Chapter 179

Liam’s POV

When it came to be closing time, I apologized to the accounting department but still made plans to leave as soon as possible. Some guilt about staying overnight the night before stuck with me, doubled now by how much I was considering Joanna’s offer.

Aria had been right. She and I needed to have a serious discussion about everything. About Samuel. About the past. But even if we could sit down to a meal together and talk about everything else, I would be content. We could build up to the big stuff if we had to.

I just wanted to be with her and the kids again. So, after making my excuses and my apologies – and a few promises about even more pay raises – I gathered my things and rushed out.

Yet when I arrived home, Aria was on her way out. She was wearing a black dress, with her hair and makeup done how she liked when she went out in the evenings. She looked absolutely beautiful, which only added to my annoyance.

“Where are you going?” I asked her as she was slipping on her shoes.

She glanced up at me with a double-take, like she didn’t expect me to be home so early.

“Aria?” I prompted when she didn’t answer.

“Oh good, you’re here,” she said, looking away from me. “I can cancel the babysitter, then. You don’t mind watching the kids, do you?”

“Of course not,” I said, but pushed again. “Where are you going?”

“I’m going out with Isabella.”

She said that, but I wasn’t so sure. Dressed as she was, I wondered if she was going to meet Samuel. Maybe my desire to talk came too late. With the threat of Samuel, the doctor, looming over our relationship, I needed to act quicker.

“Aria, we really need to talk. Do you think you could stay in tonight?” I asked.

“No,” she replied. “No. I need to go.”

With her heels on, she pulled on her coat and then grabbed her purse.

“Aria, please.”

I tried to step into her line of sight but she seemed to be looking everywhere but at me.

“Later, Liam,” she said, sounding a lot like she was just blowing me off.

Maybe I deserved this. After all, wasn’t I the one who had been spending too many late nights at the office? Of course we would grow apart in that time.

I needed to fix this, but I truly didn’t know how at this moment. She was determined to leave, and I wasn’t the kind of guy who would force her to stay.

“I’ll be here when you get back,” I said. “We can talk then.”

“Sure,” she said, brushing me off again. Then, without another word, she was out the door, leaving me standing there alone in the foyer, wondering what just happened.

How had this all gone so wrong?

Aria’s POV

“And you think Joanna might have been telling the truth?” Isabella asked with heavy skepticism. “There’s no way. Those messages have to be fake.”

I hummed noncommittally in response, still unsure what to believe. “The texts looked legitimate.”

“Sure, but there’s ways of making that happen. You can’t really believe that Liam would do that to you?”

I looked around the pub we’d come to for a couple drinks and a burger. The place wasn’t really busy yet – most of the patrons came in after seven – but no one seemed to be listening to our conversation or interested in us in any way, which was good. I could speak freely without worrying about being overheard.

“Before Joanna popped up, I wouldn’t have believed it,” I said. “But since she’s been around, I don’t know. Everything has been such a mess. Liam has been out all the time, neglecting his family. I want to believe he’s working, I know Markus has been attacking the team’s finances. But maybe it’s all a fabrication. Maybe being reunited with Joanna sparked something within him.”

“He loves you,” Isabella said. “I’ve seen it in the way he looks at you and how he acts.”

“Does that matter? His father and Joanna have been pressuring him to divorce me, threatening the entire team. Maybe the pressure has finally gotten to him.”

“If he wasn’t under so much pressure anymore, then he wouldn’t look tired. Does he look tired?”

He looked exhausted. And all the takeout had to be getting to him too. His current lifestyle wasn’t healthy.

If he was having an affair with Joanna, wouldn’t he look happier? Or more fulfilled? Would he still look like he was going to fall asleep on his feet?

Maybe Isabella is right.

But…

“Liam and I have been growing more and more distant lately,” I admitted. “I honestly don’t know what to believe anymore.”

“You admit he’s not the man he was when you were first married,” Isabella said, “But even then, he wasn’t cheating on you. Don’t you think he deserves the benefit of the doubt?”

“He does, but those messages…” My stomach twisted, remembering them and the pictures Joanna didn’t even try to hide.

“You two need to talk,” Isabella said. “Confront him.”

“He could lie to me.” I didn’t know what I’d do if that happened.

“Maybe. But you shouldn’t trust Joanna. You know Liam. He’s the father of your kids. Trust him to be the kind of man that you thought he was before this happened. Put your faith in him, talk to him, and see what he says.”

“I’m almost afraid of what he’ll say.”

Isabella shook her head. “Honestly, I don’t think you have anything to worry about. But I do know, talking is the only way you guys are going to be able to resolve this. If you truly want to save your marriage and repair your strained relationship, you have to talk to him and explain what Joanna said and how you feel.”

Leaning back in my chair, I sighed. “How did you get to be so knowledgeable in relationships?”

Isabella laughed. “Process of elimination. I think I’ve made every wrong move under the sun. Talking is usually the hardest, but it’s often the right choice.”

I didn’t stay long at the pub. Inspired by Isabella’s words, I hurried home. I wasn’t eager to talk to Liam about this, exactly. Isabella was right that talking is usually the hardest thing to do. But I was eager to repair my relationship with Liam. If that meant talking this out, then so be it.

In the living room, I found Liam passed out on the couch. It was early yet. The kids were likely still awake in their rooms, allowing their exhausted dad to sleep undisturbed. I hoped they had a good evening spent together, father and sons. I was sorry that I missed it, though talking to Isabella was a necessity to clear my head.

Since Liam was so sleep-deprived, I considered not waking him. But who knew the next time we’d be able to speak? He’d come home wanting to talk, and I’d walked out on him. I couldn’t let things continue to progress like this.

Decided, I reached my hand slowly out to place on his shoulder and shake him gently awake. Before I could make contact his phone buzzed on the armrest of the couch. A text message appeared on the screen.

I glanced and my heart dropped.

It was from Joanna.

Remember. What Aria doesn’t know won’t hurt her.