After you left

Chapter 52 - Distant?

*3 weeks later*

Tessa's POV:

"I'm leaving here in two days" He tells Emery but I just know that was meant for me. "Can't wait to see you" again, his words are somewhat targeted to me, I can tell by his tone.

"Goodnight Em" he blows her a kiss before we hang up without saying anything to each other, again.

It's 8pm here and 11pm there so I guess he will go to sleep now. We haven't talked much in these weeks, more like he hasn't talked to me. It's killing me but I can't blame him. He only calls for Emery and pretty much everything about Emery. I've been busy with work a lot lately and Emery has started teething in the last few days. She keeps me up all night, and it's hard to handle her without him.

She misses him too, she knows he's gone for long and keeps looking for him. Only when he facetimes, her mood lifts up a little, just hearing him talk and watching him through the screen.

Hardin talks to only her but hearing his voice and seeing his face makes my heart happy. I wish I hadn't left things that way when he left without saying goodbye to me and even I didn't care to talk to him.

I've ruined it. I've ruined the too-good-to-be-true relationship between us. The unproblematic co-parenting, I've ruined it all. He won't even talk to me and however mad I am at him, I can't handle being so close yet so distant with him.

Hardin's POV:

"Good job Hardin" Christian says as we enter his car. "We're all done now" he smiles at me and I nod. "To the nightclub!" he orders the driver.

After all the old people meetings, going to a club with this old man is the last thing I wanna do but I can't refuse him now. Plus I haven't discovered New York a lot, so it might be an advantage.

I can't wait to go back home. I miss Emery terribly but I also don't want to face Tessa. I haven't properly chatted with her which is killing me inside but she deserves it. Just when I thought she couldn't hurt me more after dating that piece of crap, she refuses my proposal. I didn't mean to propose, it was instant but I didn't expect this reaction from her. I honestly don't know what I want from her now. I left the next morning of that event so luckily I didn't have to talk with her.

"So.. our flight is day after tomorrow. What's the plan tomorrow?" I ask Vance as we enter the club, not waiting in line of course.

"I have to shop for the Mrs." he rolls his eyes. "You could come along, I'm sure Tessa would love something from here" he says.

I keep quiet the whole night, just listening to him talk and talk. I ordered a non-alcoholic drink for myself which tastes like shit.

"I know coming back from rehab and drinking is hard, like you mentioned in your book, but come on have a drink or two at least. We're in New York Hardin. You're killing the vibe with your gloomy face" He says sliding a drink towards me. I grab the drink and take a sip as he orders another round for himself.

This trip to New York was a needed one. As much as I hate to accept it, I needed a break from being daddy Hardin and take some time to myself. I obviously missed Emery but turns out a little time apart was necessary.

But now I can't wait to go back to my duties. Tessa tells me I've missed so much, Em improved her crawling and she even started teething. The worst part is, she said my name and I wasn't there. She was calling out for me and thankfully Tessa recorded that. I can't believe I missed the first time my baby calling me. The timing for this trip couldn't have been worse.

"You know I missed Smith's first word too" Vance says pointing at my phone screen. I didn't realize I was watching Emery's video on repeat.

"You did?" I put my phone back in my pocket and he nods.