Take 2 on Love

by Torrie Robles

  “Just got done with my run.” A run I usually join him on, but I flat refused once there was frost on the ground in the mornings. Now that winter has finally settled in on the valley, I won’t be picking up my running shoes any time soon. “I heard your car. What’s the problem?”

  “I don’t know, but it won’t start.” My head falls back on the headrest.

  I don’t have time for this. I never have time for the things that could happen. I barely have the time for the things that do happen. That was one thing Heath always made a point to tell me, the fix for all of my tardiness: get ready sooner. It’s easy for a man who gets up, showers and walks out the door. Me, on the other hand, had to get myself and the kids out the door every morning. It wasn’t as simple as he tried to make it be. Now that the kids aren’t with me all the time, I shouldn’t have any excuses, but I do. It’s called I don’t wanna.

  He pulls my door open, steps around it, and then leans over to pop the hood. “You smell good, by the way.” Before I can get my wits about me, he has the hood to my car up. “Okay,” he calls out. “I see your problem. The battery terminals are corroded. You should get a new battery.”

  I get out of the car and walk toward Liam. “Can’t I pour some Coke on it or something?”

  He drops the hood. “I’m impressed that you know how Coke can eat away at the erosion.”

  “Trevor did his science experiment on the subject in the fifth grade, so I had to do my homework.” I rub my hands up and down my arms trying to get warm.

  “Just buy yourself a new battery, Whitney. Make it easy on yourself.”

  “Yeah, okay. Thanks.”

  He starts to walk backward towards his house. “I’ll be back in ten minutes. Let me take a quick shower then I’ll get you to school.”

  “What? You don’t have to do that. I can call one of the teachers, or catch an Uber.”

  “Nonsense, that’s what neighbors are for. Just go wait inside so you don’t freeze, and I’ll be back in a minute.”

  “I thought they were for cups of sugar.”

  “Well, then,” he says turning around, “I guess I meant to say, that’s what friends are for.”

  “Liam!” I groan after him. I don’t want to ruin his schedule.

  “Ten minutes, Whitney,” he yells back as he picks up speed until he disappears into his house.

  Like clockwork, as soon as the bell rings my class becomes a whirlwind of chaos. More so today since it’s the last day before the winter break. Squeals and whoops ring through the air as the kids slide their chairs along the tiled floor. Ben is the only student left in my class. He’s sitting at his desk, scrolling through his phone.

  “Ben?” I call out to him. “What’s up, buddy?”

  His gaze lifts to me. “My dad told me to wait for him here. He said he’s taking you home.”

  I can feel my brows scrunch as I think back to this morning when he gave me a ride to work. I hadn’t asked him to pick me up. Besides, I normally have to grab Jenna and Trevor after work and take them to their dad’s house if they aren’t staying with me.

  “Oh, I didn’t know that.”

  Ben shrugs, dragging his gaze back to his phone. I open my desk drawer to grab my purse and pull my phone from it. There aren’t any texts from Liam. There’s a quick knock on the closed classroom door, and I hear it creak open. I pull my gaze from my phone, and a huge bouquet full of wildflowers enters my room, followed by a delivery man and then Liam.

  I can’t take my eyes off of Liam. He’s wearing a green flight suit and black boots, and the material is tight around his arms and thighs. I can only imagine what his backside looks like.

  “Ma’am.” The delivery guy pushes a clipboard towards me, waiting for my signature.

  “Oh, sorry.” I blush listening to Liam chuckle as I sign my name. “Thank you,” I tell the man as he strides from my classroom.

  “What are those for?” he asks.

  “Well, since it’s my birthday,” I respond as I pull the card from the envelope. A smile pulls at my lips as I read what he wrote on the heavy card stock: Love Always, Heath

  “Why didn’t I know it was your birthday?” I barely register Liam’s voice.

  I snap my head up. “Wh–what?”

  He takes a step closer to me. “I said I didn’t know it was your birthday. I thought we were friends.” He gives me a lopsided grin.

  My head turns towards Ben who’s busy packing up his bag. “Well, since technically that only started this morning, we haven’t had the time to go over all the basic friend stuff yet. So I’ll let this one slide.” I tap his shoulder with the card.

  He takes another step closer to me, and I find my throat has grown dry. I swallow, trying to find my voice. “What are you doing?” I ask in a low voice, knowingly sweeping my eyes over his form again.

  “I’m taking you out tonight.”

  “No.”

  “Yes.” He stares at me.

  I grip the paper in my hand, remembering who sent me the flowers, and I take a step back from Liam. “I need to make a call.” He nods, walking over to his son. Pressing the ‘call’ button on Heath’s name, he answers on the second ring.

  “Hello.”

  “Hey. I wanted to thank you for the flowers. That was sweet.” The line goes quiet. “Heath?” I take the phone from my ear to see if the line was disconnected, but when I bring the phone back to my ear, I can hear him cursing. “Shit, Whit… Those flowers… Alice set up that a while ago. I didn’t know they were still scheduled for delivery. If I would’ve remembered, then I would’ve had her cancel them. I’m sorry about that.”

  “Oh.” Defeat flows heavily over my body as I drop my head. My stomach drops, and my nose burns as I feel the sting in the back of my eyes. When I look up, I find Liam watching me. “Well, um, they’re beautiful,” I choke.

  “No! Christ, that’s not what I meant. I meant that I should have had her cancel them because I wanted to take them to you personally. It’s just been… Shit. It’s been busy here, and I haven’t been able to break away.”

  “Okay.” My eyes are trained on Liam’s interaction with his son.

  “Okay? Whitney?” Heath’s voice pulls my concentration away from Liam.

  “Yeah?”

  “Let me take you out tonight.” I hear him shuffle papers around on his desk. “Let’s do a late dinner.”

  My eyes catch Liam’s again as he gives me one of his boyish smiles. “I have plans. I’m sorry.”

  “Plans? With who?”

  “Um, Ruby and my neighbor. Maybe we can get together this weekend. Maybe with the kids.”

  “Yeah, all right. Sure. I’ll plan something fun.”

  “All right.”

  “Bye Whitney, happy birthday. I love you.”

  “Thanks.” I end the call without saying I love you in return.

  “Ready?” Liam asks.

  “Yeah.”

  “Do you want to talk about that?” He points to the phone.

  “Not really,” I tell him.

  He tightens his lip before nodding. “All right, have it your way. But just to let you know, I did hear you tell him that we have plans tonight, so there’s no backing out now. You wouldn’t want me to think you’re a liar now, would you?” He gives me a wink which makes me smile.

  “I don’t remember us making plans for you to pick me up. I have to get my kids.”

  “It’s not a problem. I kinda figured that.” He turns his attention to his son. “Let’s go, buddy. We’ve got kids to pick up.” Ben walks past his dad as Liam ruffles his hair and follows him to the door. Ben exits, not looking back at us.

  “You don’t need to do this,” I call after him. “I was going to call my friend Ruby to come get me, or I’m sure I can get Steve to come. He needs to be more Team Whitney than Team Heath anyways. Not that taking a side is important, it’s just–”

  “Whitney.” Liam’s voice startles me. I take a deep breath, knowing that I was just rambling. “It
’s not a big deal. We’re neighbors and friends. It’s my day to grab the kids, so I’m heading in the same direction. Getting to the high school to grab Trevor isn’t a big deal either. I have the room.”

  “All right.” I nod. “Let me grab my things.” I give him a small smile. “Thank you, Liam.”

  “It’s not a problem.”

  He waits for me as I grab my bag and jacket. When I pass him, I can feel his hand land on my lower back as he ushers me out of my room, but I stumble a bit when I see Ben standing down the hall, talking to his mother.

  “Shit,” Liam mumbles.

  “Let me call Ruby,” I tell him as I watch Priscilla’s features harden. Her eyes turn cold, her mouth pinches as she rakes her eyes between Liam and me. I don’t want to cause any problems between him and his wife, and I don’t want Ben to think I’m intruding on his parents.

  “No. We’re getting the kids, and then I’m taking you to dinner,” Liam says as the pressure on my lower back increases, pushing me forward.

  “Liam,” Priscilla sneers his name. Her gaze lands on Liam’s hand on my lower back, and her jaw hardens when she finally addresses me. “Mrs. James.”

  “Here, buddy…” Liam fishes his keys from his pocket, handing them over to Ben. “Go get into the car. We’ll only be a moment.”

  Ben nods, turning around and runs down the hall, and out of the school. The metal door slams closed after him.

  “What’s going on here?” Priscilla’s eyes dart between the two of us.

  I readjust my jacket, pulling it down as I take a small step away from Liam, causing his arm to fall to his side. She doesn’t miss the movement, making her smirk in satisfaction.

  “Nothing’s going on. Whitney’s my neighbor and her car wouldn’t start, so I gave her a ride. Now I’m here to pick her up.”

  She ignores Liam, crossing her arms over her chest. “Don’t you have a husband to do that for you?” She glares at me. “Is there a reason why you’re using mine?”

  Liam takes a step towards her, his voice low enough so that he doesn’t cause a scene. “Stop, Priscilla. Stop being such a bitch. I’m your husband on paper and only on paper, which I plan to rectify–very soon. You made sure of that all by yourself.”

  I try to slink away from this awkward situation. “Yeah… I’m going to go now.”

  “No.” Liam’s hand shoots out and grabs my arm. “We’re leaving– together.” Priscilla opens her mouth to speak, but Liam cuts her off. “You have no place here, Priscilla. I’m taking care of my kids, and that’s all you need to know. Nothing more. Now if you’ll excuse us, we have kids to pick up from school.”

  I can feel the presence of his hand on my lower back once again as we both leave his wife standing in the hall.

  “Are you sure you don’t mind?” I ask Liam for the third time since he’s picked Trevor up from the high school. The car is full of kids now. Dillion and Ben take up the back row, while Trevor is in the middle with Jenna and Talia.

  “It’s fine.”

  “Hey, Liam,” Jenna calls him.

  His eyes find her’s in the rearview mirror. “Yes?”

  “Is it possible that you can take Westover Road to my dad’s house?”

  He takes a quick look at me before finding her again in the mirror. “Why?”

  “Because the lighting is best.” She lifts up her phone, snapping a picture. When she examines it and sees that it doesn’t make her standards, she deletes it and tries again.

  “No, Jenna,” I tell her, turning in my seat. “That’s not happening.”

  Her shoulders drop. “But it’s the golden hour. Look.” She shoves her phone in my face. It’s a picture of her, brown hair falling into waves over her shoulders. Her eyes, which are normally brown, seem to glow golden in the rays of the late afternoon sun, and her eyebrows are hitched slightly as her lips do a slight pucker. My daughter is stunning, but sadly, by her incessant need for selfies and appraisals from her classmates, I’m sure she doesn’t see her natural beauty.

  “I don’t care. That’s rude of you to ask,” I tell her.

  “That’s messed up, Jenna,” Trevor pipes in. “He doesn’t need to drive down a certain street because of your need to take the perfect selfie.”

  “It’s not that big of a deal, geez,” she whines.

  Dillon’s face is buried in his phone, shaking his head. “What about you Dillion?” I ask. “Do your selfies rely on the right amount of sunlight?”

  He drops his phone in his lap. “Well, most guys aren’t hung up on selfies, Mrs. James. That’s a chick thing. But hey, if you need a certain light to make you feel better about yourself, have at it. What you look like on the outside doesn’t change how you are on the inside. No amount of sunlight or filters can change the real you.”

  Wow, I hadn’t expected Dillon’s response. He seems more mature for his age.

  “I can drive down the street. It’s not a big deal.” Liam looks to me and the road.

  “No, it’s okay,” I hear Jenna say. When I turn around, I see that she’s not on her phone, but looking out the window.

  “Jenna,” Dillon calls from the back, making her turn around. “For what it’s worth, I wasn’t referring to you. Filter or not, you’re as pretty on the inside as you are on the outside. You just need to see it for yourself.” He gives her a wink, and when she turns back around, she continues to look out the window, but with a smile on her face.

  When I turn back around, there’s a satisfied look on Liam’s face. “He takes after his old man,” he says proudly.

  “I think he does.”

  An unease settles over me when we turn onto the street. I feel the blood in my ears start to whoosh when I see Heath’s truck in the drive. He’s usually not home this early in the day. Maybe Heath won’t notice the very large Suburban pulling into the driveway, and I can get the kids out, and we can leave before he even notices.

  No such luck.

  As soon as Liam’s tires hit the driveway, the garage door opens, and Heath emerges, ducking as the door rises. He’s in a pair of Adidas pants and a white T-shirt that hugs his ever-growing chest. I give a small wave, but he doesn’t seem to notice. The back doors open, signaling the kids leaving the car as Heath continues to approach the vehicle, his strides long and determined. His lips are in a thin, tight line, eyes narrowed and focused on Liam as he makes his way to my side of the car. On instinct, I scramble from the car, keeping a much-needed distance between these two men.

  “Heath, hey–”

  “Whitney,” he cuts me off as he continues to look into the car, directly at Liam. “Who’s this?”

  “Oh.” I turn around and see Liam, who’s staring at Heath just as intently as Heath is staring at him. I can feel my eyes roll at their pissing contest. One dramatic encounter a day is enough for me, thank you very much. “This is my neighbor, Liam. Liam, this is Heath.”

  “Her husband,” he deadpans.

  “He knows who you are, Heath. There’s no need for any type of declaration.”

  “Stating a fact,” he counters. He steps towards me. “Can I talk with you for a minute?”

  When I turn back to look at Liam, he nods, so I follow Heath away from the car. “What’s up?” I ask as we come to a stop under the now leafless mulberry tree that shades most of the front yard.

  “That’s your neighbor?” he questions.

  “Y–Yes?”

  “That’s the neighbor that you’ve been running with? The one you told me who has the kids?”

  “Yes.”

  “You never once mentioned that he was a guy, Whitney.”

  This is true. I’ve omitted this point, and not because I was trying to hide it, but because there’s no reason to make it a big deal. I’m a forty-one-year old woman, and I can have friends of the opposite sex.

  “I didn’t?” Not my best acting, but I hope he buys the innocent act. “I thought for sure I did. The kids haven’t mentioned anything to you?”

  “The kid
s? Wait, does he spend time with you and the kids? Are you allowing that stranger to spend time with my kids and not tell me? Are you telling them not to tell me things?”

  “No, Heath, of course not.” My defenses rise, pissed that he’s questioning me when really, he has no reason to. Not in all of our years together have I ever given him a reason to mistrust me. “Seriously?”

  “Ah, yeah, Whit. Seriously.”

  I can’t help but laugh at his reaction. Now! Now that we’re separated I get a reaction out of him. I understand him trying to stake his claim, but all the years we were married, he never once made me think that he cared enough to claim anything more than what he had to.

  “You’re so ridiculous. I may not have remembered to tell you that Liam was a guy, but you’re making it sound way worse than what it is. You’re acting like our kids are toddlers, and they’re going to confuse another man for their father. Liam is my neighbor. He’s the father of one of my students. My car wouldn’t start this morning, so being a nice and neighborly man, he offered me a ride to and from work. The end.”

  He grabs his neck in frustration. “Why didn’t you call me? Or better yet, why didn’t you tell me when you had me on the phone feeling like a complete ass about the flowers?”

  “I didn’t make you feel like that. That guilt you’re feeling is all you!” I stomp my foot.

  “The call, Whit,” he grits through his teeth. “Why didn’t you make the call?”

  “Call you? You want me to call you when I’m having car trouble? Why, so you can have one of your guys come and help me? You never once did anything but change the freaking oil in my cars the entire course of our marriage, so why would I call you to help me get my car fixed? You are seriously giving me whiplash.”

  “I’m giving you whiplash? I’m not the one who’s been spending time with me and then another guy behind my back!” he roars.

  I half expected to hear the door to the Suburban open, but thankfully, Liam’s staying inside the truck. “Don’t you dare start accusing me of anything that you’re going to regret, Heath James. You better watch that tone, and you better watch that mouth because I’m done with being so willing to forgive you,” I rant. “It’s my freaking birthday, and you’re acting like the biggest ass. Don’t you think you can you stalk out of the house like you’re on a murderous mission–”