Chapter 1 #2
Yep, there’s Declan. Right behind me. His eyes are crossed, and his cheeks are puffed out. He is clearly making faces at my son now.
I poke him.
“Stop.”
“Jesus, Ruby.” Declan holds his hand to his side where I poked him. “Was that your nail?”
“Focus.”
He holds his hands up in surrender. “It’s just a fun kids’ game. Lighten up.”
I narrow my gaze at him and then spin around.
Max gives me a thumbs-up, and the principal starts a countdown from five.
I grip the rope and plant my feet.
“Go!”
I pull with all my might, as I assume the parents behind me do as well.
“Young! Pull for all of us!” someone from the back shouts.
“I’m trying!” he shouts back.
I tug harder, backing up when suddenly, two big arms wrap around me to grab the rope where my hands are.
“Hey, what are you doing?” I snap, feeling Declan’s body press against my backside.
“I’m getting a better grip.” His breath skirts across the skin of my neck.
Goosebumps pepper over my entire body.
“You can’t just ... just …”
“Do you want to win or not?’ he says coolly into my ear.
“Of course. But you can’t just take over like this.”
“From the shouts behind us, it sounds like they are relying on me.”
“Well, back up and let me help,” I snap and then plant my feet and stick out my ass to make him back up.
He grunts, and suddenly, his right hand sweeps across my stomach to hold me in place.
“Careful, Ruby. If you keep backing up, I won’t be able to focus.”
“Real mature,” I comment just as Max and Susie scream, “Now!”
All the kids holding the rope let go.
It happens in a flash. The feeling of being pulled backward, losing my footing and falling, only to land with my butt in Declan’s lap.
His hands rest on either side of my hips.
“Shit,” he groans.
“Oh my God.” I roll off him. When I get to my knees, I find him lying flat on the ground.
I cringe. That had to hurt, but I quickly calm my expression, because this is still Declan and I don’t feel bad for him. Ever.
“If you hadn’t pulled so hard, this wouldn't have happened.”
He lets out a breath and then rises to a seated position, bringing his face close to mine.
“You’re welcome for the catch.”
“The catch?”
“Yeah, your ass is in my lap, so you didn’t hit the asphalt.”
I roll my eyes and stand. “You—”
“We got you guys good!” Max cheers next to me, and then he and Susie give each other a high five.
“Want to come over later?” Susie asks, and the principal starts dismissing everyone as long as they have a parent.
Max’s big doe eyes stare up at me.
I can’t take it.
“Okay, but not all night.”
“Yes!” both kids cheer and race to the treats table.
“You were going to tell him no again, weren’t you?” Declan says next to me and bumps my shoulder as we watch our children fill a to-go plate with enough treats to keep them awake till midnight.
“No.”
“I think you were.”
“I wasn't.”
“Hmm, I still disagree.”
I side-eye him and walk off without a reply, but unfortunately, he follows.
“I’m thinking about grilling steaks for dinner tonight, if you and Max want to join us.”
“Nope.”
“I want a steak,” Max says, joining us with his plate of treats.
“I’ve already got dinner in the Crock-Pot.”
“Then you guys can eat with us!” Max cheers.
“No, no,” I say before he can get too excited.
“Why not, Mom? We never eat with them except on Sundays, and they live right next door.”
“That’s not a reason to eat with them, Max. Mr. Willis lives on the other side of us, and you don’t worry about eating with him.”
“Yeah, because he’s old and would just yell at me the whole time or tell me to keep my voice down.”
He’s not wrong. Mr. Willis is old, and time and time again, I have to tell him to turn his hearing aids down.
“Another time.”
“You always say that.”
I glance at Declan. He and Susie are still standing right near us, but he’s pointing to something and not paying any attention to us.
“Max.”
“Please, Mom.”
His pleading voice hits me right in the heart. For him, I can’t let my distaste for Declan get in the way of everything.
“Okay. We can all eat together.”
Both kids cheer because, of course, Susie was listening.
They hurriedly walk in the direction of our houses.
I start to walk behind them, and Declan falls into line with me.
I let out an annoyed sigh at the same time he lets out a low whistle.
“That one hurt, didn’t it?”
I ignore him.
He leans in to say, “Willingly agreeing to do something that includes hanging out with me pains you, doesn’t it?”
“Do you have to talk right now?”
“I do. It’s polite to chat when you’re on a walk with someone.”
“We are not on a walk. I am walking home, and you are following me.”
“Because I live next door.”
“Dang it,” I say and snap my fingers.
Declan chuckles but quickens his steps to move in front of me.
“Seriously though, Ruby, why don’t you like me? Tell me so that I can fix it.”
I pause to look up at him, and those ocean-blue eyes stare back at me, begging me to put him out of his misery and spill the truth that he’s asked me no less than fifty times over the last year.
Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to just forget that everyone compared my success to his during school or that people still think he is the greatest gift to this town and commend his ability to be a basic responsible adult that holds a job and feeds his kid, and just become friends with him to appease the children and my family, who all like Declan.
But then I think about how I left this town at seventeen to have my son and raise him with a life that includes both his mother and father.
I sold my soul to Max’s grandparents in exchange for graduating from high school on time, getting into a college that would help me start and run my own graphic design business, all so that I could one day be financially stable enough to bring us back here and give my son a life he could fall in love with.
One I could fall in love with. I took lemons and made lemonade, but no one cares that I made a sacrifice to get where I am.
No, they just whisper to each other that I got pregnant by some rich kid and followed the money.
They don't know that I cried most nights, wishing my mom were still here to tell me what to do or missing my dad and brothers, and the only way I could push past the loneliness of my situation was by loving my son and working my ass off to change the situation I put us in.
So no, I’m not going to tell him so that he can fix it.
I haven’t needed anyone this far.
And I sure as hell don’t need anyone now.
I just … I wish that someone, I don’t know, saw me for me and not as the woman they think they know.
“Every time you ask me that, I’m going to add another year that I don't tell you,” I finally answer him.
“Why? I’ll be a hundred at this point or dead.”
“Exactly,” I say and walk around him to prepare for a dinner I’m only hosting to make my son happy.
Declan and Susie have come to our house dozens of times for a meal, and yet, this one feels different. Unlike Sunday breakfast when my entire family is here, this meal includes only the four of us, and for a reason I can't explain, it makes me nervous.
I’ve just finished setting the table when the back door opens.
This is how Susie always comes over, but I half expected Declan to use the front door.
I knew I shouldn’t have let my father put a gate between our yards.
According to the kids, it’s like a secret passageway from house to house.
Anyway, Declan stepping through the back door makes me pause.
“Please, come on in like you own this house.”
He chuckles, steps back out, and knocks on the frame.
“Hey, Ruby, can I come in?”
“No.”
He chuckles louder and walks in.
“See, now, some days I just can’t tell if you're being mean or flirting.”
“Oh, it's the former, trust me.”
He shrugs.
“If you say so. It sounds flirty, and I think I like it.”
Before I can reply, Susie comes bouncing in after him, a tray of leftover cupcakes in her hand.
I eye them, then look away, hating how it excites me that she brought them.
Max takes them from her and sets them on the counter.
“Oh, wow. You have the whole setup. Plates out, food ready to serve, and everything.”
“The sooner you sit, the sooner you leave,” I point out in a hushed tone, since the kids are nearby and he clearly can’t figure that part out on his own.
“What’s for dinner?” Max asks.
“Mississippi mud roast.”
“Did you make mashed potatoes?” he asks and turns to Susie, “You’ll want the mashed potatoes instead of the diced ones.”
“Okay.” She grins and sits next to her dad.
“Yes, I made them,” I say as I place them on the table with the other dishes so that we don’t have to treat this like a buffet.
“Yes!” Max cheers once I set the fresh-from-the-oven garlic bread in front of him. “I was hoping this would show up soon.” He turns his attention to Declan. “My mom is the best baker in town.”
“I thought your mom’s friend Brooke was the best?”
I shoot a glare at the man, who chose to sit at the head of the table, and looks ready to dig in.
Although now that I think of it, this is Declan. I shouldn’t have put in any extra energy to serve him food.
Alas, the kids are present, and I’m still a mother who, 90 percent of the time, needs to show how mature she is.
“Go wash your hands,” Declan says in his dad voice, nodding to the sink for Susie.
“You, too, Max.”
The kids leave, and he smiles. I roll my eyes extra hard.
“One day,” he repeats, and I pretend that I can't hear him.
“All set?” I ask after the kids come back.
I serve Max and Susie, then I serve myself before I sit back down.
“Mom, you forgot Declan.”
I definitely did not.
“Whoops,” I say, and Declan holds his plate out with a smile.
I look him in the eye.
You’re annoying.
He stares back.
You like it.
I fill his plate half full and set it down in front of him.
“I’m going to need more than that.”
Just when I think he’s about to say something, Susie cuts in. “Dad, manners.”
I press my lips together to keep from laughing, but yeah, Declan, manners.