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Chapter 6
FRIDAY 13TH APRIL 2019
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On autopilot, I cut up a few strawberries, half a banana and some apple, put them in a bowl and slid them onto the tray of Lolly’s highchair.
“Hmm, yum!”
My daughter’s enthusiasm for her breakfast made me smile, bringing a much-needed flash of joy to my sober mood. Leaving her to feed herself, I grabbed the yogurt from the fridge and scooped some into a bowl while blinking back tears. Today was Lolly’s first birthday. Taz should be here. As a couple, we should be looking after our baby girl and showering her in love. But instead, it was just her and me.
Moving to sit next to her chair, I started feeding her spoonfuls of the mixed berry flavored yogurt between her mashing fistfuls of fruit into her mouth.
“You sure do make a mess, baby girl.”
She gave me a grin, flashing her four perfectly formed little teeth. Two on the top and two on the bottom, front and center. My heart softened and I leaned in to kiss her temple. She would always be the center of my world, and I needed to pull myself together to be happy today to give her a wonderful first birthday, even if Taz didn’t turn up.
It’d been nearly two full weeks since everything went down with Gordon, and it had been that long since I’d slept in the same bed as my husband. This was the longest we’d gone without being intimate with each other. Even after Lolly’s birth when we couldn’t have sex, we’d gotten creative with each other’s bodies.
I missed him. And not just for sex, although he was damn good at it. I missed his humor, his smile. He was always so damn cheeky and such a flirt. He would constantly touch me, sliding his palm down my back as he passed me or giving me quick kisses before moving onto whatever he needed to do.
It was as though I was missing a limb without him close. Lolly’d noticed too. She often would look around the room, clearly searching for him. And she could say Dad now. Most days it seemed to be her favorite word, and how could I explain that her normally very affectionate, over-the-top daddy wasn’t anywhere near her because Mommy had made him so angry, he couldn’t stand the sight of her?
I hiccupped a sob as I turned to toss the empty bowl into the sink. Grabbing a washcloth, I wiped down Lolly.
“How about a bath before we get dressed for your party?”
“Dadadadada.”
More tears leaked from my eyes at her sweet babbling. Lifting her from the chair, I cuddled her close.
“Hopefully, he’ll be at the party, baby girl. Mama misses him too.”
A loud knock on the front door had me heading that way, wondering who it was.
Glancing through the peephole, my breath caught. Fumbling in my rush, I eventually got the door unlocked and thrown open.
“What on earth are you doing here?”
Before I’d finished speaking, I pulled Jacie in for a tight hug. Lolly giggled as she got mashed into the group squeeze. Jacie had to rush back to Australia after her foster father called, and I’d not heard from her since.
Releasing her from the embrace, she turned to grab a couple suitcases that were next to her.
“Ah, Jacie, what’s going on?”
She grinned at me and poked her tongue out at Lolly, getting another giggle out of my girl.
“I’m moving in!”
I frowned in confusion. “What?”
She rolled the cases in and shut the door before turning back to me.
“That offer to stay here is still open, right?”
I shook myself free from my shocked stupor. “Of course! Did Taz know you were coming?”
She blushed and slid a palm around the back of her neck.
