I could have gone straight to my Manhattan office from Jersey that morning, but I needed to stop by my condo before I did. If not for anything else, then to see Heather's face and to give Max a kiss and let him hold onto my finger and smile. I was certain that if Heather and I ended up together, I would be Max's favorite person.

As I slid into the back of my limousine that had arrived to pick me up from the hotel, I dreamed about what it would be like to have Max as my son. To find out one day that he was interested in a certain sport and then navigate with him the ways in which he could succeed. I didn't have any siblings or a big functional family, so the idea of having a full family comprised of two kids started to appeal to me. It was safe to assume that my manwhoring days were behind me. That was an addiction of sorts, one that Heather had been able to pull me out of as soon as she stepped into my life as someone more than a best friend. I'd been surprised that morning when I found myself missing her the way I'd never missed another person before, and it had only been a little over twenty-four hours since I’d seen her.

I realized that I'd been smiling when my phone buzzed in my pants. It was Neil Rowdell, my close friend and the man who was proudly engaged to Heather's friend, Rachel. Proud because I'd seen the look on his face in pictures. The man was over the moon and so crazy about his fiancé that I only hoped it wouldn't go downhill for him in any way. I assumed that Rachel, too, had put her days of sleeping around behind her. When you know, you just know, right?

"Hello?" I said and was met with a cheerful tone.

"How's it going, man?" Neil asked me, and I caught him up with some things that were business-related. We almost did the same thing but not quite. It was like saying that two people were doctors, but one treated the eye while the other specialized in something else.

I told him most things that would interest him instead of my recent ordeal with my father. I didn't want anyone to be involved in that matter, to give me their advice and clutter my decision-making process. I was generally a private person and liked to keep it that way.

The conversation soon changed from business to personal when I asked him what he'd been up to. He mentioned his engagement party invitation that I hadn't responded to.

"Heather must have forgotten to RSVP," I blurted out, realizing that it was the wrong thing to say.

"Jackass," he fake-coughed.

"Accept my apology." I laughed. "I'll do it myself, and today. I promise."

"Are you showing up by yourself?"

Well, no, I would show up with Heather, but I didn't say that to him.

"Not sure yet."

"Listen, man," he continued. "My woman spoke to your woman last night and she was pretty darn distressed."

"Rachel spoke to Heather? Distressed? What the fuck are you talking about?"

Neil told me everything. Well, almost everything, while omitting the parts that he thought Rachel wouldn't want him to share with me.

My heart sank and my chest rose and fell rapidly. "So, did she leave?"

I wanted to know before I found out for myself. I needed to be prepared.

"I think so."

Bullshit. He knew so.

"Rachel dropped Heather to their old apartment in Brooklyn. Though, we both invited her to stay in our condo."

I nodded and rubbed my temples.

"I'm sorry to be the bearer of unwelcome news, man," he said, and I appreciated that he never asked me if I was sleeping with another woman at the Marriott. "I just wanted to let you know."

"I knew it was weird that you were calling me at this hour." My chuckle was fake and he didn't laugh back.

"I'll speak to you later, and I look forward to seeing you at the party this week."

I hung up, then felt the irritation creep up into me. I guess I'd fucked up, even though I hadn't done anything wrong. But wrong doesn't always mean cheating. Of course, I knew deep down that I needed to ask the driver to turn the car around and take me to Brooklyn, but I had an ego the size of a mountain. And it needed to be fed.

I reached home after a forty-five-minute-long car ride and didn't feel like reaching for my key and opening up the several locks that I'd had installed on the door. But I did, pushing open the door and looking around at an empty condo just the way it used to be before Heather lit it up with her presence. I inspected the entire place, poked my head into her bedroom, and a part of me wished that I would find her in there, playing with Max. I missed Max and the little toys that appeased him while he was agitated.

Shanaya showed up thirty minutes later and started to ask me questions about where Heather was. She assumed that she might have gone to visit her parents or to a nearby convenience store.

"Heather is gone," I said adjusting my tie and not thinking twice about what I'd just said. I needed to get it out there without having to deal with my housekeeper's pointless questions.

"Gone?" Shanaya repeated. "For good?"

I slid my laptop into my briefcase and replied to her vaguely before snapping the door open.

"You're free to take half a day off," I told her, now that she didn't have to babysit Max and could return to her usual schedule.

She looked down at the floor apologetically, appearing as if she was going to miss Heather as much as me.

I was almost halfway through my usual morning car ride to the office when I looked out the window and saw couples strolling the streets of New York. One such couple was pushing a stroller while holding onto their older child's hand. I smiled, wondering what life would be like for the children. I doubted that it involved their parents trying to destroy their careers and it definitely didn’t look like the couple had a complicated love life like I did.

It was then that I leaned forward and asked my driver to turn around and take me to Brooklyn instead.

* * *

My footsteps were quick and loud when I marched toward Heather's apartment on the second floor of the building. I'd almost forgotten how this place creeped me out. I probably wouldn't have given it a second thought if my worry didn't stem from Heather and Max living there. I only wanted the best for them both. I couldn't help it even while I was annoyed at her for leaving like that. I hesitated before I knocked, leaning against the wall and wondering if I was doing the right thing. Maybe she just needed some space, some time to think like I did last night. Regardless, I was there already so I gathered the courage and knocked twice.

Her sister answered the door and I immediately noticed Jessica's little girl sitting on the couch behind her. I'd met Jessica once before. It was during my lunch with Heather a while ago, and we hadn't had the time to exchange a whole lot of words. Needless to say, she recognized me and said, "Brad."

Heather appeared out of the bedroom and said, "Who is—"

She paused when she tilted her head and saw me.

"I'll give you two some privacy," Jessica said, turning around and grabbing her daughter's hand before shutting the door to her room.

"What are you doing here?" Heather asked, crossing her arms and walking toward me.

"Are you not going to invite me in?"

She inflated her chest and moved out of the way and motioned to the couch. I didn't sit. My restlessness wouldn't let me.

"Now . . ." she said. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question."

She looked away then down to the floor like she was searching for words but none were coming to mind.

"You didn't come home last night."

"And you think I was up to something shady?" My voice was firm but there was hurt in it because I wasn't prepared to hear her say yes.

Luckily, she didn't and told me that she trusted me to not cheat on her.

"But I don't want to push you out of your own home. Besides, you may not have been off sleeping with another woman, but you still lied.”

"I told you I was working," I retorted. "That's what you'd asked me."

She looked disappointed. "I asked you if you were working at the office and you completely let me believe that you were."

I nodded and approached her. "You're right. You're right. I'm so sorry."

My hands were holding her shoulders and she twisted just a bit to let me know she didn't want me to touch her. I took a few steps back immediately.

"Well, I'm sorry too."

I raised my eyebrows, waiting for her to explain. "I'm sorry that you don't approve of my decision, but I'm going to go through with it as I told you. I'm meeting Wayne this Sunday."

I cleared my throat. There was a lot that I wanted to say, but I chose to be supportive and let her know the things that I'd been keeping from her.

"I may not agree with you." I swallowed. "But I do support you. And I will do everything in my power to make sure that you and Max are okay and not in harm's way."

She narrowed her eyes at me. "In harm's way? Brad, I agree that life is a bit different for rich people like you, but for us, it's pretty mundane. There's nothing to protect me from. I expect Wayne to be a douchebag, but I wouldn't imagine that he would hurt me in any way."

I shrugged. "You don't know that for sure, and neither do I. It's why I've hired a PI to look into his life and report back with anything shady that he might be involved in."

She groaned.

"That's what I was up to last evening. That and . . ."

"And?"

"I thought some time away would be good for us. But I was wrong. I've missed you so much. I missed seeing your face this morning and watching you sing to Max."

She wasn't looking at me but wasn't pushing me away anymore either. I took that as a positive thing and held her hand. I might as well tell her everything now that I was at it.

"I've also been kind of a mess recently, and I didn't want to burden you with any of it because you have a lot on your own plate."

She shot her eyes at me and demanded an explanation.

"My father is giving me a tough time, Heather. He's just been on my nerve about joining forces with him."

"Like, merging your businesses?" she asked, shocked, and I could see a hint of anger in her eyes toward my father. When I left HC Accounting and started my own thing, Heather was by my side through that change. I honestly believed that I would not have had the courage to do what I did if it weren't for her. So, I imagined that the idea of my going back to that rut affected her deeply.

"You're not thinking about doing that, are you?"

Her tone was full of concern and she seemed to relax when I shook my head.

"Good."

I told her that I was, however, planning to go toe-to-toe with Herman Coleman and how the amount of work that came with the massive expansion had taken over my life and sanity.

"You're not your father," she said. "Don't compare yourself to him."

I understood what her words really meant. She was trying to tell me that I shouldn't compare my firm with his and the fact that it operated differently is what made it unique. As eager as she was to continue talking about this for much longer, she stopped right there. She knew that no amount of persuasion would result in me changing my mind. When I decided on something business-wise, that was usually it unless something really gave me a convincing reason to go back and rethink my decision.

"Things were so much simpler between us before I moved in with you," she said, shifting the discussion back to what it was supposed to be about.

I silently agreed because it was the truth. But I had a firm belief that any major change in life, whether good or bad, required a shit-ton of work and effort. I was willing to do the work if it meant making things better with Heather. She was worth it.

"I spoke to Neil today."

Heather smirked. "Did he tell you about Rachel coming to my rescue last night?"

She looked amused with herself, like she kind of knew that she'd overreacted but that didn't change anything.

"He did. He also reminded me of his engagement party that we'd decided we would attend together."

She shrugged. "Want to go as friends?"

I laughed. How naive was she to think that we could ever go back to being friends? I might have been amused at the thought, but in reality, it terrified me to the core. As much as I loved being her best friend, taking care of her in that capacity, the last thing I wanted was to take a step back. Hell, I'd had thoughts about Heather being pregnant with our child. We'd had unprotected sex and I wondered if that would result in anything. I wish it did, but the last thing I wanted was to be on bad terms with her when she got pregnant. I thought in terms of "when" because I was hopeful, even though the odds of it happening were probably minimal.

"As a friend, huh?"

Her smile was hesitant.

"It's a deal," I said, knowing that she wasn't about to give me another option. Besides, she was right. Things were way more straight-forward when we were just that, and maybe we'd moved too fast. I was happy to start over, to try again, and this time, move one step at a time.