Pieces Of Us - Until I Find You Again // Book Two

Chapter 4

Lucy's recital was as expected. My little girl was beautiful and amazing and she blew away all the other dancers. But I was her father and as far as I was concerned everything she did was perfect.

Niall took Noah from Emily, my little boy reaching forward to grab his nose. Niall looked over at him,

"Hey there, that's mine. Ya can't have that." Noah squealed and clapped his hands. Niall looked back at me and Em, "I'm gonna take them to get some ice cream. Maybe a movie." He flicked his eyes to me and then looked back at Emily, "Take as long as ya need."

I settled my hand on the small of Emily's back as we walked towards our cars. She didn't flinch away as she usually did which eased my stress a little bit, but not much. I was quite sure she'd want to throttle me soon enough. Pulling into her driveway 20 minutes later and I was almost hyperventilating I was so nervous. I took a few moments to gather myself while she pulled into her garage. This was the moment I started fighting to get my family back.

I was just coming up her driveway while she stood at the door waiting. We were silent as we made it inside her house while she snapped lights on. I followed her into the kitchen. She opened a cupboard,

"Want some tea?"

"Sure, s-sounds good." I stammered, silently admonishing myself. I needed to get a grip.

She filled a pot with water and set it on the stove,

"So I was thinking maybe do like a candy shop type thing. I know you hate to give them sweets, but it is his birthday." She pointed out.

I felt like my knees were jello, I quickly stepped towards one of the stools and sat down. I at least needed to make it look like I hadn't come here with an agenda. I nodded,

"I'm not against that. It sounds really nice."

She shrugged as she puttered around the kitchen, grabbing tea bags and mugs and spoons to get our tea ready while I slowly descended into complete and utter terror. She set a mug in front of me,

"...how's that sound?"

I had no idea what she'd been saying for the last 15 minutes. So when I nodded I hoped I hadn't just agreed to walk around dressed like a macaroon all day or something. I took a sip of my tea,

"Sounds good."

She looked up at me, studying me closely. Emily knew me well. Well enough to know what I was thinking. This had been the first time we'd been alone in a room together for longer than five minutes. I watched her face change and my heart sank. I had totally misjudged this situation. She set her mug down and turned away, shaking her head,

"Don't."

I shot up from my stool,

"Why?"

"Because, I told you. I don't want to hear it and it doesn't matter."

I took a few steps around the island towards her,

"Our family doesn't matter? Putting our family back together doesn't matter?"

She continued to shake her head as she walked away from me,

"I don't know, did it matter to you when she was on top of you?" She snapped.

I stopped. That hurt, more than I wanted it to. But I wasn't going to be deterred. I watched her closely for a few moments while she looked at everything she could to keep from looking at me,

"Emily, I know I hurt you." She scoffed but I kept going, taking small steps towards her, "I know what I did."

Her head snapped up, her eyes boring into mine, causing me to momentarily stop walking towards her,