Page 70 of The Ex Next Door
Declan walked her next door. “So, the kids have every other weekend with Rob, right?”
“Yes,” she said, a smile tugging at her lips. “I’m counting the days, too.”
“I’m giving you something to remember me.”
He kissed her then, long and hard and filled with such passion that her knees were liquid when they broke apart and came up for air.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said with a gasp, still holding on to his hand as she walked away. She stretched as far as she could before being forced to let go.
Amy went inside to wait for the kids. She straightened up the living room but since she hadn’t been here most of the weekend, everything looked the way she’d left it on Saturday before her date with Declan.
A few minutes later, Rob was at the door, right on time.
“Bye, Daddy!” said Naomi, giving her father a kiss and hug.
“Bye, Princess.”
David waltzed inside the house without a word to Rob, much less a hug goodbye.
“Hey, Mom,” he said to Amy, then headed straight to his room.
Rob scowled, following David’s retreating back with his eyes. “He’s been this way all weekend.”
“I’m sorry. I guess we didn’t do a very good job in preparing him for this moment.”
“I tried talking to him.” Rob shuffled his feet and looked at the ground.
“Don’t worry, I’ll see what I can do.”
“I appreciate that. He listens to you.” He beckoned Amy to step outside.
“I’ll be right back, sweetie,” Amy called out to Naomi. “Just going to talk to Daddy for a minute.”
She was sitting on the living room couch, unzipping her backpack. “Okay.”
Outside, Amy closed the front door and faced Rob. “What is it?”
“So, you and Declan?” He nudged his chin in the direction of the house next door.
“That’s right. We’re…back together.”
“With the guy who broke your heart? You’re giving him anotherchance?”
“Um, I find this quite ironic coming from you, but yes.”
“It’s just… What if it doesn’t work out, again? The kids have already been through you and me breaking up and that’s bad enough.”
“Well, what if you and Shannon break up?” She crossed her arms, hating the double standard Rob attached to everything.
“Okay, I deserve that, but the thing is, Shannon and I are a blank page. We haven’t alreadyfailedeach other once.”
“Wow. Declan wasseventeenwhen we broke up because he didn’t want to getmarried.”
He scoffed. “All I know is he’s all I heard about when we first met, and how the man shattered your heart.”
“Did you ever consider you were only hearing one side of the story?”
“Forgive me for wanting to save you from some grief and pain, Amy.” He shook his head.
