Page 11 of The Ex Next Door
No matter how hard he played baseball, Declan cleaned up well when he had to. He’d been dressed in a tux the night of their prom, a black one with those shiny shoes. Classy and handsome. She’d worn a hideous yellow dress that at the time seemed cheerful and bright. Lord knew what she’d been thinking.
Declan thought she was beautiful anyway, or at least that’s what he’d said.
“I love you, Amy,” he’d told her that night and sounded so sincere she believed him.
She allowed herself to briefly wonder what her life would have been like if she’d married Declan Sheridan. They mighthave gotten back together if she hadn’t been so hurt and proud that she refused to listen to anything he had to say.
But there was no world in which she could ever regret being the mother to David and Naomi.
Sometimes, she understood Rob’s nostalgia for the old days when they were young and carefree. They’d been parents for so long their youth seemed far away. But if Amy closed her eyes and focused, she could almost feel those days again, and they didn’t seem so distant at all.
* * *
Right before Declan pulled into his driveway around midnight, he noticed Amy next door. She sat on the porch swing, barefoot, staring out into the dark blue sky.
He shut off the headlights, and Amy stood and moved to the front door.
“Don’t go inside on my account,” he called out.
She shook her head. “I’m not. It’s just…time.”
He strolled over, jangling his keys in his fist. “What are you doing out here? Is something wrong?”
“Why would you think that?”
“I don’t know… You just moved in.” He shrugged and stopped at the bottom step to the porch. “Did everything go okay with settling in? I know you didn’t want me to help with anything else, but—”
Amy blinked. “Why would you be concerned with that?”
“Amy.” He sighed. “You’re going to have to get used to my being neighborly.”
Clearly, she wasn’t the Amy he remembered from their teenage years. Yeah, that was a long time ago, but his Amy was cheerful and fun. She wore yellow and every bright color under the sun, her long, dark and curly hair always falling loose around her shoulders. You’d catch her smiling far morethan frowning, moving more than sitting, and he’d loved her like crazy. He still remembered that.
This new Amy seemed older than her age, and he’d bet she hadn’t smiled at anyone other than David and Naomi in a long while.
“I’m sorry. In my old neighborhood, everyone minded their own business.”
“Well, now you’re in my neck of the woods.” He pointed to her and winked. “Your business is my business.”
She almost cracked a smile. “That’s not true.”
“Whatever. Learn to live next door to a concerned ex-boyfriend.”
“I don’t know if I can. Your being concerned about me is throwing me back a bit too many Thursdays.”
“Tell me about it.” He sat on the top step. “Seeing you with kids? I don’t mind telling you, that’s a hard one to get used to.”
“My twins arenine.”
He heard the hint of amusement in her tone. “I know!”
“They saw Rob today.”
“Oh yeah?” He turned, hoping she’d sit next to him. Honestly, he wasn’t quite ready to go inside.
The date with Samantha tonight had thrown him for a loop. She didn’t think she could trust him to be faithful to her. Old girlfriends were apparently talking to each other. Just because he hadn’t been ready to settle down for years didn’t mean he couldn’t be ready now. But Samantha wanted a guarantee. He refused to give her one. It should be enough that he would consider being exclusive and see where it went.
He was talking with someone right now who could tell Samantha that there were no guarantees.
