Tough Love

CHAPTER THIRTY THREE

ISABELLE

I knew what he was doing, the way he was using sex to cover up his emotions, trying to mask the sadness inside him. He could pretend all he wanted but I knew the truth. There was no hiding anything.

He went to work, came home and we went to bed. He wasn't hungry much, his facial hair had grown scruffy, and he had just lost his way. We hadn't discussed Jenna since she left, which was a week ago. The house was quiet.

Parker only came back here to sleep and then they were up early heading to a job site.

Luckily today, they knocked off early.

I had been growing larger by the day, the stairs were giving me a good workout having to take them each evening and I tried to limit the times I needed to go upstairs, mostly when it was bedtime.

I was sitting on the floor folding clothing when Ash walked in, and I knew we'd have to eventually discuss things. I tried after Jenna left and he said he needed time, but time was not helping at all.

"Thoughts on dinner?" I asked, laying a pair of boxers over my stomach to fold.

"Just get whatever you feel like, I probably won't be hungry."

I stopped myself from rolling my eyes. "Ok. That doesn't really answer my question." I wanted to eat together, not have him sitting beside me whilst I ate. "I thought we could even go grab dinner somewhere and have it down at the beach?"

He sighed and started fishing around for a matching sock to help put away. "I'm just not that hungry Belle."

"We need to talk about Jenna." I held his eye contact, letting him know I wasn't taking no for An answer.

"What do you want to talk about? We can't do anything. She isn't our kid Isabelle. Do you want to be accused of kidnapping or called a fucking pervert for going near her? Because that's what will happen. You need to accept that she's not coming back for fucks sake" his tone startled me as his words were harsher each time he spoke.

"That isn't what I wanted to talk about." I sighed, slowly pushing myself from the ground. I re sat back down on the couch and just shook my head. "You're hiding your actual emotions and I've tipped toed around you and just left you to be, but we've barely spoken, and you just seem to be getting worse. You look a mess, you're the boss at work and you need to set the example, which you're not doing." I stood up and reached for the basket. "I know she's not coming back, and I cannot comprehend how you must feel, raising someone that you've thought it your daughter from the beginning. It's a cruel blow to you and your parents because they helped raise her too. You just can't live this way, it's not healthy. She's not dead, she's with them and at least we know she's beign very well taken care of."

"How would you feel if I took our baby away from you?" he shot back.

I felt the urge to slap him. "I'd be feeling murderous." I glared. "The difference is, I'm his actual mother. I wasn't Jennas mother, I loved her, but she hated me. She was miserable here, she wanted us to break up and made you promise there would be no babies from us. That girl wanted her mother as soon as she found out she was alive. That's not our fault, it's not on you and it's not on me. This girl walked out of our home and into their house, she wasn't just taken."

"You've clearly been thinking about that for awhile then." He scoffed.

I grabbed the washing basket with the folded clothes and walked by him. I wasn't going to say anything else, but I was being petty. "What day is it?" I asked, my voice cold but on the verge of breaking.

"Wednesday." he spoke. "I know the day is Isabelle." It was then that his eyes grew slightly wider. "Oh fuck."

"Don't worry about it. It honestly didn't matter because of how much you're struggling right now, and I was going to let it go but you don't get to act like this when I'm only trying to help." I moved towards him and shoved to basket in his lap and turned to walk off. "I'm not your fucking maid either."