Our Love Goes On and On

Skate Dates

"Please tell me you're not looking around for Roman."

I was.

It was our little girl's first birthday and he promised to be here. Forget promises, he should be here no matter what.

"Toni, he has to come."

I sat down with Penelope in my lap. She was oblivious to what was going on, but I wanted her to still have a great first birthday.

A small skate party. And for the little kids they had little pusher-carts for them once they got their skates on. We had tried it out and there was no way she could fall, but we had been here for about an hour so everyone was sitting around eating.

Toni and I had been planning this for the longest, well, at least for the last month. London said she was excited for it too, so everyone was winning with this activity.

"Even if he doesn't come, she'll look back at the pictures and say 'Wow, my mom threw an amazing party for me'."

"I want him here, Toni. He promised."

"Promises are meant to be broken."

I groaned and got up to get Penny some juice. Whether he made the promise or not, it was our daughter's freaking birthday. If I didn't mean anything to him, he could at least show up for his kids.

The party went on, everyone skating and having a good time.

Then I get a call.

"Hello?"

"Hey." I didn't want to ask him was he coming, so I let him talk. "How's the party?"

"Everyone's having a lot of fun."

"I, uh, I'm not going to be able to make it."

"I figured."

"I'm really sorry."

"I'm not the one who you should be apologizing to."

He sighed, "Tell Penelope that I love her, okay?"

"No. You tell her whenever you get home."

I didn't have time for it anymore. I hung up the phone and threw it into my purse.

Toni rubbed my back, "Don't let him get to you."

"It's hard not to."

Penny's party was great, even without her father being there. She got tons of toys and money and other gifts. It took me, Toni, and Phil to load it all up in the car.

"Did you have fun, Penny?" She giggled and played with her toes, "Mommy loves you."

I kissed her forehead, "Mama."

"Yes, Mama loves you. Goodnight, Penelope."

I turned her lamp on and her big light off as I walked out of her room. London and Aiden had fallen asleep a while ago, so I went straight to my room.

I was back in my real room.

Not that it was such a big deal because I was sleeping alone in it for the last three and a half weeks.

I got dressed for bed and tied my hair up in a bun, going downstairs for some TV, just because I wasn't ready for bed yet.

"What are you doing up so late?" I turned around and Dean was raising an eyebrow at me, "I'm usually checking on you around this time."

"Checking on me?"

He hunched his shoulders, "I know you're getting more...I don't know, you seem more like the Chase I knew before everything happened, so I make sure you're okay."