When Jordan rolled in from work thirty minutes later, Ryder and I were in the kitchen wolfing down a yummy breakfast that consisted of mashed bananas and baby rice. Delicious…

"Morning," my husband announced in a weary tone when he walked in and hung his coat on the hook on the back of the kitchen door.

"Good-morning!" I replied in a baby voice, attention focused on Ryder who was bouncing like a maniac in his highchair. "Ryder, can you say good morning?" I cooed, reaching over to tickle under his chubby chin. "Say good morning, Jordan."

"Da-da," Ryder babbled, face alight with pure adoration as he stared up at Jordan like he had brought the sunshine with him. "Da-da-da-da-dad."

"No, Ryder," Jordan was quick to correct in a gentle tone. Walking over to the table, he pressed a kiss to my cheek before crouching down in front of the highchair and smiling at Ryder. "Jordan," he said in soft tone. "Can you say Jordan?"

"Dada," Ryder babbled, his hands splaying wildly with excitement. "Up. Dada up!"

With a rueful shake of his head, Jordan exhaled a heavy sigh and picked the baby out of his chair. "He'll get it when he's older," he said by way of explanation before pressing a kiss to Ryder's head.

"I bet," I replied before popping a piece of chopped banana in my mouth.

"Are you alright?" Jordan looked down at me when he asked that, searching my face for the anger he presumed I was feeling. But the truth was, I could never feel anger at this baby. In the four weeks I had been living here, Ryder had become my favorite roommate – my husband included. It wasn’t Jordan's fault he came in second place to Ryder. I rarely saw him. I knew that sounded like a ridiculous statement considering we lived together now, but it was the truth. Jordan worked crazy long and sporadic hours that consisted of several twelve-hour night shifts during the week, not to mention the eight-hour days he put in at his other job. He was either going to bed when I was getting up or he was rushing for work. And on the rare occasion when Jordan wasn’t working, he was playing daddy to Ryder. And I didn’t want to even think about the lack of intimacy between us. It was too damn depressing.

Resentment roared to life inside of me and I felt a huge amount of shame. Little Ryder wasn’t to blame for any of this. He was fatherless and utterly innocent. His mother, on the other hand, drove me batshit crazy. Until moving into this house, I hadn't realized I didn’t do well with other females. I hadn't been aware of how much of a tomboy I was. Living with Teagan didn’t count. I never considered her to be a girlie girl. She was like the other part of me. We'd been together since high school. But Annabelle? I was struggling to make a connection with her. We had nothing in common and it was hard to find and level ground between us.

"I'm good," I shot back, forcing my dark thoughts from my mind. My gaze flicked to the clock hanging above the kitchen door. "But I better get going if I'm to get this little guy to daycare on time."

Jordan's brows furrowed in confusion. "Where's Annabelle?"

"She had an early meeting," I reeled off her earlier bullshit excuses as I took a protesting Ryder from Jordan's arms and put his coat on. "She said she'll call you later." I placed a wriggling Ryder into his car seat and fastened the safety clips around him before retrieving my own coat from the back of the door and shrugging it on. "She might need to you to pick him up this evening," I added before reaching for the handle of the car seat and hoisting it up.

"Do you want me to take him?" Jordan asked, following after me as I carried Ryder to the front door. "I know you're on a deadline."

Yeah, I mentally snapped. I am on a deadline, but apparently, no one in this house gives two shits about my job. "Nope, I'm good," I said instead. Walking out into the early morning rain, I opened the back door of my truck and battled with strapping in Ryder's car seat. "I'm probably going to stop by Teagan's for a catch up after I get this guy to daycare."

Leaning against the side of my truck, Jordan handed me the baby bag I'd stupidly forgotten to bring with me and smiled. "A catch up?" He shook his head and chuckled. "You girls live in each other's pockets. Don’t you ever get bored of talking to each other?"

Closing Ryder's door, I turned and gave Jordan my full attention "Bored of talking to my best friend?" I asked, feigning shock. "What is this blasphemy you speak of?"

"Get out of here." Jordan rolled his eyes and pressed a kiss to my cheek. "Have fun with Teagan."

"I will." I grinned up at him and patted his chest before walking around to the driver's side of my truck and climbing in. Cranking the engine, I rolled down my window and called out, "See you tonight," before pulling out of the driveway.

When I was halfway down the street, I cranked the stereo, needing music to drown out my thoughts.

Pink's song Just Give me a Reason filled my ears and I momentarily debated on switching it off or changing the song, but decided against it, choosing to drown in the lyrics.

Every time I heard this song, something chipped away inside of me. I wanted to believe it was a piece of my pride, but I knew better.

My heart, still battered and barely patched back together, was still aching, and the words of that song brought me back to that night.

The night he walked away.

The night my world fell to pieces.