He did not get my mental SOS. When I went outside to get my kids from the line where the parent aides had them line up before the first bell, I saw Josie skipping happily across the parking lot, her grandmother watching her progress from her blue sedan. Well, there went that idea.
Trying not to dwell on how crappy the morning had gone so far, I greeted my kids and led them into the building. There was the normal amount of Monday morning hyperactivity, kids swarming around me as we walked down the hall to tell me about their weekend the way they always did. Josie usually hung back from the craziness, preferring to chat with Gabby while she got settled. But today she bounced right up to me at the front of the room, before she’d even dropped off her backpack.
“Miss K!” she said, face lit up like a Christmas tree. “Guess what?”
Even with a pounding head I couldn’t deny Josie a smile when she looked so happy. The kid really was the cutest little thing. I could see so much of Liam in her, from the beautiful blue eyes to the way she had to be in constant motion when she was excited.
“What’s up, sweetie?”
Her grin somehow grew even larger. “My mom came home yesterday!”
Everything around me seemed to freeze for a moment. Her mom…came home? Here to Texas?
Suddenly Liam’s lack of communication made a lot more sense.
“That’s…wow, sweetie. How exciting!” I had no idea if I was doing a good job faking it. The thoughts in my head were so jumbled and confused. “Is she here for a visit?”
“She’s here to stay!” Josie was practically trembling with excitement. “She told me so herself!”
Here to stay. Chloe O’Conner was here to stay.
I wanted to press Josie for details, to ask where, exactly, her mother was staying. With Peter and Evelyn? Or was she at Liam’s house? Luckily, whatever measure of professionalism I still possessed rose up and stopped me.
“I’m really glad for you, Josie,” I said through a suddenly thick throat. “Why don’t you go ahead and put your bag in your cubby so we can get started.”
“Okay!” she cried, more jubilant than I had ever seen her before. And why shouldn’t she be? She’d been missing her mother for weeks. What little kid wouldn’t want both of their parents in the same city?
The only question was whether or not her parents were going to be together in the same city.
Stop it,I ordered myself.You know Liam is over her. He practically spits fire whenever her name is mentioned.
But was that passion the result of anger? Or from unresolved feelings?
Regardless of how he felt about Chloe, why in the world hadn’t Liam told me what was going on? He had to know that Josie would mention it. Did he really think it was better for me to hear it from her?
Maybe he wasn’t thinking about you at all,a mean little voice in my head offered.
“Don’t jump to conclusions,” I reminded myself in an undertone as I went to the front of the room to begin the day’s work.You don’t know anything yet.
But that wasn’t quite true. The one thing I did know for sure was also the thing that had my heart sinking to my knees. Liam O’Conner put the needs and happiness of his daughter aboveall else. And I was pretty sure Josie’s biggest wish was for her parents to be together again.
Monday felt endless.By the time the bell rang I was worn out, my nerves frazzled. And my freaking headache never went away. It wasn’t until I was packing up my bag to go home that I realized I didn’t have my phone. I usually stashed it inside my desk during the day in case of emergencies but it wasn’t there, or anywhere I looked. Hoping that I had left it in the car—and honestly, too tired to care much either way—I headed out for the day.
Sure enough, it was sitting in the cup holder. Dead, because of course it was. That’s what happens when you clutch your phone in bed half the night, hoping for a text that isn’t coming, instead of charging it like you should have.
I half expected Liam to be waiting at my house. In the weeks since our first night together, we’d had to rely on stolen moments when my work schedule matched up to his practices. After school, when Evelyn and Peter had Josie, had worked out a few times and this is where we had met. Both my couch and my bed saw plenty of action those days.
But my driveway was as empty as it had been when I left that morning. Even if he wasn’t at practice, he clearly had better things to do than see me. Like reconnect with the mother of his child.
Enough.
I plugged my phone in the charger then started the bath water. A glass of wine in the bath sounded like the perfect end to this awful day. And if anyone ever told you three-thirty was tooearly in the afternoon for wine, that person was clearly not an elementary school teacher.
I finally managed to relax while I soaked in the lavender scented bubbles. My headache even eased slightly—maybe the wine had healing effects. When I pulled myself out of the water thirty minutes later, I felt much better.
I glanced at my phone while I toweled dry my hair, noticing that I had several missed calls. The first was from that morning at eight-thirty—right about the time I was welcoming my students. It was from Liam, and he left a voicemail.
“Hey, Grace. I was hoping to catch you before school but I overslept. Last night was…Jesus, everything is crazy at home right now.” He let out an aggravated sigh. “Which you probably already know about, since you’re seeing Josie right about now. Shit. I wanted to talk to you about it first. The trainer penciled me in for a massage before the game tonight, so I have to head to the rink early. I should have some time around three-thirty? I hope we can talk then. I’ll call you.” There was a long pause. “Miss you.”
