Page 84 of The Ex Next Door
“It’s good manners,” Amy said. “And he’s never been over for dinner before.”
“Can we eat now? I’m starving,” said David.
Amy took it as a good sign. He wasn’t going to hide in his room or take off on another scare-your-mother-to-death expedition.
“Sure, you two wash your hands and we’ll eat.”
David followed Naomi as they went to the hall bathroom.
In two seconds, Declan was by her side at the refrigerator, where she was taking out the salad bowl.
“How can I help?” His hand slid over her waist.
“Here, you can take the salad to the table.” She handed it to him without meeting his eyes but when he didn’t move, she looked up into his deep green gaze. “I’m sorry about this. He’s being a pill.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ve got thick skin. If some guy came sniffing around my mother when I was nine years old, I don’t think I’d have cared for it, either.”
The refrigerator door safety between them, she reached to glide her palm across the rough beard stubble of his jawline. “But you’re not ‘some guy.’”
“Well, don’t forget that to him, I am. He’s loyal to his father, which believe me, I can understand. The fact that he’sangry with him now doesn’t change the fact he loves him. He always will, no matter how much Rob manages to disappoint him. I understand better than most that father-son relationships can be challenging. There’s so much expectation on both sides.”
“You and your father.”
He’d talked about it a little, and she’d sensed the looming tension between them when Mr. Sheridan showed up at the first baseball practice.
“We’re going to be okay now.”
“Oh, Declan. I’m so happy for you. It gives me hope for us, too, that someday we’ll straighten this blended-family thing out. David can love both Rob and me, separately. I want to move on and start my new life.”
“Hang on to that hope, Tinks. Hang on tight.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Dinner was a tense affair, with Naomi giving her brother sidelong looks as if she was somehow trying to communicate with him through their magical twin bond. No doubt she wanted to know why her brother was suddenly not fond of Declan when a week ago he’d been, ahem, to borrow a phrase, his biggest cheerleader.
“Can I be excused?” David said.
Amy blinked in surprise. “What about dessert? It’s a lemon tart pie.”
Yes, she was trying to win her son’s approval through his stomach.
Declan had been nothing but friendly through this whole dinner and he deserved to be acknowledged by her son. He deserved to be accepted with open arms. She had resisted many times the urge to hold his hand, just to touch him like a lover would. No. She would bide her time before she could demonstrate any physical affections for him, and even then, her children had never been particularly fond of PDA.
“That’s fine,” Declan said, nudging Naomi. “I don’t think David wants any pie. More for us.”
“Yum!” Naomi laughed and held up two fingers. “I’ll have two slices.”
David didn’t laugh but also didn’t leave the table. Amyserved her family slices of the pie she’d bought from the bakery in town. Talk revolved around how hot the day had been, always a topic in south Texas, then Naomi’s fern named Fern and eventually quite naturally slid into baseball. Because it was summer, after all, and the Astros were playing the San Francisco Giants next week. Declan stated his high hopes even if everyone called him a dreamer for thinking the Stros had a chance against the amazing Giants.
“I like the Giants because their colors are better,” Naomi said happily. “Are they the ones with orange and black? Just like Halloween.”
Declan clutched his chest. “Don’t tell me we’ve lost another Stros fan to the colors!”
“Naomi, you can’t like a team because of itscolors!” David shook his head, but he did chuckle for the first time. “Besides, the Astros have orange, too.”
The conversation devolved from there and before long they were discussing video games and music, the children and Declan poking fun at Amy’s love of country music and Chris Stapleton in particular. They felt very much like a regular family. Her children and Declan. He just fit. He would always fit with her, in any situation, so this should not be any different. The tough part would be getting David to understand and accept that his parents were never getting back together. All those years, she’d had an enviable relationship with Rob. She’d loved him, he’d loved her, they worked well together, their children were perfect and their family unit stayed solid for years. But now that she was back with Declan, she couldn’t imagine how she’d ever let anyone take his place. No one was quite like him, no one owned her heart and soul the way he always had.
After dinner, Declan stayed to help with the dishes, perfect man that he was. He rinsed the plates and handed themto her because she had a particular way to load the dishwasher and didn’t want her first disagreement with Declan to involve terrible dish arrangement.
