His Texas Forever Family

by Amy Woods

  “No, Paige,” he said, shaking his head slowly. “I can’t agree with you. It absolutely could lead to something good, if you would get out of the way and just let it.”

  “You know that’s not possible. If we…”

  “If we what?” He wasn’t going to make this easier for her. She supposed she deserved it. She’d agreed to bring Owen for lunch at Rachel’s. She’d allowed Liam to give her son attention beyond what was required of a teacher. She hadn’t stopped him when he’d carried Owen upstairs and kissed her in the darkness and stolen her heart. She was to blame for whatever consequences befell them.

  “You know we can’t be together,” she said.

  “What is it exactly that you’re afraid of, Paige? Is it because of the principal job, or something else? Because I can’t help how this feels. At first, I thought it was just me feeling this way, that you were this prickly, stuck-up boss and you had no interest in me. But then, spending time with you the past few weeks, I know you feel the same way, and I’ll be damned if you’re going to stand here and deny it. I deserve a better explanation that that.”

  He was right and she knew it. She struggled for words and came up empty. The nerves she’d felt at coming here today to accept her new job and the heat of his anger filling the room were too much, and her head spun as her legs threatened to buckle beneath her.

  “I don’t know what to say, Liam. I’ve had a good few weeks, a fantastic few weeks, with you, but it’s Owen I’m concerned for here. I have to do what’s right by him.”

  “And what’s that?” Liam crossed his arms and stood, refusing to budge. He wasn’t going to let her off the hook at all.

  “I have to give him stability beyond his home and his therapy—”

  “Therapy that was clearly working so well,” Liam interrupted in a sarcastic tone. Paige felt anger rise up, and she was thankful for it. It made it that much easier to kick him out of her life. But when she looked up to bite back at him, she noticed his face had changed.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, running a hand through his hair. “I didn’t mean that.”

  She wanted to tell him it was okay, but she didn’t. The more she said, the deeper in she would be, and it would be painful enough to dig her way out from where she already was.

  “I am Owen’s only parent,” she said, stabbing a finger into her chest. The tears she was so good at keeping inside once again pooled up behind her eyes and stung.

  “I have to assure him that I will be here no matter what and that he is my priority. And I need this job, so that I can give him the best life possible.”

  “You’ve already done that, Paige. Owen has everything he needs to succeed. You’ve provided a life for him that most couples would struggle to give him. He has plenty of stability and plenty of love. What more could he possibly need from you?”

  Paige looked down at her feet, hoping to find answers in the sparkle of her shoes. How could she explain to him how it felt, knowing that no matter what she did, no matter how she succeeded or what honors she was given, she would always have the shadow of her father over her life? To many of the townspeople, she would always be the daughter of the principal of Peach Leaf High who had had an affair with one of his teachers and wrecked his marriage to Paige’s mother.

  “Sometimes stability and love are simply not enough.”

  She could see that he didn’t understand, but she didn’t know how to explain it to him. “I have a lot to prove, Liam, and I am the sole provider for Owen. I can’t let up or else it could all fall apart right in front of me.”

  Liam’s expression was sad and weary-looking. Paige hated fighting with him and that she had crushed his normally upbeat demeanor out of him. Little did he know that, since he had come into her life, she was happier than she’d ever been. On some level, the newness of the feeling terrified her. Did she have a right to be happy when Mark was gone? Would Owen think that she didn’t love his father anymore? Would he forget about Mark altogether?

  “Paige, I understand how important Owen is to you. I get it. You don’t have space in your life for another man. And I’m not Owen’s father. I never will be. I can see that there’s not any room for me here. So I’ll make it easy for you and just go.”

  Say something, Paige. Make him stay. He has to stay.

  But she didn’t, and, standing there in silence, she lost her chance. She saw his face fall and it was like the light just went out of him. She refused to open her mouth and cause him any more pain. She remained fixed in place as he grabbed the last of his boxes and walked out the door. The finality in the click behind him brought a flood of tears. She didn’t even ask him where he was going or if he would stay on for the semester. She had no right to.

  In trying to shield her own, she had broken both their hearts.

  * * *

  Back at the dinner, looking at the chicken on her plate made Paige feel queasy despite the fact that she was starving. She looked over to the empty dinner plate beside her and pulled the full glass of wine closer to her own plate.

  Luckily Cam was on the other side of her.

  “You’re doing fine,” Cam said, reaching over to squeeze Paige’s hand. “Just remember what we talked about, okay? No one’s making you do this. It’s your choice and your choice only.”

  Paige did her best version of a convincing nod. She still had no idea what she would say once she got up there. She knew that once Principal Matthews announced that Paige was taking the post after the older woman retired, the teachers would expect some sort of commentary from her about her goals and plans for the school. Just thinking about it made her insides turn to marshmallow. She would look like a deer in the headlights. Maybe that would be best anyway—if she made a complete idiot of herself, then surely no one would want her taking over the highest position at the elementary school.

  Cam pulled away what was to have been Liam’s glass of wine. Paige instinctively grabbed it back.

  “I don’t think so, sweetie. The last thing you need is too much of this stuff when you get up there.” Cam pried the glass from Paige’s death grip and took a long sip of the crimson liquid as she winked at Paige over the rim. “Trust me. I’m saving you a load of trouble.”

  She was probably right. Paige’s legs felt wobbly enough as it was, and she was still seated. Imagine what would happen when she stood up and had to walk to a stage in front of hundreds of people.

  She felt warmth behind her and turned, only to be disappointed at not finding Liam standing there as she’d hoped. She wasn’t sure if she was strong enough yet to deal with the repercussions of people seeing them together, but she knew she would feel a lot better if he was there beside her. A couple of weeks ago she would never have believed it, but she had to admit it now. After she had pushed him away forever.

  She needed him.

  “Ms. Graham…”

  She looked over her shoulder to see one of Owen’s teachers, Jacey King. “Oh, hi, Jacey. Call me Paige. We’re not at school.”

  The woman smiled. “Do you have a moment?”

  “Yes, of course. Is everything okay?”

  Jacey smiled again. “I just wanted to let you know how well Owen’s doing in gym class.” Paige felt her heart soften at the sound of her son’s name. She hadn’t had a chance to talk to any of Owen’s teachers lately besides Liam. She knew he was speaking a little here and there, but she hadn’t gotten a full update from any of them yet.

  “Is he really doing better?” Paige asked, turning in her chair to face Jacey.

  “Definitely,” the other woman said, reaching out to touch Paige’s forearm. “I’m so proud of him lately. It’s almost as if he just got better overnight. I couldn’t believe it the first time he talked to a neighbor. The kids were playing soccer and he asked Timothy Simons to pass the ball, just like that, as if he’d done it this year a million
times before.”

  Paige bit her lip as her sadness over Liam crashed into her joy at Owen’s achievement. It was what she’d wanted for him, and all of a sudden, there it was. It seemed so simple.

  “I’m so glad to hear that.”

  “Is it the therapy that’s helping so much?”

  “Yes, I think so,” Paige answered. Not exactly a lie. It was Liam’s art therapy, and that alone, wasn’t it. She had taken Owen to so much talk and behavior therapy over the past six months, after she’d gotten over her initial denial that anything serious was wrong, and it hadn’t really helped much. She didn’t blame the therapist, but something must have changed—something aside from just therapy—to make him improve so rapidly over the past couple of weeks.

  “Well, I’ve just been glad to see it. The kids have been so calm about it. I guess they’re just more accepting of things like that than me. When I heard him talk to Timothy, you could have knocked me over with a breath of air.”

  Liam had worked with Owen on art projects, and she knew from his explanations that the form of therapy could be very effective, but she still couldn’t quite believe how quickly Owen had gotten better. He’d become close friends with Jeremy and Kaylie and spent time regularly with them, and Paige had watched him go from saying a couple of words to having completely normal conversations for a child his age.

  “Thanks so much for telling me, Jacey. It means the world to me to hear that.” Jacey patted Paige’s shoulder and walked back to her own table.

  It dawned on her then, the truth that had been right in front of her the whole time.

  Owen’s progress was directly parallel to her relationship to Liam. As she and Liam had grown closer, and as the three of them had spent more time together, Owen’s conversation had become more and more fluid and frequent. She thought of the three of them laughing together as they’d watched movies, and how Liam had tucked Owen in and read the boy’s favorite stories over and over the couple of times he’d stayed late, never tiring of the same ones even when Owen wanted to hear them ten times in a row. She thought of the day they had gone to look at houses for Liam, and how happy they had all been before they’d run into Principal Matthews’s husband—until she had panicked and ran scared. She felt an ache form in her empty stomach, and it spread slowly to her heart.

  Owen had gotten better because she had gotten better. There was no other explanation. All the therapy in the world wouldn’t have done him any good if she had remained stagnant. He had been able to open his heart because Paige had opened hers.

  She finally understood. Owen didn’t need for her to get the principal job. He didn’t need her to have more money for additional therapy sessions in order to get better. He’d started to heal because she had done so—or at least she had started to. If Owen was doing so well with her having been only half-willing to let Liam work his magic, then she could only imagine how well her son would do if she were truly able to admit her feelings for Liam and let him into their lives permanently.

  Owen had all he needed. She was the one who hadn’t realized it yet.

  Paige suddenly became very aware that all eyes were on the front of the room at the stage area. She looked up to see Principal Matthews onstage, speaking into the microphone. All moisture left Paige’s mouth and she felt her body go cold even before she could make out the fuzzy words coming from her boss.

  “You all know this woman in her role as our assistant principal, and she’s been a priceless asset to the school over the past few years. She’s made incredible improvements to our kids’ programs and she’s been amazing on the office side of things, as well. Every parent I’ve spoken to about her adores her and admires her work with our children. They’re the reason we go to work every day, and Ms. Graham was an award-winning teacher, so she’s got the experience and the talent to make even more of a mark at our school. So, without further ado, would you all help me to welcome the newest principal of Peach Leaf…Ms. Paige Graham.”

  Paige tried to move, but she was frozen in her chair. She felt Cam’s elbow in her side and she looked at her best friend.

  “I can’t do this,” she said. “Go up there for me?”

  Cam shook her head no. “You can do this, and you will. You’re ready and you’re strong enough. Just go up there, make a quick statement and then tell her how you feel when you get a chance.”

  Paige became suddenly and horribly aware that all eyes in the room had focused on her. She pulled one leg out from under the table and grabbed Cam’s hand to steady herself.

  “You’re okay. You’ve got this.”

  Paige finally gained enough footing to make her way to the stage, hoping the whole way she wouldn’t topple over because of her clumsiness caused by her nervousness combined with the height of her heels.

  When she got to the stage, Principal Matthews was standing at the microphone, an enormous smile covering her face. How could she let her boss down like this? Ms. Matthews would never forgive her. She was about to look like a fool in front of the entirety of Peach Leaf Elementary. She let her boss embrace her and then the principal stepped a few feet away. Paige took the microphone in her hands and it greeted her with a terrible screeching noise. Luckily, everyone in the room laughed rather than groaned, but the sound of it did nothing to calm her nerves. She found Cam’s face at their table and latched onto her best friend’s eyes.

  Cam mouthed the words “You can do this” over and over again. She even gave a little thumbs-up.

  As glad as Paige was for the vote of confidence, she needed to see Liam’s face there. She had to have his strength to supplement her own so that she could tell the truth and get it over with. For what felt like the first time in who knew how long, she wasn’t concerned with what anyone else thought. She just wanted to say what was in her heart. The weight of everything pressed down on her, and she felt heavy with the responsibility of it all. She was tired of running to be the best mom and the best at her job. She had done enough. Now, it was time to do something for herself.

  “Thank you all so much for coming,” she said into the microphone. “I can’t say how honored I am to have been offered this job. Principal Matthews will be greatly missed.” Page looked behind her and saw her boss wipe a tear from her eye. “I’ve lived here my entire life. In fact, as you may know, I went to Peach Leaf Elementary. I’ve lived here my whole life.” She saw discomfort in several of her colleagues’ eyes as she avoided talking about her father, but she kept going. “I love teaching, and I love the kids more than I can say. And as I said, I am so grateful to have been considered for this position.” She saw some confused looks sweep the room.

  Here goes. “But as much as I love it all, I’m afraid I can’t accept this job.”

  Quiet gasps rippled like waves throughout the audience.

  Paige swallowed and closed her eyes. She could do this. She turned and faced Ms. Matthews. “I’m so sorry,” she said. She couldn’t tell what the older woman was feeling, but she continued anyway. “I’m not right for the job.”

  Ms. Matthews wore a look of perplexity. “But I don’t understand. You’re the best person for it. You…you’re perfect for it.”

  Paige took both of Ms. Matthews’s hands in her own and looked into her eyes. “I may be perfect for it, but it’s not perfect for me. I’m so sorry. I just want to go back to teaching. I can’t do this.”

  “But…”

  “I have to go now.” Paige made her way down the stairs at the side of the stage and walked back through the tables, careful not to meet anyone’s eyes. She kept her focus on the doorway out, on Owen and on the life she knew she wanted.

  She had to find Liam. She ran as fast as she could down the hallway and out the door, hoping stupidly that she might catch him before he left completely. She had seen several other boxes in the room after he’d left, and she knew he would have had to go back for them. He
r heels clicked violently along the floor of the empty hallway, the noise shattering any shred of calm she had left. Her heart still pounded from the way everyone had stared at her as she’d run from the auditorium, wondering what in the world had happened to her, probably thinking she had lost her mind. She couldn’t worry about that now. Now the only thing that mattered was finding Liam and telling him how she really felt.

  When she got to the classroom, she put a hand on the door and let it linger there, afraid to turn the knob. When she finally did, only emptiness greeted her.

  She didn’t know how long she’d sat there when she heard a voice calling her from down the hall. She’d slunk down on the floor and remained there, unable to move. The door opened slowly and she saw Cam come in, her face scared and confused. They looked across the room at each other, the silence saying everything. Paige looked down into her lap.

  “He’s gone.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Owen’s excitement was palpable from the backseat as Paige pulled up to the school. He was ready for Parents’ Night; it was all he’d talked about for weeks, and he had practiced his lines so many times that Paige knew the skit by heart. “You know what they say when an actor goes on stage, sweetie?”

  “What, Mom?”

  “They never say, ‘Good luck.’ It’s bad luck to say ‘good luck’ to an actor.”

  Owen giggled. “How can it be bad luck to say ‘good luck’ when ‘good luck’ means you’re supposed to have good luck?” Paige turned and looked at him in the backseat and they both laughed at the silliness of it. Her son’s resilient positivity had kept her heart beating since the night of the dinner a couple of weeks ago.

  “I have no idea. We should look it up when we get home. I just know that instead of ‘good luck,’ they always say ‘break a leg.’”

  Owen’s eyes widened. “I definitely don’t want that to happen.”