When They Weren't Looking: Wardham Book #3

by York, Zoe

  Glancing at his watch, he was relieved to see there was time for a shower. She hadn’t invited him over, not exactly, but she texted him the night before, letting him know that the boys would be with their dad this weekend. So he’d drop by. See what might happen. Hopefully some talking, they had a lot of that still to do. Maybe some kissing. Wishful thinking.

  But as he trotted toward the house, Claire Calhoun stepped out onto the porch, Ted’s arm around her. A friendly, comforting gesture. Her face was pale, and Liam’s stomach turned over.

  “Claire!” He shouted her name and dashed the last few yards.

  She shook her head. “Evie’s fine, Liam, but she’s at the hospital in Windsor. It’s Max…he’s being admitted for testing.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Evie said that they suspect juvenile diabetes.”

  Liam cast his mind back to grade one, when his friend Sarah was away from school for a week, and came back with a special kit she pulled out a few times a day. “He hasn’t been sick?”

  “Evie said if this is diabetes, they’ve caught it early. I asked her about symptoms and in hindsight there were some clues, but how were we to know? He wet the bed here a few weeks ago, but at home he’s been waking up and going to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Evie didn’t know. She feels terrible.” Claire glanced up at him, and Liam felt it, too. The guilt of how distracted they’d both been. Can’t be helped, but there’d be no telling Evie that.

  “What do you need?”

  “She needs an overnight bag packed for Max. Dale’s going to meet me at her house after he picks up Connor, and take it with him to the city. I’ll bring Connor back to my place for the night.”

  “Do you want me to stay with him so you can go to the hospital?”

  She shook her head. “I heard about your run-in with Dale last week. You can’t do that again, but…I need you to go to her. Dale’s a good father, and this is about Max, but he’s not good to her, and someone needs to protect her and the baby right now.”

  “She might not want me there.”

  Claire lifted her brow in reflection. “Maybe not, but she needs you.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  By Sunday, Max had settled into a decent routine in the hospital. As his mood improved, that of the three adults around him grew more tense. Evie and Dale were taking turns being with their son, but Liam made sure he was there, silent and polite, but always keeping watch as the two ships passed in the night. And Dale didn’t like that, it was clear.

  Liam didn’t care. The man had crossed a line, and Liam wasn’t sure he wouldn’t do it again. Wasn’t going to give him a chance to test that theory, though.

  Evie didn’t argue his presence, but she didn’t say much either. It wasn’t that she was upset, just…she didn’t have any time for him. She was pulling away from whatever they had been flirting around the edges of. This week wouldn’t be the time to argue with her on that point, but he didn’t like it. So he did what he could—he went back to Wardham to pick up Connor for a shorter visit, he found a vegan restaurant that made a variation of Evie’s beloved protein bowl, and he fetched umpteen cups of tea and water for both mother and son.

  Sunday night, Max told his parents he didn’t need one of them to sleep with him. As they were both coming in the next day for their diabetes education session, they reluctantly agreed to leave, but not before Dale tucked a new Power Rangers action figure into bed with him and Evie peppered him with a dozen kisses. Liam stepped into the hall, letting them have their moment together. One of the paediatric ward nurses stopped and asked him if he needed anything.

  “Just waiting, thanks.” He flashed her a quick smile.

  “Your nephew is a great little guy, he’s being very brave about all the needles.”

  “He’s not…” Wow, that was a hard one to explain. My future child’s brother? My I-wish-she-was-my-woman’s son? “I’m just a family friend, but thanks.”

  She smiled back, and then it hit him. She was flirting. Oh boy, was she barking up the wrong tree.

  Right on cue, Evie joined him. Her eyes flashed at the cozy conversation she’d interrupted. He took a chance and reached out to rub her arm. “Ready to go?”

  “Sure.” She drifted past him, and he waved goodbye to the nurse.

  At the elevator, Evie crossed her arms. “Sorry to drag you away.”

  He grinned. “You didn’t.”

  “Is something funny?”

  “Hell, no.”

  She let out a long sigh and jabbed her finger at the elevator button. He was glad he’d driven today, otherwise he might have found himself abandoned in the city. He wondered how this grump was going to play out. “You don’t need to come in with me tomorrow.”

  “Sure I do.”

  “Dale’s been well-behaved.”

  “Barely.”

  “Your presence probably isn’t helping that.”

  The elevator car arrived. “I could care less about helping him act like a human being. That’s on him. I care about you, and keeping that little bit of stress away from you and my baby if I can.”

  The doors closed, the car jerked, and they began their slow descent. She chewed on her lower lip, her gaze flicking up to the numbers above the door every few seconds.

  “Evie, I don’t want to be any kind of problem for you. But I can’t sit by and not do anything when you’re shouldering so much.”

  “The thing is, I can’t repay any of that kindness, Liam.”

  “It’s not kindness!” He didn’t mean for it to sound like a shout, but it kind of did. He was getting frustrated and needed to reel it in. “It’s just what I need to do.”

  “Why?” She spun and looked at him, a clear challenge in her eye.

  “Because…” Because you’re mine.

  As if he’d said the words out loud, although he was certain he hadn’t, she shook her head. “You’re acting like a spouse, Liam, and we’re not that.”

  He clenched his jaw together. He wouldn’t agree, and couldn’t disagree. They reached the ground floor, and walked across the lobby and out to the parking lot in silence.

  She didn’t speak again until he’d navigated his way onto the highway. “I can’t. You understand that, right? I thought I had everything together, thought I was balancing my kids and work and life and the baby and you, but I didn’t notice Max was getting sick.”

  He shook his head. “That’s not what I’ve heard this weekend. I’ve heard doctors and nurses telling you over and over again that you caught this really early.”

  “It wasn’t me, it was Laney. From six hundred kilometers away, over the phone, she instantly knew something was wrong.”

  “She’s a doctor.” That old feeling, like he wanted to throttle her, surged through him. It was followed immediately by its twin, the overwhelming desire to kiss her. And not just to shut her up. It had been too long since he’d tasted Evie, and it had felt like they were heading in that direction again when all of this blew up.

  Evie turned and looked out the window at the dark nothing of night. After a time, she finally admitted what Liam knew had been on her mind. What he didn’t want to hear her say. “He’s not wrong, you know.”

  He twisted his fist around the steering wheel, his knuckles white, his fingers shaking. Instead of responding right away, he took a deep breath and counted backwards from ten. “Let’s not have this conversation while I’m driving, okay?”

  Fifteen minutes later, he pulled into her driveway, turned the car off, and hopped out, going around to her side. She started to say goodnight, but he wasn’t having any of that. He held up one hand to silence her, and used the other to guide her up the stairs. Even as pissed off as he was, knowing the bullshit self-hate he was about to hear, he loved the momentary contact, the small curve of her back under his palm.

  Inside, she turned on a lamp and busied herself with folding a blanket.

  “You want to say that again?”

  “You heard me the firs
t time.”

  “You’ve put me in a tough spot here, Evie. I can’t yell at you for being stupid when you’re carrying my baby.”

  “So you’ll wait until after I’m tied to you permanently to put me down?”

  “You’re already tied to me, woman!” He threw his hands up in the air. “And damn it, you’re smarter than that. Don’t let him get in your head.”

  “I’m selfish. This week proves that.”

  “You’re owed some selfishness. The way I hear it, you’ve spent more than a decade giving to everyone around you.”

  “I let my wants interfere with my parenting.”

  “I don’t see how.” A guilty stain spread across her cheeks. “You don’t have anything to be sorry about. I know that what we did had an unexpected consequence, but that was one night, four months ago. And it was the first time in a long time before that, right?”

  “And since then, I’ve let you into our lives, gotten distracted with…with…with…” She flailed her hands between them.

  “With us? The PG-13 pace at which I’ve been distracting you is nothing to be embarrassed about. Hell, if I knew you were feeling guilty, I’d have given you something more substantial to twirl your mind around.”

  She gasped and her pupils dilated.

  “Is that what you want, Evie?” She set her jaw and shook her head. “Okay, but the offer is a standing one, just so you know.”

  “I won’t take you up on it.”

  “I wish you would. I’ll be back in the morning to take you into the city.”

  “You don’t need to—”

  “Yes, I do.” He moved closer to her, and while the temptation to haul her into his arms was almost too much to bear, their next kiss had to be fully on her terms. Instead, he reached out and pressed two fingers lightly to her belly. “For better or worse, Evie Calhoun, I’m tied to you. Up to you what you do with that. But I’m here, no matter what.”

  The next morning, Liam knocked on the door thirty seconds after Evie turned on the living room light.

  “What time did you get here?” She tossed the question over her shoulder after swinging the door open and walking away.

  He followed her inside. “I thought I’d better get here early, in case you decided to head to the city without me.”

  “It occurred to me, yes.” She narrowed her gaze. “You get that would be my right?”

  “Sure.”

  “Liam…”

  “Evie…” He echoed her exasperated tone. “I just want to be a friend.” She arched one eyebrow. “Okay, that’s a lie. But at the very least, I offer friendship. No matter what.”

  It was a quiet drive into the city. Evie couldn’t think about Liam, or their relationship, and his easy calm seemed to promise that was okay.

  After a quick hug and check in with Max’s nurse, Evie and Dale went to the Endocrinology Clinic to meet with the diabetes care team. She asked Liam if he wanted to come along, but he waved her off, pointing to the backpack he’d brought with them that morning. “We’ve got boy stuff to do, don’t worry about us.”

  Evie had been expecting a large group of specialists. She’d read about the multidisciplinary team approach to managing diabetes, but waiting for them were just two people—a medicine resident and a certified diabetes educator, who explained she was also a registered nurse. It was less of an education session and more of an exhaustive exploration of all the facets of Max’s life, and where each of those points intersected with his health. Evie’s apprehension was high as the topic of living in two homes came up, but Dale was well behaved and the professionals used exactly the right words to keep the conversation positive.

  Afterward, Dale said he’d meet her back at the room. He wanted to swing past the cafeteria.

  “Do you want something?” It was the closest he’d come to saying anything nice in months, although he’d done a good job of not saying anything at all, which for Dale was pretty kind.

  “No, thanks, I’ll head up to Max’s room. Do you need to get back to work this afternoon?”

  “Naw, I took the whole day off.” He looked tired. She felt tired, to the bone, so they probably made a pretty sorry looking pair.

  “We can go, let you have the afternoon with Mr. M, and then come back? I can get Connor from school and bring him in for dinner.”

  “Sure.” He went to move away, then stopped. “Evie?”

  “Yeah?”

  “You serious about this guy?”

  She did a double take, then paused before answering. “That’s not where my head is at right now, Dale.”

  “He seems serious about you.”

  “He’s a serious guy. I don’t think it’s me.” It’s the baby, she thought, but she wasn’t going to share that with her volatile ex.

  He worked his jaw back and forth for a minute, like maybe he was going to say something nice, a peace-offering, but Evie knew better. This was as much peace as they’d ever have between them.

  “I’m going to head up, then.” She turned and left him standing in the hall, or maybe he turned just as quickly—she didn’t look back to find out.

  She could hear silly laughter as she approached Max’s room—a shared room, actually, but the other bed had been empty all weekend. She would have entered, but Liam’s voice carried to the hall just as she reached the doorway.

  “I’ll ask your mom and dad.”

  “I’d be really careful with it,” Max pleaded.

  “I’m sure you would. But I don’t have a six year old, so I’m not sure what’s appropriate.”

  “I’m almost seven.”

  “Dude, when I first met you, I thought you were eight.”

  Max giggled. “No you didn’t.”

  “Seriously. I thought, that kid has to be in grade three or four.”

  “If I was in grade three, you’d let me keep your iPad.”

  “Nope. I’d still ask your mom.”

  “She’ll say no.”

  “Then the answer will be no.”

  “Did your mom say no a lot to you when you were growing up?” Liam didn’t answer, and Evie pressed against the door frame, wondering if she’d just missed a quiet answer. After a beat, Max continued. “When I’m a grown up, I’m going to let my kids do whatever they want.”

  This time it was Liam that laughed. “Good luck with that.”

  “Grandma says technology rots the brain.”

  “It’s a bit more complicated than that, but your Grandma is a smart lady. Too much noise in our lives is not a good thing.”

  “I like noise.”

  “I bet.” Evie heard the squeak of plastic and metal as Liam joined Max on the hospital bed. “Want to see something cool?”

  Soon, a soft musical beat filled the air, and a delicate voice started reading words out loud. Evie stepped into the room and peeked around the curtain. Max was poking at a storybook on Liam’s tablet, getting it to read him a book. Liam kept his eyes on Max for another moment. “After she reads it to you, you can read it back to her, and it’ll record your voice.”

  “Cool…” Max hunkered down and propped the iPad on his legs.

  Only once Max was fully settled did Liam turn and smile at Evie. “How did it go?”

  She nodded. “Good. We’ll meet with more of the team again tomorrow, learn how to do injections, get some nutrition counseling.”

  “Gotcha. Hey, can I talk to you in the hall?”

  Max looked up from his story. “Mommy, he’s going to ask you if I can borrow his iPad. You should say yes.”

  Liam held up his hands as Evie laughed. “Your call, I didn’t make any promises.”

  “Well, how about we leave it with you for the afternoon, and I think about it?” She turned to Liam. “Dale’s going to hang out here until dinner time. We can head home until then, and Connor and I will come back for the evening. I can bring it home with me if I decide that’s for the best.”

  He arched one brow, but didn’t directly answer, instead looking at Max. “See
? Your mom’s in charge, and she’s going to be fair, right?”

  “Right.” Max’s agreement was an afterthought as he drifted back into the game in front of him.

  Liam tugged Evie out into the hall and down a ways to ensure her son wouldn’t overhear, which she appreciated. “You want to come back without me tonight?”

  She nodded.

  “Okay. You’re the boss. But if he pulls anything, says anything…will you tell me?”

  Yes, she probably would. The answer surprised her, and she felt a stab of guilt at that fact. “If you want to know.”

  He picked up her hands and wove his fingers into hers. “You’ve got a problem, Evie, I’m going to want to fix it. Nothing is going to change that.”

  “Not even me being a bitch?” She offered a rueful smile, and he grinned in return.

  “You’re hardly a bitch, but yeah, not even that.”

  Right on cue, Dale sauntered down the hall, interrupting their moment, but he didn’t say anything. Evie took a minute to follow him and say goodbye to Max, then she re-joined Liam and they headed home.

  Periodically, Liam looked over, as if he wanted to start a conversation, but if he wasn’t going to do it, she wasn’t either. She didn’t want another blow up like the night before. But there was something…reasonable about talking in the middle of the day. So when he finally talked, she listened, and shared a lot more than she meant to.

  “So it really went well today? With Dale and you, in a room together?”

  She laughed. “Yep. He didn’t talk to me, but he wasn’t rude.”

  “That’s a pretty low standard.” She could see the concern on his face. A low standard that Dale didn’t always meet.

  “I hurt him in the divorce, or at least, that’s how he’d spin it.”

  “What really happened?”

  She took a deep breath. “Some of that is private.”

  “You don’t need to tell me anything you don’t want to.” Again, his unspoken addendum was all over his face. He wanted to be a part of her private life.

  Well, this would be a good test if he could handle it. “Our sex life was…dysfunctional. And there were jealousy issues. Eventually, I got tired of being a wife in name only.”