Chapter 145

Joe’s POV

For the next few days, Liam came home on time with Joe’s mom and the whole family spent the evenings together. While having Liam around had been great, there’d been something… off about him lately. Joe couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was though, so that night, after he and Liam were tucked in and supposed to be sleeping, Joe slipped out of his bed and sneaked into William’s room.

“William?” Joe asked tentatively, after quietly closing the door behind him. William’s room was dark, with only the streetlight from outside the window casting any light into the space.

“We’re supposed to be sleeping,” William said, as if reminding Joe.

“I want to talk about something important.”

“I’m asleep.”

“It’s about Dad,” Joe said.

Suddenly, William sat upright in his bed. Joe’s eyes adjusted to the dark, and he could tell now that William was looking at him.

“What about Dad?”

“Don’t you think he’s been acting weird lately?” Joe asked.

“Mom has been too,” William added.

“They both have,” Joe agreed.

“It’s probably nothing,” William said, but he frowned like he wasn’t sure. “Could be work stuff.”

“Yeah,” Joe said, frowning now too. “Or maybe they are just sad.”

“Why would they be sad?”

Joe gave it some thought. “Dad’s been working a lot lately, so he and Mom haven’t really gotten any time to spend together.”

“Okay…?”

“Maybe they miss each other.”

William considered this, pulling his brow together in concentration. “Maybe they do, but what can we do about it?”

Joe’s spirits started to lift. “I have some ideas.”

“You do? Like what?”

“Easy,” Joe said. “We tell them we want to go to the aquarium…”

Joe and William leaned their heads together and started making their plans.

The next evening, William and Joe asked Liam to play cars in William’s room. As they did this quite often, Liam agreed without any issue. Midway through our race, William turned to Liam and asked, “Dad, can we go to the aquarium sometime?”

“Sure,” Liam said offhandedly. That didn’t sound sure enough. Joe and William shared a glance. Joe made a face, and hoped William understood that Joe wanted him to try again and try harder this time.

“No, I mean. Can we all go? Like a family thing,” William pressed.

Liam leaned back to look more fully at William. “Like a family trip?”

William widened his eyes, a neat trick all kids knew how to do, to get their parents to agree to anything. Liam was an easy sell. One look at those doe eyes and he gave in.

“Yeah, kiddo, I don’t see why not. We have to convince your mom first though.”

Joe and William had started with Liam because they knew he’d be quick to agree. Aria was always going to be more difficult to talk into it.

Because Liam had been so busy lately, he was eager to please Joe and William. Aria, lately, had been spending more time with them. She would know right away that they were up to something – especially since she’d offered to take them to the aquarium many times now and they’d never really wanted to go.

She would wonder what changed.

William and Joe would have to pull out all the stops to do their best to convince her. They also had to do so quickly, before Liam and Aria could talk about it themselves. Aria might put ideas into Liam’s head, having him reconsider.

So, when the game was done, William and Joe hurried downstairs to find Aria in the living room. Side by side, they stood in front of her where she sat on the couch.

“Mom?” Joe asked.

Already, her eyes narrowed slightly with clear suspicion. “Yes, dear?”

“William and I have been thinking… and we think that we would like to go to the aquarium.”

She straightened slightly. “You didn’t seem all that interested when I offered to take you before…”

“Yeah, but Dad’s going to come this time,” William added. “He’s already said yes.”

“We want to go together. All of us, as a family,” Joe said.

Aria’s eyes softened a little.

William and Joe knew they were winning, so after a quick glance between each other, they turned up the charm. Widening their eyes, they asked in unison, “Please?”

Aria didn’t stand a chance.

“Okay,” she said. “Of course. We’ll have a fun family outing.”

Aria’s POV

I could tell that the kids were up to something, but I couldn’t quite piece together what. All they asked for was a family trip to the aquarium. That didn’t seem too much to ask for, especially since I knew they’d been missing Liam after his many days of working late.

Yet, that weekend, when we were supposed to be getting ready for our outing, the boys weren’t anywhere to be found. Before I could be worried about it, I found a handwritten note from Joe on the kitchen counter.

After quickly reading through it, I called Isabella to confirm. Then I took to the note to Liam, who had been putting on his socks in his bedroom.

“Aria?” he asked as I walked in.

“There’s been a change of plans,” I said and handed him the note. As he read through it, I watched the expressions shift on his face, mirroring the changes my own had gone through when I first read the letter.

Mom and Dad,

Sorry to fool you, but you guys need a break. Isabella is going to watch William and me. You two go to the aquarium and have fun together!

Joe

This whole ordeal, from the start, had been a ruse to get Liam and me to spend time alone together. The kids had been planning this from the beginning!

“Huh,” Liam said, having reached the end. He checked the back of the paper, but it was blank. “You texted Isabella?”

“She has them both,” I said. “They told her about the plan, and she thought it was a good idea.”

“Well, okay then.” Liam stood up from the bed. “You ready to go?”

I blinked, confused. “What?”

“To the aquarium?” he asked.

“We were going to take the kids…”

“They don’t want to go,” Liam said. “They want you and me to go.” He tilted his head a little, looking at me. “Do you not want to go?”

“It will be just the two of us?”

“Yeah…?” Liam didn’t see the problem, but I did.

Just the two of us, at the aquarium? That sounded a lot like a date.

Yes, we’d been trying to make things work between us, but so far that had only included a few hugs and time spent as family.

I didn’t know if going on a date was the right thing to do, but I couldn’t explain why. Maybe I was afraid. That it would go poorly? That it would go well? I didn’t know. It all seemed like too much.

“We don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Liam said, and while he smiled a little, I could sense the disappointment in him. Lately, he’d always been so courteous to my feelings, as if ever-careful of overstepping my boundaries.

I cared about Liam, though. I didn’t want to let fear control me.

It was just a date. It didn’t have to mean anything, one way or another.

Why was I hesitating so much?

“What do you think?” Liam asked.