This Time Around (18 page)

“Daddy, are you okay? What happened?” he says, and kneels next to me.

“I got dizzy and fell over, kid. I am fine.” I smile at my son. I look up at Bambi and see that she is throwing a nasty glare at Adrian, but she doesn’t say anything. I stand up and brush the gravel off my arse and the backs of my arms. The noise of cars passing by fills the silent void between us and I know this is my time to take my son home. I have lost the woman who owns my heart. My heart sinks into the pavement beneath my feet. I take a look at the people around me and see hurt and disappointment. I turn to Bambi and ask.

“Did you like the strawberries?” Her head snaps to mine, the look on her face shows she had forgotten I was there. Fuck. She nods her head, but doesn’t say anything. I nod my head in acknowledgment. And that is my cue to leave. I take Knox’s hand.

“Come on, let’s go home.” We walk away and I fight my body from turning and looking at Penny. I know how hard it is going to be from today forward. Owning a business and working with her best friend is going to be hell. But fuck, I have to stick at it for Knox’s sake. Knox pulls on my arm, trying to stop me from leaving.

“But Dad, I want to stay with Connie and Penny. We were playing a game inside,” he pouts.

“Listen, things are going to change bud, so maybe I can talk to Penny in a few days and see if you can come over and see them, okay?” I hear a gasp and turn to look at Bambi. She has her hand covering her mouth and she is staring at me with tears in her eyes. Why is she upset? She isn’t willing to try and fix this.

“What’s wrong, Mum?” Connie asks her.

Without taking her eyes off me she answers her daughter. “He said my name,” she states through the lump in her throat. My heart beats faster in my chest but I show no emotion on my face. I learned a long time ago to mask as much emotion as possible when it came to women. “He always calls me ‘Bambi’ but he called me Penny,” she explains. My chest constricts. I am just hurting her more. I tug on Knox’s arm again and walk towards the car.

“Sorry. I- I. Shit. Never mind.” I open the car door and help my boy into his seat, he looks out the front window at everyone standing there, watching us walk away.

He looks so upset, and I can’t help but wonder, how many more people am I going to hurt?

Three days ago I watched the love of my life walk away, albeit he doesn’t know that he is the love of my life but bloody hell, it hurt to see him leave. It crushed me when he called me Penny and not Bambi. Connie was upset that they left, but once I explained to her in full what had happened she understood; she was upset but she understood. Seeing Knox so upset when they were leaving made my heart ache, that little boy has wormed him way into my heart just like his dad. I hate seeing children upset, even with my job people think I am used to seeing children cry out in pain. Well it never gets old. You never get used to it.

Adrian and me came to blows as well, I cannot believe that he punched Liam; oh that handsome face. And in front of the kids as well. What a dickhead. He left not long after Liam, we weren’t getting anywhere with our back and forth arguing. I refused to cut Liam out of my life and he was pissed. He wasn’t happy when I told him that I have never interfered in his and Claire’s relationship, so why does he feel he has the right to interfere in mine and Liam’s? But we will fix us. I don’t know how, but I feel it in my heart that we will. We will smooth things over, I just needed to get over the hurt.
But seeing how much my own emotions had hurt him, showed me just how much I really love him. Now I just need to build up the courage to tell him face to face.

“Connie, what do you want for lunch?” I ask her through the patio doors. She has been sitting out there on her phone for the last hour. I have no clue who she is texting, but my fingers are tired just from watching her text. She turns her head and I can see the sadness from missing Liam and Knox. It is scary how quick they have lodged themselves in our lives. Yes, I want us to fix things, but he also needs to know how much his words hurt me. He needs to know that words hurt just as much as punches.

“Can we pop down to Virginia’s cafe, please? I want her apple crumble.” She looks so hopeful. I see her clutching her phone in her hands. I hate that it is me and Liam that is making her upset, so I can’t say no to her.

“Fine,” I say, faking annoyance that we have to go out to eat. A big beautiful smile lights her face, and all I see is Jodi.

“Yay! You are the best Mum, ever,” she shouts, as she runs out of the kitchen. I shake my head at her craziness and close and lock the patio doors. I pick up Hetch’s lead and shake it and wait for him to come bounding towards me. I swear that dog has selective hearing, just like Connie. He only hears his lead and the words ‘food’ and ‘walk’. As soon as I say he is visiting the vet, he can’t hear anything. He comes running into the kitchen and I latch his lead to his collar. I pick up my bag and drape it across my body. Holding his lead tight we make our way to the front door and wait for Connie. It isn’t long until she is jogging down the stairs, finishing up her phone conversation.

“Yeah, I will see you there,” she states.

“Who will you see and where?”

“No-one.” She walks right past me and out the front door, leaving me no choice but to follow. Virginia's cafe is on the beach-front and it's perfect for us for when we take Hetch. We can sit at the tables outside and enjoy the sunshine and he can sit beside the table. Virginia and Bobby, her husband, have owned this cafe for as long as I can remember, they are a super nice couple. The place is filled with sea decorations but it is nice, it isn’t tacky like some you see. The people around here love Vigigi’s apple crumble and custard. My stomach growls at the thought of it. Walking through town makes me smile, I love living here. It is a perfect place to bring up children. When we were younger, we would be outdoors all the time, only going in to eat and sleep. How times have changed. I wave to the people I know and say ‘hello’ to everyone. The sun is shining and everyone who is anyone is out, enjoying the weather.

I look up in perfect time as Connie almost walks into a lamp post while texting on her phone, I pull her out of the way by her Batman t-shirt, she barely gives me a second glance before she goes right back to her phone. Bloody kids. I wonder what kids these days would do if we took away all of their technology? Now that would be fun to see. Hetch's bark frightens me and I jump, almost dropping his lead. Connie takes off running and I have to pull back on the dog’s lead to stop him from chasing after her. Tell me again who’s idea it was to get a damned big dog?

“Enough,” I say sternly at him, and he sits at my feet. I look to see who Connie is talking to and my heart decides to audition for Riverdance in my chest. Damn that man. Connie is kneeling on the floor next to Knox, stroking a little white dog. I lift my eyes from the kids and they lock with Liam's. My heart stutters at the sight before me. He is wearing black jeans with holes at the knees with a sage coloured t-shirt and Nike trainers. And these damn sunglasses he wears, he belongs in a sexy mechanic magazine or something like that. He would make knickers drop all over the world. He offers me a sexy smile and I bite my lip to stop my smile from filling my face, he cannot see how happy I am to see him. He needs to learn a few things first. I walk over to them, holding tight on Hetch’s lead. I see Knox stand and pick up the dog in his arms. It is only then that I see that he has a very cute white French Bulldog in his little arms.

“Mum, isn’t he so cute?” Connie says, but Hetch barks before I can reply. “Yeah, yeah. I love you boy,” she says and scratches his head.

“Yeah, he is cute. What is his name, Knox?”

“Ramsey. Dad got him for me when Grampa passed away,” he answers me, and snuggles Ramsey into his chest. I reach out and run my hand over the tiny dog's head.

“He is so tiny.”

“He may be small, but he is big trouble. He is the reason Knox fell off his bike.” My chest tightens at his words, but I know that he didn’t mean that to hurt me. He must see the emotion on my face. “Shit Bambi, I’m sorry, I didn’t -” I cut him off.

“I know, Liam. It is fine.” I offer him a tentative smile. The kids giggle and I take my eyes from Liam’s. Seeing them giggle makes me think this was a set up. I cock an eyebrow at my daughter but she looks away smiling. Oh the little buggers.

“You two planned this didn’t you?” I ask.

“What ever do you mean, Mother?” Yeah, her innocent act isn't getting past me.

“Connie James Miller, what did you do?”

“Nothing. Okay, so maybe it wasn’t nothing. But, I was sick of seeing you pout around the house. You have been like a stroppy toddler for the past few days and Knox said that Liam was acting the same. So, we thought we would get you two to meet up and sort it out,” she explains, and looks down at her flip flops. I look from Connie, to Knox who like my daughter won’t meet my eyes. Then I look at Liam and he has a shy smile on his beautiful mouth.

“Maybe so, Con. But this is something that Liam and I have to sort out, not you two,” I explain.

“But you wasn’t sorting anything out. You were just moping around.” She folds her arms across her chest. Wow, she looks like Jodi when she does that.

“Tough. This is an adult issue, not a kid issue.”

“Fine. So, talk then,” she states. Like it is that easy. Oh, what it would be like to be that young and naive again. “Me and Knox can take the dogs down to the dog park so you can talk.” Lucky for the Vigigi and Bobby, there is a dog park not far from their beach cafe, so a lot of dog owners come down to the park and then pop into their cafe.

I wonder when my daughter got to be so bloody smart. I know she is wiser than her age but come on, here she is at nearly ten-years-old telling me to sort my love life out. Great, just great. I look to Liam who is now looking hopeful. He looks too freaking cute. Oh, look at that smile. Like he senses what I am thinking he licks his lips and smiles wider at me. Bastard. I shake my head at him and he winks at me.

Bloody hell.

My body reacts to everything he does, and I both hate and love it. I hate it because I am trying to be still pissed at him, but loving it because he knows how to make my body tingle with desire like no other bloke has. I bite the corner of my bottom lip, and I watch as Liam’s eyes drop to my mouth and his smile fades away. His eyes darken with lust and that in itself gives me the extra power knowing that me, and only me, has done this to him. His eyes come back to mine and I bounce my eyebrows at him once. He shakes his head with a sexy smile on his face. He knows the effect we have on each other, but I think we need to get to know each other more. If he truly knew me, then he would never have assumed that I cared less for Knox at the hospital. Perhaps taking the time to sit down and talk would do us some good.

“Come on, Pen. What is the worst that can happen?” Liam asks. I look between him and the kids and shake my head. A lot can happen with the kids and two dogs, one of which is a Newfoundland. Oh yeah, a lot can freaking happen.

“Okay, but listen to me and listen good. Hetch and Ramsey never come off their leads. You both clean up after them. Any trouble you both come back here, immediately. Do you both here me?”

“Yes, Mum.”

“Yes, Penny.” They both say and salute me at the same time. God, they look so cute doing that. I giggle at them and Liam laughs and walks closer to me. My body reacts to his closeness but I try to stamp the feelings down.

“Go on you two,” Liam tells them. They don’t hesitate as they run off with the two dogs. I watch them go, laughing at each other and enjoying each other's company. This is what I have missed. Seeing Connie happy and just seeing Knox. Both his and Liam's absence have been missed. I turn and sit at the table that is next to me. It is perfect because I can see the dog park. Liam sits next to me and his leg brushes against my thigh. I can feel the heat coming from him and it makes me want to reach out and run my hands all over his muscular thighs. Damn, I am horny. No-one has ever made me feel this turned on before, and only his leg is touching me. I blame him and his super awesome sexual touch. Yeah, I like that excuse and I am sticking to it. I keep my eyes on the kids, forcing myself not to look at the lad sitting next to me. I know that once I look at his face my cool façade will crumble.

“Bambi, please look at me,” Liam whispers. I take a deep breath and turn in his direction. My gaze lands on his hands, the fingers that have brought me so much pleasure. Sliding my gaze up his forearms, taking in the detail of his colourful tattoos; the dice, mixed in with flowers and swirls, the American truck that rests on the outside of his forearm, mixed among flames of different colours. They draw you in. My gaze travels up and I see his t-shirt strain against his bicep. I swear if he flexes the material with rip open. And that would be a hot thing to see. I can totally see Liam, standing in my bedroom and ripping his shirt open from the neck down.

Is it me or did the temperature just rise around here?

I fan my face and turn my head away from Liam. He chuckles next to me and I snap my head back to him. His eyes lock with mine and the smile falls from his face, lust takes its place and he leans in for a kiss. Our eyes remain locked as his face gets closer. I can feel his warm breath on my lips and I lick mine out of instinct. His eyes drop to my mouth but quickly snap back to my eyes. Damn, he is so close I start seeing two of him as my vision blurs. I turn my head at the last second and his lips connect with my cheek.