Forever the Taylors?

11

++Pretend like I didn't tell y'all that Zane's first birthday was coming up. it's coming though lol++

Zac dropped his hand with the airpod to his side. "Hey."

They stood there quietly just staring at one another. "Hi." She responded

"Here." He reached out his hand extending her the airpod he rescued.

She retrieved the earpiece and Zac readied himself to continue his run.

"Zac wait. We don't have to be like this. We can speak." The mystery woman pleaded. We loved each other once. It hasn't been that long."

"Nah.. I'm good." Zac started running. He took a few strides and stopped turning to face her again. Her eyes were still trained on him.

"Fatima. I still love you. I will always love you. But I can't take this." he said drawing imaginary lines between them with his hands.

"Zac, please just talk to me. I am sorry."

Zac stared into the eyes of his wife. He wanted so desperately to be able to talk to her. but his thoughts were already too scrambled thinking about the therapy appointment he had coming right after his run. "Tomorrow. I will come by at noon. We can talk then."

"OK. Tomorrow at noon."

"cool." Zac continued running.

Fatima let him get a few strides ahead of her. not wanting to let him out of her sight but also not invading his space. After about 300 paces she decided to cut her run short and head back to her apartment. She was meeting her father in a while for lunch to apologize for the past few months and now with running into Zac she needed to meditate a few extra minutes.

Zac met with the therapist as planned and was surprised to learn that he really enjoyed it. He was able to speak to someone outside of the situation and just lay all his bare feelings out without the judgement he felt he'd get from the people closest to him. Thankfully for Zac, his therapist Pete didn't have another session scheduled for the day and he was able to extend his visit well beyond the hour. He left the visit feeling lighter than he had in months. So much so, that he called Fatima hoping to move their meeting up to that evening.

"Hey. It's me. I was wondering if you wanted to talk this evening? Maybe about seven?" Zac asked

Fatima thought for a moment. "I'm sorry Zac, I just made plans."

Zac's good mood soured almost instantly. "I see. Ok no problem."

"No Zac, its not like that. I was supposed to meet with dad this afternoon for lunch but my nerves got the best of me and I ended up canceling and we are going to dinner instead." Fatima said explaining herself

"Ok. Tomorrow it is." Zac said

"How bout after?" Fatima offered.

Zac thought on it for a second. "Nah it's ok. Don't rush your time with pops. I know there's a lot you guys need to discuss as well. It's cool. Tomorrow is better."

"Ok Zac. Talk to you later." Fatima sad

"Ok yea." Zac said ending the call. He was punching the air at himself. Why was he jealous at her mentioning plans. He was hoping she didn't catch on but deep down he knew she had.

Zac made a call to Sam to check on Zane and Sam. Although his work day was done, he decided to go to the office and check on the status of the renovations and grab a few files he wanted to review. He was pleased with the news that the daycare would be able to open within the next two weeks. He loved his employees and wanted to do right by them but, paying for all their individual childcare expenses was not an expense he wanted to have much longer.