Anne's point of view.
I paced the room waiting patiently for Liam to come back, and immediately he did...
"Where on Earth did you leave me to?" I questioned him, almost angrily.
Liam only smiled, it was a calm and soothing one. He didn't answer right away, instead, he pulled me into a tight embrace, one that softened the my boiling heart, then, without warning, he kissed me. It was deep and slow, with an intensity that melted every word I had lined up to throw at him for disappearing like that. That kiss… mmm... it was maddening how easily he could silence my protests with just that one act.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you before I left," he finally said, brushing a loose strand of hair away from my cheek.
"Where did you go?" I asked again, still trying hard to hold on to my irritation. "What kind of meeting did you have? You never mentioned anything like that before. This was supposed to be a vacation for us."
He nodded and sighed, taking my hands in his. "I know. And you're absolutely right. I should have told you. I just… I saw it as an opportunity. A chance to meet a few prospective clients. I didn't want to miss it."
"Clients?" I frowned. "Actually, you never even told me what you actually do."
He chuckled softly, his thumb gently tracing circles on the back of my hand. "I guess I never thought it was important. I didn't want work to define what we had."
"Define what we have? Come on, Liam. It's been over a year. And you're telling me now, in a hotel room, in the middle of nowhere, that you still don't think it's necessary to tell me what you do for a living?"
"I will. I promise," he said, leaning forward to press another kiss to my lips. "Just not now. Let's enjoy the holiday, yeah?"
I wanted to protest again, but that kiss… dear lord... it broke the little resolve I had again. I sighed against his mouth, moaning softly as his warm, calloused palms found the slits of my sundress, grazing my thighs with a touch that always made my skin come alive.
Marcus was this good, even better I dare to say, but he had let work consume him.
Liam took his time, every stroke he made was tender and deliberate. He looked into my eyes as though they held secrets he was trying to read. And I, completely undone by him, gave in with a kind of wild hunger I didn't know I still had in me.
That afternoon, I lost count of the number of times he made me come. Each orgasm hit deeper than the last until I felt like my body couldn't take any more, and then we lay tangled in the sheets afterward. I felt full, not just physically, but emotionally. I felt… whole.
The hours that followed were filled with laughter, slow kisses, and playful teasing. We wandered along the boardwalk hand-in-hand, bought cheap sunglasses from a street vendor, and even danced barefoot on the sand when someone played an old salsa song through a portable speaker. This was life!
It felt like we were high school lovers reconnecting after years apart, as though the world had given us this moment to make up for time lost. With Liam, I didn't feel like a mother. I didn't feel like a widow, instead, I felt young and alive.
And for once, I didn't feel guilty about it.
This place, sun-soaked and seemingly tucked away from the rest of the world(my troubled world) was perfect. Everything about it made me wish I had agreed to Liam's vacation request earlier, but perhaps the wait made the experience even more worthwhile.
Later that evening, wrapped in a cotton robe with a glass of chilled wine in my hand, I called May to check up on the kids.
"Mommy!" my little boy squealed through the phone. "When are you coming back? I didn't know you were leaving!"
I was so happy to hear his voice.
"I know, baby," I said softly. "Mommy's just away for a few days. But I'll be back really soon."
Before he could reply, Shelley took the phone. "Sush," I heard her say to her brother. "Mom told me she had to go. You're too young to know or understand."
I smiled at her voice, it was mature, commanding, and so full of quiet wisdom that it always caught me off guard. I believed if she bear in my shoes she would have known what to do from the beginning and she probably wouldn't have been with Liam.
"You're doing such a great job looking after him," I told her.
She huffed playfully. "Of course, I am. I'm the big sister."
There was pride in her tone. I knew she missed me too, but she wouldn't let it show. Her strength amazed me every time.
She didn't get that from me. That kind of composure and grace under pressure, it was all from her father—Marcus. She was his carbon copy in every way that mattered.
And I wouldn't have had it any other way.
After the call, I sat on the balcony for a long while, watching the waves roll in under the moonlight. Liam came out and wrapped his arms around me from behind, resting his chin on my shoulder.
"Everything okay?" he asked.
"Yeah," I said, leaning into his warmth. "Just... thinking."
"About them?"
I nodded.
"They're lucky to have you," he said. "You're an amazing mother."
I smiled faintly. "Thanks. And they would've loved this place."
"Next time, maybe," he said. "Or… maybe just the two of us again."
I didn't answer. I wasn't sure what next time would look like—if there would even be one. But tonight, in this moment, with the sound of the ocean and Liam's arms around me, everything felt right, and from what Liam had taught me, sometimes, right now is enough.