Chapter 4
4
Taylor
I walked in the door at 4pm and headed straight for my bedroom. I needed to be showered and dressed in less than half an hour. I grabbed a newer pair of jeans from the shelf and a shirt to go with them. Were jeans OK? I didn’t want to overdress for a parent-teacher interview. I shook my head as I walked to the bathroom. What did it even matter? It wasn’t a job interview, and we lived in the country; jeans wouldn’t be a surprise or unexpected. Besides, I wasn’t there to impress anyone. Would Ciaron be wearing jeans?
I slammed my clothes down on the bathroom vanity. Enough with the overthinking.
The kids pulled into the carport, laughing and grumbling as they got out of the car. Isabelle kicked off her shoes as she came into the house. They thumped into the wall one after another. I smiled. Ciaron always told her that she’d be the one repainting the wall. Next would come…the fridge door opened—Callum wishing for some sort of treat to magically appear.
“Mum’s home already,” Isabelle said, her voice higher than usual.
I winced. She didn’t even have confidence that I’d be on time for their parent-teacher interviews. I sighed as I hopped into the shower. I needed to up my game. As Ciaron and I had drifted apart, I’d drifted apart from the children. Why had I allowed that to happen? It must have made them feel shitty, and I’d never want them to feel that way. Lucky they had Ciaron…the Wonder Dad.
I shoved my head under the water and squeezed my eyes shut. Imagine resenting your own husband for being a good father. What was wrong with me? We’d become parents together, grown together in the role, supported each other. It’s not his fault that I’d failed.
I hopped out of the shower and dressed. I brushed my hair slowly, killing time. As I walked into the living room, I plastered a smile on my face. “Are you ready?”
Callum looked up from his phone. “Yep.”
Isabelle didn’t bother giving me her attention. She merely nodded.
I tidied while waiting for Ciaron. Anything to keep busy and keep my mind off the distance between us, even though we were in the same room. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw his car travelling down the road. I grabbed my bag and jacket and headed to the door, the kids in tow.
My phone beeped as I sat in the car. Ciaron’s name popped up.
“The interview schedule,” Ciaron said.
“Thanks.”
I opened the message—form teachers, English, Maths, Science and Art.
“We aren’t expecting any surprises, are we?” Ciaron asked Isabelle and Callum.
“It depends on what you consider a surprise,” Isabelle said, a smile in her voice. “Callum, thinking lunch is the best part of his school day?”
Ciaron laughed. “No. He’s been like that since prep.”
“No surprises then.”
We were quiet for the rest of the drive. Here, with the three of them, silence didn’t seem so awkward. Not like it was sometimes if it was me and the kids. I needed to find my way out of that. I couldn’t rely on Ciaron for that. Ciaron and I were no longer.
We parked and followed Isabelle and Callum into the school. I pulled on the hem of my shirt. This was the first outing we’d had as a broken family. What would people be thinking? This was a small town. Everyone was bound to know Ciaron and I weren’t together anymore. I took another breath to calm myself and smiled as I looked around. Some of these one-storey buildings had been here when I was at school.
Mr McKinnon, my former maths teacher, and now vice principal, greeted us at the door and gave me a big smile. “Well, if it isn’t Taylor Longmire.” He faced the kids. “I taught your mum when she was your age.”
He gave me a sideways glance, and I shoved my hands in my back pockets. What was he about to share?
“She was a lot like you, Isabelle. She studied hard. She never wanted to disappoint her parents.”
Isabelle glanced at me. OK. That revelation wasn’t so bad.
“But don’t let that fool you. She was the mastermind of many devious acts.”
Oh shit. I peeked at each of them. Their attention was held by Mr McKinnon.
“Like the time she convinced some senior students to bring sheep into the main building early one morning for the new principal to find. There was sheep excrement everywhere.”
Callum’s eyes widened as he spun around. “Mum!”
I shrugged. Ciaron chuckled.
“Ha,” Mr McKinnon exclaimed. “I knew it was you.” He guffawed. “Your mum covered her tracks. We could never prove it.”
I elbowed Ciaron, who laughed with Mr McKinnon. It made him laugh harder.
I smoothed my shirt down. “We have some parent-teacher interviews to get to.”
Mr McKinnon waved us through. “Sure. Sure.” He moved aside. “I’m grateful neither Callum nor Isabelle have inherited your talent.”
I leant towards him as I passed and said, “Yet.” I grinned at his gasp.
Callum was practically bouncing beside me. “What other devious acts did you come up with, Mum?”
“This is not the place,” I said, trying to hide my smile. I didn’t know how I was going to get out of this. He would pester me until I told him something. The best thing to do would be to tell him the tamest things.
Ciaron moved in close. His warm breath brushed my ear, sending a shiver through me. “Everyone pays for their crimes in the end.”
I whipped my head around to retort. My words stuck in my mouth as my lips brushed against his. They tingled. Ciaron stepped away, his cheeks flushed. My chest squeezed. Once, he would have kissed me right then and there. Now he wouldn’t even look at me.
I turned my face and concentrated on the back of Callum’s head. I missed Ciaron’s lips, their tenderness, their warmth. The way that every time he claimed mine, I was his. I couldn’t even remember the last time we kissed. And sex? That was almost non-existent in the months before our breakup. I needed to stop thinking about it. It didn’t matter. He’d made up his mind, and I wasn’t his anymore. It was only a matter of time before he’d return to Ireland and leave us all behind.
I couldn’t simply will the memories away, because they were a part of me. Kissing Ciaron was a part of me, burnt into my muscle memory. It was tender and sweet, possessive and hot…
Ciaron wrenched me towards him; his grin and gleaming green eyes filled my vision. His soft lips enveloped mine, warming them instantly. Blood rushed to my head and then whooshed to my toes, making me dizzy all over. I wrapped my arms around his neck to hold him close and myself upright.
His strong hands were firm on my hips, securing me in place. They didn’t need to; I wasn’t going anywhere. My lips were willing. My whole body was. My tongue caressed his. His groan infiltrated every part of my body, and I held him tighter.
He grabbed onto my arse, pulling me against him.
The blood pulsing through me was slow, like a rhythmic, sensual beat, leaving wanting in its wake.
A small whimper escaped my throat and at first I didn’t understand that the sound had come from me. The sound had come from me as I kissed a stranger.
I stepped away; our lips were the last parts of our body to disengage. It was like they knew other lips would never feel as good as this. My eyes opened to him, staring wide-eyed at me. And my lips that had kissed the hell out of him lifted into a smile.
I took a ragged breath and lifted my fingertips to my mouth. I snuck a look at Ciaron, who stared ahead, not even acknowledging my presence. It seemed I was the only one lost in the past.
“We’ll wait in the lounge,” Isabelle said. As she and Callum walked away, they spoke to each other, continuously glancing back at us and nodding.
“Ciaron, it’s so nice to see you again,” a lady with long blonde hair said with a wide smile as she stood up. I was surprised she didn’t round the desk to embrace him in her enthusiasm.
“You too, Carla.”
Her gaze flitted to me. Her bright blue eyes were curious.
Ciaron took a half step away from me. “This is Taylor m—Isabelle and Callum’s mum.”
My stomach knotted. Carla wouldn’t have noticed his little stumble. I tried to hide the hurt by sticking my hand out. I needed to get used to it. That’s all I was to Ciaron now—the mother of his children.
“Taylor, this is Carla, Isabelle’s homeroom teacher.”
I nodded as we sat and twisted the Claddagh ring I’d never taken off since my time with him in Ireland.
She’d said it was nice to see him again. When had they seen each other? This was the first parent-teacher interview of the year.
“You must be so proud of Isabelle,” Carla said in an uplifted voice.
Ugh…young, bright and cheerful. Everything I wasn’t.
I nodded again. I was always proud of Isabelle. But it seemed there was a particular reason I should be in this case. I tried to wrack my brain for what had happened so far this year and came up empty.
“She has worked so hard this semester to improve her grades. Some of it had to do with choosing the right friends and some to do with the extra work she’s been doing at home.”
I nodded and smiled. It was the best thing I could do to hide my ignorance. I remembered Ciaron’s words: I’m fighting to save this family . Was this what he’d meant?
Ciaron smiled at Carla. “I think it had something to do with your influence too.” Then he glanced at me. “We are both very proud of the effort Isabelle has put in.”
Carla beamed at Ciaron and continued looking at him as she spoke. I wanted to poke her eyes out with one of her pens. “Ciaron has been a Godsend. Isabelle is lucky to have such an invested dad.” She faced me. “We’ve been working closely together all year.”
Have they just? Is that why he corrected himself before he called me his wife? When he said we are both proud of Isabelle, did he mean him and me or him and Carla?
I couldn’t form words. So, it was another nod from me. I forced myself to concentrate on the remainder of the meeting and the next and the next. Before we went back to the kids, I pulled Ciaron into an alcove along the hallway.
He had some things to answer for.