Chapter 193

Liam’s POV

I placed my hands on William’s shoulders, hoping to ease him. His posture had gotten all tense, when he’d confronted Jackson. I was a little worried he might start a fight with Jackson now, too.

“Thanks William, but it’s okay,” I said. “Jackson isn’t wrong. I have been failing Aria by not seeing this done sooner.”

“Really, I’m happy,” Aria told all of us. “It’s a relief to be the head trainer again.” Looking at me, she added, “I promise to do a good job.”

As I held her gaze, the rest of the world seemed to fall away. “I know you will,” I told her.

She smiled a little, as if pleased by my confidence in her. I wished I could tell her that I was always proud of her and believed her capable of anything she put her mind to.

She was a beautiful, strong woman who never met a challenge she couldn’t overcome. I wouldn’t assign her a position that I didn’t have the upmost confidence she could succeed at. That Aria had already achieved so much in this role only made that clear.

Joanna and the board had been at fault removing Aria from her position to replace her with someone offsite, just because they were cheaper. Then, even when I convinced them that Aria was the best choice, they still dragged their feet.

It made me suspicious that Joanna had fed them some lies about Aria, but they wouldn’t tell me. Joanna admitted to nothing.

“Thank you, Liam,” she said. “I mean it.”

“Of course,” I replied.

Too soon, I checked the time and realized I had to get back.

“Be good,” I told William and then turned away.

Aria’s POV

What a relief it was to have my old job back. For weeks, I’d struggled to follow the orders of the head trainer who wasn’t even present, all while my drivers suffered.

Now, I could finally reclaim what I’d lost and get the programs I’d worked so hard to implement and maintain back on track.

But first, I had to repair this sudden rift between William and Jackson.

I thought I would at least need to mediate, but Jackson had other plans.

He bent down to one knee, bringing himself down closer to William’s level.

“I’m sorry, William,” Jackson said. “Your dad and I sometimes don’t get along, but it was wrong of me to talk to him like that…”

“Okay…” William said. Some of the tension started to ease away from him.

“Still friends?” Jackson asked.

“Okay…” William said, relaxing more.

“Cool,” Jackson said. Standing again, he rustled William’s hair. William shoved his hand away playfully, even as he laughed.

“Hey! I’m not some little kid.”

“Oh, you aren’t? My mistake.”

They continued to laugh and tease each other, and I smiled, watching them. Jackson was good with kids, and William seemed to enjoy the attention of a famous driver. Whatever rift that had split them a moment ago was repaired by the time Jackson had to get in his car to do his time trials.

Despite Liam’s apparent efforts to come home more often, he was still tied up at work today when quitting time came.

“I’m sorry, Aria,” he said when William and I went to check on him at the end of the day. “I have so many phone calls to make. Can you take the William home?”

He seemed genuinely apologetic. Joanna wasn’t in the office, but the suspicious part of my mind wondered if she was just waiting in the wings somewhere for the moment William and I left.

I didn’t want to stand there and think about it anymore, so I took William’s hand and said, “Let’s go, then. Your dad has to work.”

“Okay,” William said, frowning. His disappointment was palpable, as was the guilt on Liam’s face when he saw it. Both emotions coiled around inside of me as well.

Even so, what could be said to resolve it? Liam had to work late and that was that. The best thing William and I could do in that moment was get out of his hair and hope he could finish up quickly enough to make it back home before William and Joe’s bedtime.

I still wanted to talk to him, too, about the fight and what the principal said happened. Maybe though, Liam was waiting to share that with me until our conversation on Sunday. I hated being left in the dark that long.

Regardless, I led William out to my car. He climbed in the backseat while I got behind the wheel. Once we were buckled in, I started the car and started for home. This time of day, there was a bit of traffic, so we were stuck in the stop and go for a while.

Once, when we were stopped at a red light, William asked, “Why do you not want to tell people you are my mom?”

My heart ached. “That’s not why!” I said at once, hoping to quell any doubts he might have about my feelings for him. William was my son, through and through. I didn’t care about blood. “I’m proud to be your mom and wish I could shout it from the rooftops.”

“Then why don’t you?” William asked.

“It’s complicated…” I didn’t begin to know how to explain or where to start.

“That’s what Dad said too…”

William turned his head and looked out the window. I watched him through the rear-view mirror. I was disappointing him by withholding an answer. Even if it was complicated, I owed it to him to try to explain.

“It’s not you that I want to keep secret,” I said. “It’s my relationship with your father. Things can get… difficult at work if people were to discover that we’re married. It’s much easier to keep everything hidden for now. At least until your Dad and I have been together a bit longer…”

Once all of the secrets were out, if we could still stand to be around each other with everything on the table, then we could come forward. But right now, I still didn’t know if Liam was someone worthy of my trust.

I had been so close to thinking that he was. But then everything with Joanna and Markus started happening…

Now, I still wanted to believe in Liam, but it was getting more and more difficult.

I didn’t want to tell William that about his father though. Kids shouldn’t know these things. Liam was a good dad, he tried hard, and that was what should matter to William and Joe.

“Soon, though,” I said. “Your Dad and I will tell everyone the truth very soon.”

I hoped.

“Okay…” William said, though he didn’t seem fully convinced. As my explanation was lacking, he was probably no closer to understanding my reasoning. Yet I had no idea how to explain things further than that.

“Your Dad and I both love you very much,” I said, hoping he understood that, even if he couldn’t anything else.

“I know,” William said.

Good. That was a relief at least.

“Mom?” William asked, and I exhaled in relief, happy to have him call me that again.

“Yeah?”

He hesitated a moment, but I waited, figuring whatever he was building up to must have been really important.

“Are you and Dad going to get a divorce?”