ducked out into the kitchen for a minute and turned on some soft music. It was wordless, gentle piano covers of love songs from long ago.

The music, with the food and the candlelight, it was all incredibly romantic. For a while, I was able to push Sophia’s accusation out of my head entirely and just stay in the moment with Liam right here.

When we both finished eating, he stood and offered me his hand.

“What is it?” I asked, wondering if something was wrong.

“Dance with me,” he said.

“Here?”

“There’s music. Why not?”

I felt a bit foolish, but I didn’t otherwise have a reason. So I placed my hand in his and let him guide me up from the chair and into his arms. One of his arms wrapped around my waist, the other clutched my hand. My free hand, I placed on his shoulder.

Slowly, with Liam leading, we began to sway and turn.

“I’ve always wanted to do this with you,” Liam said. “Every time I went to an event and there was dancing, I wanted you there with me. Back then, I never even thought that we could just dance at home.”

“You thought of it now,” I said.

“I’m a better man now,” he replied. “I don’t care what anyone thinks about me – except you.”

I looked up at him and our eyes met. In his, I could see the affection that he had already told me he felt for me.

He wasn’t a good enough actor to lie with his eyes, was he?

“Liam…” I felt myself being drawn in.

Liam must have been drawn right back, because he started to lean at the same time I did.

Our lips moved closer and closer.

I closed my eyes, ready for a kiss…