Page 33 of The Ex Next Door
But it would be the first time she’d been separated from her children for so long and this didn’t feel like a small thing. Intellectually she understood they’d be okay even if Rob didn’t exactly inspire confidence. She didn’t doubt that he loved his children. Maybe he’d learn the rest of raising them and the place that guidance and example meant in parenting. Either way, they all deserved a relationship with each other. In the beginning, Amy thought just handling the children on his own might be enough to bring Rob crawling back. But they were good kids, and so he didn’t. He truly didn’t love her anymore. Didn’t even need her.
This was for the best, much as it hurt like an ice pick stabbing her eye. She didn’t want a man to stay with her simply for the sake of the kids. She wanted a man to love her through the laundry and the dirty dishes and the clogged sinks. Through the peaks and the valleys of a long-term marriage.
Amy pulled into her driveway just as Samantha was leaving Declan’s next door.
More like storming out, actually.
When Samantha reached her sedan, she turned and, red-faced, shouted and pointed to Declan loud enough for the entire neighborhood to hear:
“You don’t deserve me!”
Wow.You go, girl.How wonderful to have the fortitude to claim those words so loudly. As soon as Amy got a chance to scream where no one would hear her, she’d do the same. For now, Amy found her red-rimmed eyes in the rearview mirror.
“You don’t deserve me, Rob!”
She didn’t know whether Samantha meant it or was simply once again having a jealous meltdown. But for the first time since her divorce became official, Amy meant those words. Rob did not deserve her or the love she’d showeredon him over the years. Whether or not she’d still been in love with him, which could be argued, she was devoted to him and no one could disagree with that fact. She’d built her life around Rob. Maybe it hadn’t been smart, or modern, but they had children and she’d assumed she and Rob would grow old together.
So much for assumptions.
Amy waited a moment to get out of her car, for Samantha to drive off and the drama she’d witnessed to subside. Checking her mascara in the mirror, Amy wiped away the last dark smear and tucked a stray hair behind her ear.
Declan stood on the lawn watching Samantha drive away, hands in his pockets, head lowered.
When he caught Amy’s glance, he smirked and lifted a shoulder. “My batting average just took another hit. Pretty soon I’m going to stop swinging.”
“Are you okay?”
He crossed their shared lawn. “I should be asking you that question.”
His head tipped to the side, and it seemed as if the sun itself shone a bright light into her eyes. Leave it to Declan. He’d noticed.
“I feel seen and I thought I was hiding it.”
“What is it? Did Rob say or do something to upset you?”
“No. I’m just going to miss my kids.”
“It’s only a week. Right?”
“Feels like a month.”
She pulled down on the skirt of her silly short pink dress. Rob hadn’t noticed. She’d even lost a little weight on the “Divorce Diet,” which was a real thing, and he’d shown zero interest.
Amy’s gaze followed the taillights of Samantha’s car, turning at the end of the street. “Did you and Samantha have another fight?”
Declan crossed his arms. “You could say that.”
“I’ll talk to her for you if she’s still jealous.”
“Don’t bother. We broke up. It’s my fault, of course, as usual.”
“Oh no, Declan. I doubt it’s all your fault, but I’m sorry. If it helps, she sounded unreasonably jealous.”
“I don’t know, maybe she was right all along. I think she saw something even before I did.”
“What’s that?”
“I wasn’t all in.”
