Chapter 89

Aria’s POV

After Liam had gone, Isabella left Joe to play in his room while she came down to talk to me.

“I know you are already thinking of moving, but before you do anything drastic, why don’t you and Joe just come to stay with me for a while?” she offered. “You’d be out of the house but still in town. Joe could keep going to school. It could give you an adjustment period, to really sit down and think about what to do next.”

I still wanted to move as far away from Liam as I physically could, but even in my grief and heartbreak, I could admit that there were some flaws with my plans. Unless I hired movers tomorrow, Joe and I would have to leave all of our things behind. And then, even if I hired movers, where would they move my things to, if I didn’t yet have a new place?

Unfortunately, all of this took time, and I wasn’t particularly fond of uprooting Joe’s entire life overnight, despite my anger at Liam.

Joe was innocent in all this. Why should he be punished for Liam’s wrongdoing?

We were going to move, but maybe it didn’t have to be as quickly as I had initially planned.

Staying at Isabella’s for a few days was a happy in-between state. Plus, with another adult in the house, I was less likely to break down as I would be if I was alone.

“Okay,” I told her.

“Great. Let me run home and clean up a few things. I’ll expect you later tonight,” Isabella said.

“Okay,” I said again, and saw her to the door.

When she’d gone, I turned toward the stairs.

Now came the hard part: telling Joe.

Upstairs, I followed the sound of his voice to his bedroom. Dragging his toy cars across the carpet, he made car sounds, “Vroom, vroom!”

He stopped when he saw me standing in his doorway, watching him.

He was always an insightful kid, so I imagined he’d known something was wrong since Sophia’s house. That he hadn’t said a word about it sin worried me. My behavior could have been making him so nervous he chose to ignore it. Kids internalized a lot, but I didn’t want him to feel like he had to do that.

Better to get this over with quickly.

“I’m going to pull down the big suitcases from the attic,” I said. “Pack up what you need for a couple of weeks. Anything you want to take. Your toys, your books, anything. We won’t be coming back here for a while.”

Of all the questions Joe could ask me, the one that came out was, “What about Liam?”

“We won’t be seeing him for a while,” I said. If I had my way, we’d never see him again, but maybe someday, when Joe was grown, he might wonder about his birth father. When the time came, I would tell him the truth. For now, I would protect him from it as best I could.

Joe frowned as his brow furrowed. “But why?”

I walked into Joe’s room, then sat down beside him on the carpet.

“Does he not like us anymore?” Joe asked, his bottom lip trembling ever so slightly.

“Of course he does, honey,” I said. “But he has his own family he needs to look after. He’s been neglecting them, by spending so much time with us. They’ve been sad without him.”

Joe’s shoulders slumped. In a very small voice, he said, “But I wanted him to be my dad…”

I had thought that my heart had broken all the way through and was incapable of any more hurt. Yet hearing those words in Joe’s tiny voice, shattered even the already splintered pieces of my heart, until there was nothing left but dust and pain.

So much pain.

I pulled Joe into a tight hug. “Me, too, honey,” I told him. “But some things just aren’t meant to be.”

Joe lowered his head onto my shoulder, and mother and son, we clung to each other as we would to a life raft, if we were adrift out on the ocean.

“It’s going to be okay,” I told him. “I’ll find a way to make it okay again.”

I didn’t know how yet, but I meant every word. I hoped, once we started our new life somewhere, things would be clearer to me, and I would finally know what to do.

Liam’s POV

I pulled my car into Sophia’s driveway and hopped out. With every inch of distance between Aria and me, I felt more and more uneasy.

When we’d spoken, her expression had been so… empty. Usually, she was filled with passion. Even if she was angry at me, I could tell she still cared, else she wouldn’t have been angry at all. This time, there was nothing.

It had frightened me down to my core. I’d worked so hard to prove myself to her, showing her I had changed. For everything to change like this so suddenly… I couldn’t believe that it was over.

No. I had to find out what Sophia had said or done, and then I could start fixing it.

I rang the doorbell at Sophia’s, bracing myself for more silence. I was determined to have answers this time though. I’d stand on her doorstep all night if that was what it took to get her to talk to me.

Yet, surprisingly, Sophia came to the door right away. Opening it, she grinned at me. “Liam! William’s been asking about you. It’s great that you came by.”

I blinked once, twice, trying to determine her game.

“You are acting normal,” I said, almost unable to believe it.

“Yeah?” Sophia laughed lightly. “Did you expect something different?”

“Yes. Sophia. For the past few days, you’ve been acting very strangely. Even Amanda thought so.”

“I was rude to her on the phone, that’s my fault,” Sophia said. “She called at a bad time. I’ll make it up to her.”

Sophia turned, going deeper into the house while leaving the door opened behind her.

Seeing the invitation, I walked inside.

“William! Liam is here to see you!” Sophia called.

Immediately, loud footsteps bounded down the hallway. William turned a corner and then threw himself at me for a hug. I eagerly returned it, relieved to see him in one piece.

Not knowing if he was okay this past week had really done a number on me. As pissed as I was at Sophia, and as worried as I was about Aria, knowing William was okay healed a piece of me inside.

He was a good kid. He didn’t deserve any of the craziness happening around him.

“I’ll get dinner started,” Sophia said, smiling at the sight of William and I. Those words, I didn’t think I’d ever hear her say, and wondered what kind of dinner she had in mind exactly. I almost hoped that she was just planning on ordering delivery.

But I was pleased that she was giving William and me some space. This gave me the opportunity to look him over for real, and ask him, “You okay? What’s been going on the past few days?”

William shrugged as he backed up a step or two. “I’m okay. Mom just wanted me home with her. That’s all.”

That didn’t seem like everything, but it also seemed like that was all I was going to get out of William. Despite everything, he was ever-loyal to his mother.

“You sure?” I asked.

He nodded. “Everything’s fine.”

I didn’t know what to believe.