Page 51 (1/2)

(adsbygoogle = adsbygoogle || [])push({});

CHAPTER 1

Present

The sound of the door sla replayed over and over in my head

My alked out on me

Seven hours and thirty-five minutes had passed to be exact since she’d left, but it felt like an eternity She said she’d co that would take Nina one: not to call her and not to text her

Not wanting to s worse, I decided to respect her wishes and spentat the front door fro that anyto be okay with us

The truth was I couldn’t blaht to be pissed at otten into our share of fights over the years since getting ht was the straw that broke the camel’s back

This day was a long ti for it from thethat she could handle the situation she’d gotten herself into when she agreed to be with me It was only a matter of time

The one bit of good neas that our son, AJ, had been at , so he didn’t have to witness it I had arranged to have him stay there this weekend for a different reason, so it just happened to work out that he wasn’t here I’d told Nina thattime Ma had picked him up Friday afternoon Nina had no idea that I’d actually planned a party for her tonight So, this was suckass ti

She’d recently finished nursing school after taking several years off to raise our son I was so daht it would be nice to surprise her by inviting those closest to us to the apartment for an intimate celebration Our best friends, Skylar and Mitch, would be driving up to Boston fro weekend My sister, Allison, and her husband, Cedric, were planning to bring food fro piano bar and restaurant on Beacon Hill they’d recently invested in Tonight was supposed to be one of the hts of our lives It was also why I went to visit Ivy last night—on Friday—instead of my usual Saturday

That was my first mistake

A loud knock on the door interrupted an to pound as I leapt up from the couch

Nina Baby You came back

Nervous exciteht of Skylar and Mitch standing in the doorway Apparently, I was so excited to think it otten she would have just used her key instead of knocking I’d also apparently forgotten to tell theht There would be no party now The look of despair on my face must have been instantly obvious

“Don’t look so thrilled to see us, Jake” Skylar stomped the snow off her feet and brushed past me “We’ve been in the car for five hours I have to drop the kids off at the pool stat”

Mitch saw my confused face and clarified, “That means she has to take a piss”

I couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight of little Skylar with a baby hanging from a carrier on her chest Skylar handed their newborn son to Mitch and ran to the bathroom