Remember Us

When I got back to the apartment, Katie and Adam were playing a game of Chutes and Ladders.

“Hey you two.” I say, hanging up my jacket.

Katie looks up and grins, “mommy! Guess what I did today?”

I momentarily glare at Adam before turning my attention to her and taking a seat. “what sweetie?”

“I went to dads office and helped design a new uh...” she trails off, forgetting a word.

“ad-” Adam helps her.

“advertisement!” she yells.

I smile at her, “you did huh?” I look over at Adam and arch an eyebrow.

“It's true, she did. Ironically, Thomas wanted more of a child's touch to the sun, saying it was 'too perfect'. And well, our daughter, it turns out, draws perfectly imperfect suns.” Adam tells me, “and don't worry, she's getting credit for the drawing and a percentage of the profits.”

I smile at him though on the inside I was furious. How can he just do that without speaking to me?!

“Katie, your dad and I are going to go grab some snacks, we'll be right back.”

she shrugs, “okay!”

Adam follows me into the kitchen, probably knowing that it wasn't going to be a good conversation.

“what did I do this time?” he asks when we're out of earshot.

I put my hands on my hips, “what did you do? You sold our daughters work without even talking to me! Adam, she's six, SIX! Not some money-making machine.”

“whoa, whoa, whoa. Calm down for a sec, will ya?” I glare at him, waiting for him to continue, “first off, nothing is official. Both parents have to sign the contract, and I haven't even signed it yet. Second of all, I wasn't there when any of this happened. She was drawing and ran up to Thomas to show him. When I got back he approached me about the idea. And third of all, the majority of the money, I was thinking, would be put into a college fund. While the rest will be split between donating to an organization of her choice and for her to save up for something she wants. She's six Juliana, and I know she's not a money-making machine, but she does know what she wants and isn't it about time she starts learning how to manage her money? It's not going to be much longer before she finds out we're both rich and I really don't want some spoiled brat as my child.”

I hate this. I hate it because he's right and I can't stand it when he's right. What's worse than that is admitting that he's right, because he gloats about it afterward. I cross my arms and narrow my eyes, “I hate you.” I say.

Adam laughs and steps forward, wrapping his arms around me, “aw, you know that's not true.” he kisses my forehead, “now come on, let's grab a snack for Katie and we'll talk about this later.”

“I'm going to make dinner. You can go finish the game with her. Are you staying for dinner?” I ask as I opened up the fridge.

“do you want me to?” he asks back.

“that doesn't matter.” I answer, not looking up at him.

He starts toward the doorway to where Katie was. “I have a lot of paperwork to get caught up with. So I think I'll just go back to Finn and Dakota's.”

I nod and he leaves the kitchen. When he said that, something in me felt guilty. I don't know why though. It's not my fault he was work to do. But it is my fault he's not staying here.

I pull out some salmon from the fridge that I bought at the store yesterday. Sadly it's not as fresh as what I'd get in Washington (such as right off the hook), but since it was my favorite food, I couldn't live without it.

As I was in the midst of mixing together the souffle, Adam came back into the room. “I'm going to head out now. Katie's in her room reading a book.”

“okay. I'll see you later then.”

“yup.” with that he began to leave and something inside me told me not to let him go.

“wait Adam?” I caught him just as he was grabbing his jacket.

“yes?”

“um, the contract thing, with Thomas...when's that going to be?”

he laughs and sets his jacket back down, walking toward me. “that's what you want to know?” I shrug, nodding my head. “well, probably sometime this week. Depends on how busy you and I are, along with him.”

“oh, okay.”

“is that all?”

“mhmm.” I look down at the floor, playing with my hands. That's when something felt like it was totally missing.

“you sure?”

I look up at him, finding then that he had been staring at me this whole time. “can I have the ring back?” I ask just under a whisper, inaudible for anyone to hear.

Adam looks at me confused, taking another step closer, “what?”

I take in a deep breath. “can I, uh, have the ring back?” I ask again, this time a little bit louder.

“you want the ring back?” you could hear the surprise in his voice.

I point toward the finger on my right hand. “it feels really naked without the ring on.”

He gives me a small smile, “I'm sorry but I don't have it anymore.”

“what?”

“my mom kind of took it when she saw it on the cake.”

“but-but that's my ring!” I was on the verge of tears which seemed stupid. Adam and I weren't even really dating right now let alone engaged. But still, I had that ring for two years, it was mine.

Adam puts his arms around me to help calm me down, “I know. I'll get it back from her at some point. Don't worry.”

“what am I supposed to do until then?” I ask desperately. Who knew a ring could really have that much of an affect over me.

“I'll figure something out. But not right now, I really do have papers to sign and all. I'll call you tomorrow though.”

I attempt at a smile, “okay. Bye.”

“bye.” he kisses my cheek and then walks back out of the apartment.

I bring my hand up to where he kissed me, my skin still tingling from the touch. It just made me want to kiss him on the lips that much more. Though I knew that once I did that, all the plans of taking things slow would disappear.

No matter how much I wanted him right now, I just couldn't have him.