His Texas Forever Family

by Amy Woods

  “Well, yes, actually, that’s part of it, but…” she said slowly. Liam was at a complete loss for why she looked so nervous she might jump out of her skin.

  “Paige and my wife go way back,” the Realtor said. “They’ve worked together for years. How many has it been now, honey? Must be going on eight at least?”

  Liam was still confused as he met Paige’s eyes, searching them for clues.

  She swallowed and he saw Owen look up at Paige with nervous eyes as she squeezed her son’s hand. “Liam, Tom is Principal Matthews’s husband.”

  “Oh, I see. Well, that makes perfect sense,” he said, hoping that neither of them would hear the slight jolt in his voice as he struggled over the words. He needed to keep calm about this new development, to keep his confidence for both him and Paige and to show her she had no need to worry. But he couldn’t even convince himself of that, as he stood silent, trying to come up with a reason why she would be house hunting with him.

  “And how do you two know each other?” Mr. Samuels asked.

  Right. The man had no idea. Liam had only spoken to the Realtor briefly about what might interest him. They hadn’t yet sat down and talked finances or any details, so Mr. Samuels didn’t know that Liam was a teacher at Peach Leaf. Paige’s eyes seemed to beg him not to say anything, and a knot formed in his stomach as he searched for how to answer.

  He didn’t agree with her that they had anything to hide, so why did he suddenly sympathize with Paige and have the urge to lie? It would be easy to make up something—anything—but the truth would come out in less than a week, when the entire faculty and staff of Peach Leaf Elementary got together for the principal’s going-away dinner at the school’s auditorium and everyone saw them together. In a small town like this, even if he didn’t touch her all night, people would just know. If he remained silent about their relationship now, he would only delay the inevitable. Liam just hoped Paige was working through the same thought process as they stood there, saying nothing. Their speechlessness itself was a red flag that something was wrong, and Mr. Samuels did not seem to overlook the tension.

  Liam cleared his throat. “We know each other from work. I’m the new art teacher at the elementary school.” Paige sent a grateful look his way. Owen stared up at her and then looked at Liam, as if trying to decipher the strange behavior going on among the adults.

  Mr. Samuels nodded, and Liam saw the exact moment when the realization hit him. He was surprised to see that the Realtor only gave it a second’s thought. When he spoke again, nothing in his tone indicated any concern. “Well, I didn’t realize. My wife speaks very highly of all of her teachers, and that includes both of you.”

  Paige looked up at Liam then with a frigid expression.

  “Shall we get on inside?” Mr. Samuels said, glancing back and forth between them. “I think you’ll just love it.”

  * * *

  After the awkward situation with Principal Matthews’s husband, they had somehow managed to get through the rest of the day without incident. Paige longed to head home, to soak in a hot bath and just forget about the embarrassment of running into Mr. Samuels. She should have put two and two together when Liam had told her the Realtor’s name the day before, but she had always known him by his first name, Tom, which was how he wanted to be addressed any time she had seen him. She supposed she’d known at some point that Ms. Matthews had kept her maiden name, but she’d been having such a good time with Liam that it hadn’t occurred to her that day.

  That’s what can happen when you’re not careful, she chided herself. She was upset with Liam for not keeping quiet about his job when he’d had the chance, but the anger welling up inside her seemed way too strong for the circumstances. Her body tingled with the pent-up stress of the past few weeks. Principal Matthews’s dinner was coming up, and Paige had a strong feeling that her boss would use the opportunity to announce Paige as her successor, with every teacher in the school there to hear. Paige should have had her head on straight; she should have been ever more careful in the weeks leading up to the event. Instead, she’d allowed Liam to convince her that she didn’t have anything to worry about, and she’d gotten careless in the process.

  “Paige, talk to me,” Liam said next to her. They were seated in a booth at the old-fashioned general store. Owen happily dug into his ice cream sundae, but Paige hadn’t touched the one Liam had ordered for the two of them to share. She stared into it, not answering him, as if the solution to all of her problems might be found in the creamy dessert. If only.

  He sighed heavily and picked up his spoon to take another bite. He smiled at Owen’s chocolate-covered chin. “You’ve got a little something here,” he said, pointing to his own face. Owen giggled and picked up his napkin to wipe away the mess.

  The scene would have normally made her smile, too. Until an hour earlier, it had almost felt like the three of them were a family.

  “Paige, I’ll be outside,” he said, whispering close to her ear so Owen wouldn’t worry. “I don’t think you should let this bother you so much. You’re all worked up about something that isn’t a big deal.”

  She clenched her teeth and forced herself to smile across the table, avoiding Liam’s face as he turned from her and walked out to the patio area of the store.

  “Owen, honey? See that window there?”

  “Yeah, Mom,” her son said, glancing away from his treat just long enough to see where she pointed.

  “Mr. Campbell and I will be just out there, okay? I’ll be able to see you, and you can come out if anything happens, all right?”

  “Sure, Mom,” he said, tucking back into his ice cream.

  She rose from the booth and bent down to kiss his soft hair before she joined Liam outside. Taking a deep breath, she sat across from him at the picnic table he’d chosen.

  “Paige…”

  “You had no right to tell Tom Samuels that we work together. What if he goes straight home and tells her?”

  “It’s okay, Paige. He didn’t even seem to care about it. You’re the only person who was upset about us being together.”

  She shook her head. “Why can’t you get it? Don’t you know the risk you’re taking every time we step out a door together? Why doesn’t all of this bother you?

  “Because it doesn’t matter, Paige. It’s not that important.”

  “How can you say that? You could lose your job if the right people find out that we’re…whatever it is we’re doing. I could lose my job. And if I lose that, I lose everything I’ve worked for…for Owen. I’ve let things go too far, and now I don’t know what to do.”

  “How often do you think this sort of thing happens?” Liam gripped the table and leaned toward her.

  She blinked at him, trying hard not to focus on the pain she found in his eyes. Her chest tightened and she pulled in air to quell the feeling. She knew exactly how many times this sort of thing happened—for her, at least. Twice. Once with Mark, and again, miraculously, with Liam. What an injustice it was that the one person she wanted to be with was off-limits. She’d ignored that very fact in spite of her full comprehension of the repercussions, and now she would have to pay for it. She couldn’t have everything she wanted, after all. How silly of her to think she ever would be able to handle single motherhood, her job and a relationship. How silly to think she could fall in love again and not face the consequences.

  “I don’t want to talk about this,” she said. “Especially not with Owen here.”

  Something that looked markedly like disappointment flooded Liam’s face. She knew he was getting tired of hearing her say the same thing. It had been selfish of her to string him along all this time, playing into their shared fantasy of a life together. “Can you just take Owen and me back? We have the dinner this weekend and I want to get some rest.”

  Liam nodded, and she knew that it was because o
f Owen that he didn’t push her further. It was because of Owen that they’d met and because of Owen that they had been able to spend so much time together, under the guise of helping her son get better.

  But it wasn’t because of Owen that she’d allowed herself to do the one thing she was so afraid of.

  She was in love with Liam Campbell. No amount of her usual resistance was going to get her out of it.

  Paige just wondered how many more times she would use her son as an excuse not to let Liam get any closer than he already had.

  Liam, to whom she would have to lie by saying she simply wasn’t interested in getting to know him any further.

  Hopefully, for both their sakes, he would believe her.

  Chapter Ten

  “Okay, honey. Make sure you do your homework before you play with Kaylie and Jeremy,” Paige said. “And make sure you do what Ms. Rachel says. I want a good report when I get back.”

  Rachel laughed as Owen tucked himself under her arm. “I’m sure we’ll be just fine,” she said. “You two have a great time.”

  “We will,” Paige said. She hurried to her car in front of Rachel’s house. She wanted to get out of there before Liam saw her from the guesthouse. It had been hard enough trying to explain to Rachel why the two of them had chosen not to ride together—or rather, she had chosen not to.

  Liam had wanted to drive her, but Paige had refused. The faculty had all been invited to the school for dinner that night, and Paige didn’t want to risk being seen driving there with him. Before that day at the ice cream shop, the past few weeks with Liam had been equal parts amazing and hard on her. They had spent so much time together. Liam often brought pizza to her home and helped Owen with homework, not to mention their precious, stolen moments alone, and she had finally agreed to bring Owen to one of Liam’s Saturday morning art-therapy groups.

  She couldn’t have been more thankful. The group was small and intimate. The kids had seemed to accept Owen; he was doing beautifully, talking more easily and making friends. Liam had described some of the art projects to Paige. She had been to his classroom at the hospital to see some of Owen’s work herself and had been amazed at the pieces the kids had created.

  Aside from Owen’s paintings and sculptures, she’d seen pieces that made her heart ache with their intensity and maturity. And though she’d asked, Liam had been clear that he couldn’t give her any information into the current patients themselves, other than showing her their work. He kept everything confidential except when it was related to Owen. She was proud to know that he was doing so much better, but she knew she had Liam to thank.

  Liam had explained that the art projects helped Owen to express things that he had trouble finding words for, deep-set emotions that he might not know how to articulate otherwise. Paige accepted it, but she still wished that Owen would open up to her about how he’d felt when he lost his dad. Partly it was because she wanted to talk about Mark herself and still seemed unable to. She’d had some of her own therapy alongside Owen, but she’d never been able to connect with any of the doctors enough to do any good. After a few quiet sessions, she’d stopped trying and had resigned herself to the fact that she just couldn’t do it. It hurt too much to talk about her husband and the life they’d shared.

  Strangely, though, she sometimes had the feeling that she might want to talk to Liam about it even more than she already had, but they hadn’t exactly had much time to themselves. He had talked to her in passing at school over the past few days and had called several times—all of which she’d ignored, too afraid to face her fear. Paige knew he could see right through her thin excuses when she said she was too busy. She knew that he was aware she didn’t want to be seen with him in public. In Peach Leaf, each time they went out meant possibly running into someone from school. That someone could inform Principal Matthews that her top choice for the job was dating a faculty member, and her chance would be gone in an instant. She couldn’t afford the risk. But she knew Liam was becoming impatient, and she didn’t know how much longer she could keep it up. She still couldn’t figure out why it didn’t seem to matter as much to him. He knew the outcome as well as she did, yet he didn’t seem as concerned.

  She pulled into the school parking lot behind several other cars and checked her mirror to check that Liam wasn’t behind her. She hadn’t discussed this evening with him, other than to decline his offer to drive her. He’d been unhappy enough about that, and she didn’t want to push him any further for fear she might succeed in turning him away entirely. She was exasperated at her inner conflict. Her heart was tired of hiding her feelings for him from the world.

  She parked her car and headed inside, feeling silly in her dress. It was deep blue and one-shouldered. She’d bought it last weekend when she hadn’t been able to find anything more sensible, though she knew she hadn’t overdressed because the evening included a four-course meal and, knowing Principal Matthews, would include fine wine and dessert. She still felt out of her element. She was used to being simple and professional. It had been years since she’d dressed up for anything. The last time had been a formal function for Mark’s firehouse.

  She recalled the sparkly black dress and elegant heels she’d worn. Paige was surprised to find that the memory brought only a smile and none of the sadness she usually felt when she thought about Mark. She knew she could attribute the change to Liam’s presence in her life.

  She stopped and sat on a bench outside the building to collect her thoughts. It was Liam she’d thought of when she’d chosen the dress. Liam to whom she now ran when she had a concern about Owen. Liam with whom she wanted to spend the rest of her life and build a family…

  “Hey, sweetheart. You look divine.”

  Cam’s loud cheery voice clamored into Paige’s thoughts. She looked down at her body and had to agree with her best friend. The navy dress she’d picked out was a little more daring than what she would usually wear, with its deep V-neck, sexy but still appropriate, and the sparkly heels that made her feel tall and confident. She’d swiped on a little mascara, a little blush and a sheer, red-tinted lip gloss at the last minute, and the results were…nice.

  She couldn’t help thinking that, if she were with Liam, she would do this more often. He made her feel beautiful without any of the extra stuff, but dressing up like this reminded her of one of the fun things about being a woman. In the past months, she’d forgotten that, and it was nice to remember.

  “You don’t look too bad yourself,” Paige said, winking at her best friend.

  “What’s up with you, honey? You look like your dog died.”

  Paige did her best to smile convincingly, but she wasn’t feeling up to hiding. She wanted Cam to reach out and wrap her in a big hug. She wanted to cry into her shoulder and tell her everything that had been going on the past few weeks with Liam. Instead, she forced her features into an arrangement that she hoped made it look like she was happy to be at the dinner. “It’s nothing really.”

  Cam wasn’t buying it. “Is it nerves about tonight? Because you have nothing to worry about. Everybody’s super excited about you being the new principal.”

  Even though it had been her goal, Paige felt sick that she’d fooled Cam.

  “How did you know?”

  “In this town?” Cam tilted her head to the side and looked quizzically at Paige. “We all love Principal Matthews, but everyone thinks it will be good to have someone, well, younger in charge, you know, to shake things up a bit.”

  “Ha! You’re looking at the wrong person then.”

  Cam grabbed Paige by the shoulders and stared straight into her face. She’d never seen her friend with anything close to the seriousness that covered her features now.

  ‘‘No way. In all seriousness, Paige, we all truly respect the work you’ve done to get this far. None of us is a better teacher, and that will be what makes you a gr
eat principal. You know all of this, though, deep down in there.” Cam poked a finger into Paige’s breast and they both laughed. “I mean in your heart,” she said. “Now get your butt in there.”

  “Cam,” she said, working to gather the right words for what she was about to say.

  She’d realized it a long time ago, but she’d never dared to tell anyone, including herself. “I don’t want to be principal. I don’t want to be in charge.”

  Her best friend sat beside her on the bench and was uncharacteristically quiet for a long moment before she spoke. “Why, honey? You’d be so great at it.”

  “I miss teaching, but more than that, I’ve come to realize that I miss having more time to be there for Owen,” Paige answered. She felt the floodgates open and everything she’d been holding on to poured out in a rush of tears. Cam moved fast to pull a tissue out of her tiny purse. Paige accepted it and wiped her eyes, careful to avoid smudging the mascara she rarely wore and regretted now. She saw the black liquid in the tissue and knew she would look terrible when she was called up to make a speech. Everyone would expect her to look happy and gracious at the job offer. She prayed she would be able to fake what they all wanted to see.

  “Oh, sweetheart. I had no idea. Why didn’t you tell me this a long time ago? Why didn’t you tell Principal Matthews?”

  Why hadn’t she told Liam?

  “I have to take this job. I need this job.” She closed her eyes and nodded her head, as though the physical movement might somehow convince her.

  “No, you don’t.” Cam got up from her seat and knelt in front of Paige. She took another tissue from her purse and wiped at Paige’s face. Cam placed a finger under her chin and met her eyes. “You don’t need this job. If you don’t want it, don’t take it.”

  Paige shook her head. “It’s not that simple. I have to think about Owen.”

  Cam’s gaze drifted downward. “Paige, Owen is all you ever think about. Everyone can see that. He’s your world. And although I know you’re a fantastic mom to him, well, maybe you need to start thinking about how to be a little better to yourself.”