His Texas Forever Family

by Amy Woods

  Paige looked up and saw the sincere concern in Cam’s knitted brows and firmly set mouth.

  “I don’t have time to be good to the both of us, Cam. I’m so scared that if I let up on Owen, something will happen, and I’m all he has left.”

  “That was true until…”

  “Until what?” Paige sniffled. There was no hope of repairing the mess she knew she’d find her face in at the first sight of a mirror. She would have to go up in front of all those people, Liam included, looking like a terrible mess.

  “You know what. Until Liam came along.”

  Paige’s mouth went dry. “So, you knew about that?”

  “Well, yeah. I had my suspicion that there was something going on between the two of you. I mean, you know…more than possibly what should be in your situation.”

  “Do you think anyone else knows about us? If anyone finds out, it could be really awful.”

  Cam bit her lip and her eyes narrowed. “That could be. There’s really no way around that. To answer your question, no, I don’t think anyone else knows. I know,” she said, covering her heart with a hand, “but that’s because I’m your best friend, and it’s my job to know things like that, even if you don’t tell me.” Paige felt guilt knot up in her chest. She opened her mouth to apologize, but Cam continued.

  “And yeah, if you don’t do something about this whole thing soon, the wrong people might find out about it, and Liam might have to find another position. But think about it, Paige. How many teaching jobs are out there as opposed to how many great men are out there?”

  Paige’s eyebrows rose. “You have a point, but it doesn’t fix anything.”

  “Of course it doesn’t. But life is rarely that easy,” Cam said and reached out to grab Paige’s hand with her own. “You know that better than anyone, I think.”

  The tears Paige had dried threatened to return. After all this time, she still wasn’t ready to talk at length about losing Mark. Yet it was different somehow, since Liam had been around. She knew in the very depths of her heart that she had grieved Mark’s death, and that she was ready to move on, but for some reason, she couldn’t get to the point where she was ready to talk a lot about him again, to keep his memory alive. She wanted it to be black-and-white. If he was gone, then he was gone. She wasn’t yet prepared to resurrect his memory in casual conversation. She thought suddenly of Owen; the two of them hadn’t talked about Mark at all. By keeping herself from talking about his father, she was keeping him from remembering the time that they had as a family. She was sacrificing all the good things to keep out the pain from the bad. And she wasn’t the only one affected by her choice.

  “My point is, Paige, now is the time for you to decide what it is that you want for your future. You lost your husband, yes, and no one will ever replace him, but at the same time, you’re still young, and you still deserve love, and it’s been long enough. You don’t owe Mark any more of your sadness. You owe it to him to let yourself love again. He would have wanted you happy and you know it. And Owen could use a man in his life in the future. And I can think of a good one.” Cam nudged Paige’s shoulder and they both laughed.

  “So you’re not mad at me about keeping it a secret?”

  “No, I’m not mad. Just do me a favor and keep your best friend in the loop from now on. Okay?”

  “Agreed.”

  “We’d better get in there before Matthews thinks you bailed on her and makes the mistake of putting me in charge.” Cam’s eyebrows shot up and her eyes sparkled with her mischievous smile. “Yikes! What a disaster that would be.”

  Paige laughed and smoothed her dress, which was considerably wrinkled from the bench. She would have to do some major damage control in the bathroom to make any sort of reasonable impression up there.

  They walked arm in arm into the school and were escorted to the auditorium, which had somehow transformed into a sort of ballroom. The seats had been removed and tables were set up with soft gold cloths covering them, and a stage area had been set up with a microphone that made Paige’s heart race.

  What was she going to say up there? What could she say? She owed it to Principal Matthews to take the position. She had allowed her boss to think that she was happy and honored to be considered, and she hadn’t once wavered in any way. It would come as a complete shock to her now if Paige decided to back down. And there was no way she could be honest about what had changed her mind. The principal was still in charge, and if she chose, she could take Liam’s job if she found out about them. The school had a strict policy about supervisors dating their staff, and Paige had her own reasons to consider on top of it.

  She thought back to that night with her father all those years ago. He’d come home so late, and as far as Paige knew, her mom had never suspected anything. It must have been devastating for her mother when her father confronted her about his affair. Their family had been a rock in the town. All of Paige’s life, people had commented on how happy her parents seemed, how great they were together, until her father had destroyed everything with his behavior. Shame heated her face just thinking about it. Imagine if people found out what she was hiding. It would bring up her father’s scandal all over again. It didn’t matter that years had passed, or that in her case the apple had not only fallen far from the tree, but it had rolled miles away. Everyone in town knew her father’s story.

  She couldn’t bear the thought of reliving it.

  She managed to tidy herself up to “presentable” status with a quick trip to the bathroom. She’d put on a fresh coat of gloss and mascara. Paige knew she looked decent enough to make an appearance, but no amount of makeup could fix the fact that she had no idea what she was going to say if she was called up to speak.

  She looked around for Liam. He had said he would be there just a few minutes after her. She knew they couldn’t exactly embrace in front of everyone, but she would have felt a hundred times better just knowing he was in the audience to catch her should she fall.

  And falling was a very strong possibility.

  She stood at the back of the room, watching her colleagues file in. She knew she should be sociable, but her usual drive eluded her that evening.

  “Are you ready, my dear?” The familiar voice startled her and she jumped before she could stop herself.

  “Principal Matthews! So good to see you.” Her boss looked radiant and incredibly calm—the opposite of how Paige was feeling. She wore a simple, finely cut black dress and red peep-toe heels.

  “You’re awfully jumpy. Is anything the matter?”

  “No, everything’s fine. Just nervous, is all.”

  “You’re not getting cold feet now, are you?” The older woman’s tone was joking, but Paige caught the hint of warning behind it. They both had something to lose if Paige decided not to take the job. Plenty of people would be standing in line if Paige declined the position, but it would be difficult to choose another person on such short notice. The new semester was only a few months away.

  Paige was grateful when she heard music start up so she didn’t have to give an answer.

  “Why don’t you go have some fun, darling? We’ll have a chance to talk later, won’t we?”

  Her boss gave Paige a smile and patted her shoulder before going to mingle with the other faculty and staff. Everyone from school was there. Everyone would see her falter. She had to find Liam for support. He was the only person who could make her feel better about the whole thing, and he might be able to help her decide what to do. Paige pulled out her phone and texted Rachel to see if she might know where Liam was, and she breathed a sigh of relief when she got an answer.

  As Ms. Matthews walked away, Paige glanced around her to be sure no one was watching, and as soon as she could, she slipped away from the crowd.

  * * *

  He managed to sneak into the school without anyone notici
ng. He probably looked like a janitor as he parked in the back and took the side door, dressed in his favorite old jeans and a work shirt. His classroom was dark, though he could hear the music and din of laughter and talking coming from over in the auditorium. Paige would be there, he knew, and she would look amazing, her shy beauty outshining every other woman in the room. That was only one of many things he regretted about doing this. He would probably never get to see her in a gown. He would see her around town, sure, but things wouldn’t be the same.

  He began opening drawers and cabinets and placing his supplies into the cardboard boxes he’d brought from home. Plenty had been left over from his move to Rachel’s, where it looked like he would be staying for a while. He’d gotten the call from the Peach Leaf Memorial hospital director the day before, with news that the facility was offering him a full-time art-therapist position. He would have his own office and a studio classroom in the psychiatric wing. The director had assured him that he would be compensated well, like any other therapist, once he completed his Ph.D. He only had a few more credits to go and Peach Leaf Memorial was fully willing to cover the rest of his tuition. It was the career he’d dreamed of since he’d gotten his bachelor’s degree, and he was more than ready for it to begin. He almost had everything he’d ever wanted.

  Just one thing was missing…well, make that two. He had tried several times to talk to Paige since they’d fought at the ice cream shop, but she’d made it clear she didn’t want anything to do with him, or at least it seemed that way. It destroyed him that he couldn’t tell her about this new job. His joy was cut in half because he couldn’t watch her face light up at the news. And the worst part was, it would seemingly fix everything. It would keep him out of the school so that she wouldn’t have to be concerned about their relationship anymore.

  Yes, it would look like everything was okay. But he had seen enough patients in his art-therapy group to know better. He needed more from her than just knowing she wouldn’t pull away from him if he kissed her in public. Paige might not know it yet, but she was using that excuse to cover up deeper problems. He’d spent a lot of time thinking about it, and he knew that she had definitely made peace with her husband’s death, but she wasn’t comfortable enough to talk about his life, rather than his death. Liam knew he could never replace Mark, but he also refused to pretend that Owen’s father hadn’t existed. If he was going to be a part of Owen’s and Paige’s lives, he needed to know that she could talk to her son about his father. He wouldn’t let the kid grow up not knowing that he had once had a dad who sounded like he’d been a great guy. It wasn’t good for either of them. And he needed for Paige to sort that out on her own. He wasn’t going to push her anymore.

  Liam pulled the last few paintings off his walls, rolled them up and carefully wrapped rubber bands around them. He would probably have to rent a warehouse someday to hold all of his students’ art, but even after he saw them get well, he could never bear to get rid of any of it. Each piece was part of a path to someone’s healing, and many of them had been given to him. It was a good thing he lived alone, he guessed, and didn’t have to convince someone to let him keep all of it.

  That was the only good part of it, he admitted. As he’d packed away his room, he knew Paige was in the school auditorium, probably accepting her new job even as he put away the remains of his old one. He would miss his teaching position at Peach Leaf Elementary, but now he could focus completely on art therapy, just like he’d always wanted, and he could earn his doctorate at the same time. He wondered what his father would think of the degree. It was probably useless to the old man because it wasn’t an MBA, but still, the young boy in him longed to share his news with his dad. Even after all these years, he still ached to repair the broken relationship, but time hadn’t taught him any more about how to do it.

  His heart broke to think of just seeing Paige around town. She had never wanted anyone to know they were together, but it would only be worse now that there was little possibility of her ever seeing reason. Part of him wanted to run into the auditorium and tell her how he felt, but he knew she would hate it if he did that, and he would lose any chance of her ever wanting to make a go of it. She had to come to it on her own terms.

  “Liam.”

  He sucked in a breath of surprise as he turned to see Paige standing in the doorway. He hadn’t heard her open it. She was gorgeous in a navy dress, sexier than anything he’d ever seen her wear. Her hair fell in waves around her shoulders, natural the way he liked it, and her makeup was subtle and tasteful, enhancing her incredible beauty. He blinked at her, at a loss for words. There was nothing more he could say or do to make her understand that he loved her, aside from shouting it out loud, which was precisely what she did not want. He had grown to feel more for her than he ever had with Callie. Paige’s courage and drive challenged him and made him want to push back to get her to be herself. He didn’t know what he would do without her, but he was no stranger to the way he felt when she denied her real feelings. When she’d fought with him at the ice cream shop about the Realtor knowing they were dating, he’d gone straight back to the way he’d felt when Callie had told him she couldn’t be with him if he wouldn’t give up the idea of having kids. The two circumstances were worlds apart, but he couldn’t stand to have Paige feel shame in being with him.

  “Liam, we need to talk.”

  Chapter Eleven

  “There’s nothing more to say, Paige. You made it fairly clear that you’re not interested in showing people how you feel about me. How am I supposed to believe that you feel anything for me when you refuse to acknowledge it in public?” The blow wasn’t fair and he knew it. He knew perfectly well that she hid her feelings because of their jobs, but he needed to know how she really felt and that to not be a factor in their relationship.

  Paige looked as though he’d slapped her. Seeing her wounded face, he supposed he may as well have.

  “You know it’s not like that.”

  “Then how is it, Paige? Because how it feels is that you’re ashamed to be seen with me. And I’m beginning to wonder if it’s really because of your job.”

  She opened her mouth and shut it again into a hard angry line. “You know the cost of people seeing us together. Don’t you worry about losing your job?”

  Now was his chance to tell her. He could just tell her that he’d been hired by the hospital and make everything okay as he longed to do. It would make the hurt disappear from her face. Wouldn’t it? How could he be sure? With Callie, he’d believed the entire time they were together that she’d loved him as she said she did, and that their love was unconditional. But his desire to start a family had been enough to change her mind about spending a lifetime together, and he’d lost her.

  He refused to go through that again for any reason—couldn’t go through it again, not with the way he felt about Paige. His heart beat for her with an intensity he’d never known, and he knew he’d never find again. If he couldn’t be with this woman, if they couldn’t build a family, then he didn’t want any of it. He would make his living with his art and his therapy the way he’d always wanted to, and that would be his purpose.

  “Liam, you know I care for you, but I can’t risk all I’ve worked for…for…”

  “What? For me? I get it. You don’t have to say anything more. You can go back to the party, and take your new job and have everything you want.”

  Tears shimmered in her cobalt eyes and he had to look away to keep from running to her. Despite the frustration that seared his insides, he still wanted to comfort her. He hated hurting her, but better to do it now, before things got past the point of his control, if they hadn’t already. It seemed she had a pretty damn good grip on him, and he wasn’t sure he could pull his way out.

  “Not everything,” she said quietly, and Liam heard his own pain in her voice. Words were failing him, and he had no choice but to try. If she wanted him
, she would have an opportunity to tell him now, in no uncertain terms.

  He rushed forward and grabbed her, pulling her close until he could smell the jasmine of her perfume. And like that, she went soft in his arms. Even if she argued from that point on, he would know she was keeping up appearances. He looked down into the precious face he’d come to love so much. He wasn’t willing to let her throw it all away out of fear. Just because she’d lost her husband, didn’t mean she would lose him. He would not let their pasts ruin their future before it had even begun. Of all the losses they’d suffered so far between them, if they let this go, it would be too great to bear. He lifted her until her feet rose off the floor, holding her as close as he could, and he kissed her.

  * * *

  Before she could convince herself to stop him, Liam had literally swept her off her feet, and she could no more pull away than she could breathe, with his body wrapped around hers and his mouth demanding that she give in to what they both needed. She could almost feel his blood boiling beneath his skin. Her brain was fuzzy and refused to operate with any reason.

  She had to get her head together and figure out how to do the right thing. Remembering where she was, she fought the urge to keep kissing Liam and suddenly pulled away. Desperate to clear her head, she backed away from him, and he let her.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, turning so she wouldn’t have to see the wounded look in his eyes. “I shouldn’t have let this happen. I knew all along I couldn’t have all of it.” She thought he might argue with her, and when he didn’t, she was surprised to feel a deep, aching sense of disappointment.

  He said nothing, just stood and stared at her. She could see that he was angry, but she fought the urge to apologize further. Maybe if he blamed her—if he hated her—it would be easier for them both. “Surely you know as well as I do that this is a mistake. It can’t lead to anything good.”