Chapter 70

Aria’s POV

That weekend, as I headed out to get the Sunday newspaper from the box, I noticed that the house beside mine had finally sold. It had sat empty for so long after the previous owner moved away that I had assumed the asking price was outlandish.

Either it came way down, or my new neighbor liked the house enough to throw money away. It was a good neighborhood, safe, with a good school. But the houses weren’t mansions. They shouldn’t be sold at mansion prices.

I collected the newspaper from the box beneath the mailbox, then turn around to bring it inside. I’m only halfway back up my sidewalk when I moving truck pulled into the barren driveway of the newly purchased house.

Moving in already?

From the doorway, I spotted Joe watching the excitement. The moving truck was loud and huge. Just how much stuff were they moving inside?

Joe had a fascination with trucks ever since he was a baby. Now, he poked his head out the door to more easily see.

I stopped on the sidewalk and waved him over to come stand with me to see more easily. He obeyed at once, rushing to my side.

Perhaps meeting our new neighbors in our pajamas wasn’t the classiest way to welcome someone to the neighborhood, but this community had a more relaxed charm than others. We were all pretty friendly here. No one was too snobby or smug.

I could only hope that our new neighbor wouldn’t fall into that category either.

The door to the moving truck opened, and a man stepped down from the cab.

“Liam!” Joe called. He bolted from my side, rushing forward.

Between our two properties was a waist-high chain-link fence. Joe scaled that fence with such practiced ease that I suspected this wasn’t his first time.

I resolved to watch Joe and William more closely the next time they wanted to play in the backyard.

That was an issue to deal with at a later time.

Right now, the bigger concern was… why exactly is Liam driving a moving van into the empty house next door?

The obvious answer, of course, was that he bought it. But that couldn’t be. He was still living in our old marital home on the other side of town.

He wouldn’t have sold that, not after keeping it all these years… right?

Not that he couldn’t if he wanted to. I was the one who left. The fate of the house was entirely up to him.

But the thought of him selling it now, after knowing he had kept it for so long…

It hurt. More than I wanted to admit.

Liam hurried forward to help Joe down from the chain-link fence. “Careful there, buddy. Just go around next time.” To me, he said, “Maybe we should put a gate right here, so he can easily get back and forth.”

With my arms crossed over my chest, my newspaper tucked under one elbow, I walked toward the fence. Unlike Joe, I stayed on my own side.

“What are you doing here, Liam?” I asked.

“Moving into my new house,” he said, like it was obvious.

I supposed that it was, but I was still unwilling to accept it.

“I needed a change of pace,” Liam continued. “The old house is great, but it’s so quiet. I wanted somewhere different. Closer to people, you know? Livelier. Sometimes I felt like I was living with the dead back there…”

He was, in a way. Living with the ghost of our marriage.

“So you sold the house?” I asked too loudly.

“No!” he replied too quickly.

We both looked at each other.

“No,” he said again, slower. “I’ve kept the house. This is more of a… temporary change.” He cleared his throat. “That house is too big for just one person.”

“You lived there fine for six years,” I said.

“I didn’t mind the ghosts when I thought they were all I had.”

“Liam…”

“I want to be closer to you and Joe, Aria. I want to be part of your lives, not just at work, not just now and then. But every day. I want to share meals and spend evenings watching movies.”

“Playing catch?” Joe asked.

“Playing catch,” Liam agreed.

I gave Joe a motherly stare. He wasn’t supposed to be helping Liam win me over. Though, knowing Joe, he’d likely already decided this was the best thing to ever happen to the neighborhood.

Aria wanted to disagree… but couldn’t. Maybe seeing Liam more often wouldn’t be so bad. He was handsome, after all. Just seeing him around was likely to make her property values go up.

Liam stepped closer to the fence, that flimsy barrier that separated us now. “I’m playing for keeps this time, Aria. This is part of showing you that I changed, and how serious I am.”

“You can buy a house, but that doesn’t mean you’ve changed,” I said, forcing my heart not to fall for his every word and batted eyelash. “Anyone could spend money.”

“Then I’ll keep proving it to you,” Liam said. “Again and again, however many times you need to hear. I’m going to win you back, Aria, and this time I’m not going to let you go.”

“Whoa!” Joe shouted from a bit farther off.

Some movers had arrived with Liam, parked behind him. While Liam talked to me and Joe, they had begun moving Liam’s furniture off of the truck.

Right now, and catching Joe’s attention was the King-sized mattress.

“That’s a huge bed! Mom! Do you see?”

“I see it, honey!” I called to Joe. “Careful not to get in the movers’ way!”

“I won’t!” Joe called back.

Softer, to Liam, I said, “Joe is excited about this. I’m not the only one who will get hurt if you don’t keep your promises.”

“I have no intention of ever hurting Joe, or you, ever again.”

“It’s easy to make promises. Much harder to keep them.”

“Just keep your eyes on me,” Liam said, inching closer. I leaned closer too, nearing the fence. I wasn’t quite ready to cross it yet, but I was getting closer. “Watch me every second if you have to. I will never disappoint you again.”

Such pretty words. My foolish heart wanted to believe so much, but my head remembered things that my heart had forgotten.

Those lonely nights.

Always being kept in the shadows.

Never feeling like I was enough to be the great racecar driver Liam’s wife, despite what it said on our marriage certificate.

I was bound and determined never to feel that way again. This man would not earn a single more tear from me. That was a vow I had made long ago.

“We’ll see,” I said.

“All I ask for is a chance,” Liam said.

“We’re here, aren’t we? I’m watching.” On the outside, I could be cool and confident. Inside, my heart was screaming, Please don’t hurt me again!

“Mom! Liam!” Joe bounded toward us. “I just had the best idea!”

“What is it, honey?” I asked.

“I bet we could all fit on that giant bed…”

“Maybe…” I said with trepidation. I had a bad feeling about where this was going.

“What are you thinking, pal?” Liam asked.

Joe smiled as his idea burst out in an explosion of excitement and joy, “Sleepover!”