Hearts & Rockets

Two

"I can't believe our little girl is two!" I exclaimed, gently brushing my fingers through her curly brown hair. She smiled, mumbling some little words like "cake" and "party". "Let's get you in your birthday outfit" I fished through the closet for a purple summer dress and white sandals, "Sutton, baby come here." I held my hands open as she dramatically crashed into me, laughing and giggling. I rolled onto my back and held her up over me, her laugh was contagious. Once she was dressed, we walked down stairs. She is very independent and wants to do everything, from walking up and down stairs to feeding herself. After what felt like ten minutes, we finally made our way to the kitchen where mine and Hunter's parents were waiting.

"Sutton! Happy birthday!" She hugged everyone and walked up to the patio door.

Smacking the glass, she shouted, "Out! Out!"

"Out please," I corrected her, "say please"

"Peeeease" she said, her big grin looking at everyone.

"Thank you," I opened up the door and we flooded onto the back deck. We caught up with our parents before friends started piling in for her party. A few of the moms from yoga and their little ones were coming, as well as the guys, my band guys and Stephanie. David was away on business so Steph decided to come down for the whole week.

Hunter started the bbq and we had hamburgers and hot dogs before diving into Sutton's birthday cake. We sang happy birthday, and she blew out her candles before we cut the cake.

"Thank you all for coming," Hunter said, "it's not easy getting together, especially with our families and the distance that separates us. To those of you who are friends that have become our extended family, thank you for joining us today to celebrate Sutton's second birthday."

The afternoon was fun and laid back. The little ones were splashing in the kiddie pool while some of the adults sat with their feet in the big pool. By five, everything winded down and most of our guests left. Sam, Steph and our parents all stuck around to have pizza and a quiet evening together.

Stephanie and I were cleaning up in the kitchen, "Where's David's business trip?" I asked, curious. Stephanie shrugged.

"I don't even know what's a business trip anymore and what's an affair." My jaw dropped as I turned to face her. Her blue eyes were dull and for the first time all day, I saw how tired she looked.

"Stephanie," my voice was quiet, "what makes you say that?"

"I found a bra in one of his carry on bags. And it wasn't mine." I leaned back against the island, biting my lip, I didn't want to ask more questions. But as if she could read my mind, she continued. "He said he went to Arizona. He didn't even bring his passport with him. I tracked his credit card at a hotel in Toronto." I shook my head, "This all started after we discussed having kids or not. He said some mean stuff, I disagreed with him. Low and behold, I was pregnant." She paused, taking a deep breath. "After we argued, I was so upset. It was like three days of awful, I actually ended up miscarrying."

I had tears in my eyes, all I could do was open up my arms and hug her. We didn't say anything. I heard the back door open and close. Hunter scooted through the kitchen with Sutton in tow, trying not to be disruptive. I pulled out of the hug, I placed my hands on Stephanie's shoulders, "Go downstairs, take a shower. I'll come down in a bit." Steph nodded and wiped her eyes before heading into the basement.

I headed upstairs to find Hunter running a bath for Sutton, "Hey, Sam had to go, I figured our parents could hang out with each other for a bit while I cleaned her up." I looked past him to see a muddy little girl.

I let out a laugh, "What did she get into?!"

"Dirt," Hunter said, "I think she ate some."

"She'll survive," I smiled taking a seat on the toilet, watching Hunter scrub the dirt off of Sutton's fingers, "we'll get her to bed after, then I'm going to talk to Steph."

"Yeah, what was going on?" Hunter asked quietly.

"It was about David," Hunter shook his head as I continued, "they're having some issues. Serious issues. You're right, he wasn't a good guy for her."

He shrugged, rinising off Sutton and draining the tub before taking the towel I handed him. "Spare me the grit but what happened?"

"He's cheating and she had a miscarriage."

His jaw tightened at my words. "Shoot." He muttered. I know he didn't want to pry but Stephanie was a special person to us and he cared about her. "Well, she deserves better." I nodded. We got Sutton settled for the night and I took the monitor in the basement while Hunter went back out to see our parents had migrated inside. Stephanie and I spent the better part of an hour talking.

"I should've known better," she said. I shook my head as I brushed through her hair, placing it in a french braid.

"No, it's not you. Love makes people do crazy things." I tied off the braid and sat beside her, "What are you going to do?"

Stephanie shook her head, "I don't know. I sold my condo to move into his house. If I leave, I'd be homeless. I can't afford this mess." She went on to say how David sold her old civic and bought her a new Mercedes as a 'surprise', and they took the money from selling her condo on her school debt and bought out the cabin from Stephanie's mom.

"I would be happy to help you however I could," I racked my brain for ideas, "if you need time and space, you can talk to my parents." My parents owned several condos and apartments in my hometown, not to mention they had space in their own home should Steph need a safe place.

"I'm really tired," Stephanie said, "I'm sorry, this is all so much." I hugged her and told her to sleep.

I headed back up just in time to see our parents out for their flights tomorrow. "We love you," I said between hugs, "thank you for coming."

Hunter and I turned off the lights, set the alarm and crawled into bed. I had no words, I was totally in shock of everything Stephanie said. "He screwed her over. He sold her car, they sold her condo, she has nothing."

Hunter hugged me, "She has us, people who care about her interests and will help her however we can."

"Thanks," I kissed his cheek, "I noticed Sam left earlier than usual..."

He sighed and wiggled to sit up beside me. "There's something I wanted to ask you," I nodded, "would you be up for dinner tomorrow night, we can take Sutton. Sam met someone."

"Oh," I took a second to process it, "yeah, that's fine. Um, have you met her?"

Hunter shook his head, "He just told me tonight. Say, Pinewood? or do you want to go somewhere else?"

"How about Amerigo?" Hunter nodded, reaching for his phone to text Sam. He kissed my cheek and we sat back into the pillows.