Chapter 116

Liam’s POV

I only had a few affairs to get in order before I left. As William was going to stay with Aria, I didn’t need to worry about finding schools overseas or uprooting his life at all. Aria and the kids would stay here in the house, so I didn’t have to worry about hiring anyone to watch it.

Really, all that I had to do was get my paperwork ready and make sure my passport was up to date.

Oh, and spend as much time as I could with my family, because I was going to miss the hell out of them.

Even right now, sitting in the living room, watching the kids play and Aria sip her wine, I was already starting to feel like a piece of me was being hollowed out.

I’d managed to cut a permanent stint down to only a handful of weeks, but right now, any time away from these three people that I loved seemed like too much.

Had I made a mistake accepting this offer at all?

Aria had a notepad resting on her lap. Holding a pen, she was writing notes of things she would need to take care of around the house without him. The gardeners and pool cleaners came on a regular schedule, but as I would be out of the country, it fell to Aria to be certain the accounts were paid and to handle any issues that arose.

These issues, she could competently handle, I had no doubts about that. It was the idea of leaving her and the kids behind that didn’t sit right with me, and that discomfort made me shorter with her than I should have been.

“I lived on my own for six years, Liam,” Aria said. “I know how to take care of a house.”

“I’m not trying to say that you don’t…”

“That’s what it sounds like to me.”

When we spotted the kids watching us, having stopped their play to do so, Aria abruptly stood. She took her list and her wine and walked into the kitchen.

“Is Mom mad you are leaving?” Joe asked.

I didn’t know. Maybe. She’d seemed fine with the decision earlier at work, but perhaps, like me, she was having second thoughts now that we were home. As we worked on plans, the prospect of me leaving seemed less like an idea and more like reality.

“Are you mad?” I asked Joe, and then looked at William too, including him in on the discussion.

William lowered his head.

“I don’t like it,” Joe said. “But you said you’d be back soon…”

“A few weeks,” I replied.

Joe frowned but nodded.

William, however, grumbled under his breath, “That’s so long.”

My chest began to ache. I never wanted to disappoint my kids. A few weeks should be nothing we couldn’t handle, but their downtrodden faces only reflected the sadness within me too.

Accepting on a temporary basis had seemed like such a good idea at the time, but now, looking at the kids, and seeing Aria pace in the kitchen, I didn’t honestly think I could leave for a long weekend, let alone several weeks.

“It’s going to be okay,” I said, and as I stood up, I ruffled their hair. “Get back to playing. I’ll check on your mom.”

Aria’s POV

I was not going to miss Liam. At least, that was what I told myself, over and over like a broken record player. Yet, no matter how much I repeated the mantra, the rising pain in my heart did not cease.

When I stopped lying to myself, I knew I was going to miss him. Part of me already did. Making plans for a life without him, even for a few weeks, cut into me deeply. It reminded me too much of the life we had agreed to put behind us. Working on reconciliation as we were, we shouldn’t need to already plan time apart.

Setting aside the notepad. I lowered my wine glass on the counter and retrieved the bottle from the fridge to refill it. I’d just stopped pouring when Liam entered the kitchen.

“We should talk about this,” he said.

“We are talking about it,” I replied, gesturing to the notepad. I returned the cork into the bottle and then returned the bottle to the fridge.

“You are angry with me,” Liam said.

“I’m not angry.”

“You are acting like you are.”

“If I’m angry, it’s only because you are treating me like a child,” I said. “I know how to take care of a house, Liam. It feels like you want to teach me how to change a lightbulb before you leave. It’s insulting.”

“Yeah. Sorry.” Liam rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “I know you can do these things. I’m not being overbearing because I doubt you in any way. I just… I want to be here to do them with you.”

I looked at him for a long moment. “Are you thinking of declining the job offer? Liam, you already accepted. You even negotiated.”

“I know that. This isn’t something I’m thinking about lightly.”

“You should go,” I said, even as my heart ached with each word.

His gaze dropped down to the ground. “Yeah.”

As much as I wanted to tell Liam to stay here with us, I just couldn’t. If I asked him that, or if I even told him that I would miss him, then I was sure he would stay. But if he did that, then I would be personally responsible for standing in the way of his career.

The executives wouldn’t like Liam backing out of this job offer. They might even block him from future opportunities.

Liam might act like he was fine with that now, but in time, he would likely come to resent me for stifling his career. If he began resenting me, I didn’t know what I would do.

“But what if I didn’t?” Liam asked.

“Liam…”

“Hear me out, okay?”

Liam walked toward me then, coming around the kitchen island to stand beside me at the counter nearer the fridge. He faced me and I faced him. We were about six-inches apart but not touching, even as the tension sparked between us.

“Don’t get my hopes up,” I told him.

He smiled a little, at the edges of his mouth. “So you do want me to stay.”

“Don’t put words in my mouth.”

He just smiled wider.

“You have to go,” I told him.

“Why?” he asked. That smile didn’t waver.

“Because it’s good for your career.”

“I already have a good career,” he replied.

“The executives will resent you,” he said.

“I’m part owner myself, Aria. What are they going to do?”

“You’ll…” come to hate me for it. I couldn’t say it, so I bit the words back.

“What?” he pressed.

“Nothing,” I said.

“Aria.” Slowly, gently, he reached his hand up and touched my cheek, bringing my attention back to him. “Talk to me.”

He looked at me so earnestly, the words fell from my lips almost without my permission.

“You’ll resent me for making you stay.”

His face hardened slightly, the resolve in his eyes doubling, then tripling.

“That would never happen,” he said with such suddenly fierceness that I felt his sincerity all the way down to my bones.

He glanced away a moment, then looked back to me. “I have an idea.”