Back To You

Chapter 2

Warnings - morning wood, attraction, amnesia, worrying for a child, anxiety, divorced couple, drunkenness, ultimatums

I barely slept. I couldn't stop staring at Timothée. He had always been exactly my type and resisting was very hard. It hurt a little that it didn't seem hard for him, but I was in full pajamas. Seeing his morning wood was the last straw and I got up immediately.

"Good morning," I heard a bit later as I made breakfast.

"I made your eggs how you like, and your coffee," I told him, without looking at him.

"Thanks, Mon Amor," he said and kissed my cheek. I froze.

"Shit, I'm sorry," he babbled. "It was a habit, I didn't mean it. I was on like auto pilot."

"Um, okay," I said a little breathlessly.

"You look really shaken up," he said apologetically.

"You haven't done that in years," I said.

"Yeah well, old habits die hard," he shrugged, his cheeks bright pink.

"Breakfast looks good, is Julian allowed to get up?"

"Well maybe you should read the damn doctor's orders," I snapped. He looked really hurt.

"I'm sorry, you just flustered me is all, I'm having trouble wrapping my head around this," I said.

"Makes sense," he said and then under his breath, "you WERE the one who wanted the divorce."

I didn't know what he meant by that, and I didn't have the emotional bandwidth to scrutinize it right now.

"You have to go wake him up, that's how we always did it," I said.

"Right," Timothée nodded and left the room. I took several deep breathes, trying to steady myself.

"This is just too insane," I mumbled to myself as I sat down at the table.

"Morning sleepy head," I said to Julian, and gave him a big hug.

"Pancakes!" He said excitedly.

"I wanted to make my brave boy's favorite," I smiled. Timothée was beaming at his son.

"I bet I know why daddy looks so happy," Julian said after a while.

"Why?" Timmy asked.

"Today is Wednesday, Daddy loves Wednesdays," Julian laughed.

"You do?" I mouthed to Timothée in confusion. He cleared his throat and chuckled, pink patches on his cheeks.

"You know baby, it's our date night," he reminded me.

"Oh, of course," I laughed. "Silly me I forgot."

"Daddy always gets so excited and nervous, it's like he doesn't realize you're married. He always lets me help him get ready," Julian said. I felt my heart soften at the words. I would arrive home from a long, hard day at work, to Timothée already, ready to go. He would have to wait for me to get ready which he never seemed to mind. I hadn't known behind the scenes he'd been giddy and excited. I also didn't know he'd spent that time with Julian. It would be a great bonding exercise.

"I don't know if we should today though Julian," I said softly. "Leaving you with a sitter makes me nervous."

"But it's Dad's favorite day, and I wanna help him get ready," he protested.

"We can get my mom if that makes you feel better," Timothée suggested.

"Oh all right, but you have to promise me you'll eat a big bowel of ice cream while I'm away Jj," I said poking his stomach. He laughingly agreed. The rest of the day went rather smoothly. Timothée and Julian disappeared for an hour to get him ready. He looked impossibly handsome when he was done.

"Now you mommy!" Julian said happily. I went into the room to get ready. I put on my makeup, and jewelry. I was in my bra and underwear considering dresses when the door opened.

"Sorry, forgot some rings," Timothée said, but his eyes caught on me. He stood up a little straighter, and came over to me.

"Wow," he said, eyes burning.

"What?" I asked reproachfully.

"Still just as hot as I remember," he said with a grin. He raised a hand to reach out to me, but then pushed his arm down with his other hand.

"Sorry, force of habit," he said, with little remorse. I could hardly breathe. He went and got his rings, and took a last look at me before exiting. This was going to be difficult.

At the restaurant I made the mistake of ordering extra wine. Before I knew it, I was very tipsy. I laughed at nearly everything Timothée said. It was though I had put on rose tinted glasses. He seemed sweet, and charming, and funny.

"Remind me again, why did we get a divorce?" I asked, and took another hit of wine.

"Oh, Um," Timothée was solemn now. "You said you resented me and could hardly look at me after work. You said it was us or my dream, and I said I didn't want to give up on my life long dream, and you just had to hold on and it would work out. You said you couldn't hold on, and that was pretty much it."

"Oh yeah," I said, sobering in that moment. The rose tinted glasses fell off, and I could almost hear the clunk they made hitting the floor.