Page 92 of The Ex Next Door
“Oh. Okay.” Naomi slid a finger over her mouth in the “zipping it closed” move.
They didn’t find any fairies, but Declan suggested instead they make a little home for them. Naomi gathered pebbles, leaves and sticks and fashioned them into mini furniture for them.
The screen door slapped open and closed again a few minutes later.
“What’s going on out here?” He looked up to see Amy, cupping her hands over her forehead, shading her eyes against the sun.
“Lookin’ for fairies.” Declan stood and brushed the dirt off his knees, thinking how easy boys were compared with girls.
All you needed to do was kick or throw a ball around, but girls were a hell of a lot more creative, it would seem.
She’d obviously had an argument with Rob, going by the worry in her gaze, the tightness around her mouth. Yep. They’d argued.
“Everything okay?”
“We’ll talk about it later,” she said, further confirming it.
Declan had already accepted that Rob would be a part of his life, too. He came with the territory. He came with Amy.
And Declan could handle him.
* * *
Later that night, once the kids were asleep, Declan walked outside with Amy.
The summer night was clear, the stars shining bright above them. He held Amy’s hand and sat on one of the steps, pulling her down next to him. His life was coming togetherin all the important ways and for the first time in so long he felt settled.
“What’s up? You’ve been quiet all night.”
“You won’t believe this. Rob just sprung this on me tonight.”
“Is he giving you a tough time about us?” He threaded his fingers through hers.
Declan would have expected no less. It might be one thing for her ex-husband to move on, but it would be another one watchinghermove on with an ex-boyfriend. Declan had already determined to make friends with Rob, despite what he personally thought of him. For the sake of keeping the peace, he’d keep his less-than-charitable thoughts to himself. He figured they would never be the best of friends, but Declan could get along with almost anyone.
“Believe it or not, tonight he told me that he wants us to get back together. He said he wants another chance.”
The shock hit Declan hard, reverberating through him. This is the one thing he hadn’t expected. He hadn’t planned for this. But damn it all, of course Rob wanted Amy back, because this wasAmy. Only an idiot wouldn’t realize what he’d lost.
“What about Shannon?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. It already didn’t work out.”
Something unnamed bothered Declan now, niggling at the edges of his mind. And then he found the end of that thought, clear as the evening air. Amy wasn’t laughing. She wasn’t talking about how ridiculous the idea was now, after they were already divorced, for crying out loud.
Because Declan was speechless, Amy kept talking.
“He said we never tried to fix our marriage, and the thing is, he’s right, we never did. We should have, and I wanted to,but he said no. He just walked away, gave up, and now he has the gall to suggest we try again. For the kids, for our family.”
“Okay.” He let go of her hand, whether out of self-preservation or not, he didn’t know, but this wasn’t the time to analyze. “Is that what you want to do?”
“No. I love you, Declan.” She tugged on his hand, bringing it back to her.
He realized in that moment he had a chance but knowing Amy… His heart told him he was still going to lose this battle.
“I get it. It would be good for the kids if their parents were back together. David would be very happy.”
And suddenly the apologetic looks in David’s eyes, the way he’d actually told Declan that he was sorry… It all made sense. Poor kid. On one level, he felt remorse for Declan’s inevitable loss. David expected what everyone else did.
