On wednesday following my date with Ethan, I came home from a meeting with the gallery curator. He wanted me to make some prints for sale in addition to the paintings and to make a final decision on how we were arranging my art in the gallery.

I sat down in the living room to sort through the photos of the artwork for my exhibition.

After the date, I was finding it hard to focus and I huffed out a sigh as I turned the pile over to start again. My inner eye was distracted by a pair of grey eyes, memorised through a long marriage.

My eyes drifted to the wall of framed photos. In the middle was the two of us surrounded by soap bubbles and pale pink cherry blossoms. The photo was taken less than five minutes after we'd been declared husband and wife, showing us with laughing faces at the most magical moment of our lives. Surrounding the wedding photo were photos of Ayame and Sebastian at various times of growing up. Aya with her first violin, Seb with his hands full of frog eggs that he'd insisted on carrying home from the playground. A family portrait of all four of us laughing.

I noticed a new frame had the picture turned around. It was stood on the dresser rather than hung on the wall, but the frame matched the rest. I didn't have to turn it to know that it was in graytones and rather grainy.

Ethan must have had it framed and placed there recently. The apparently blank frame had me thinking about him again. My feelings mixed between the hope and joy from our date and the sudden punch of grief at the sight of the frame and what it entailed.

I wondered what Ethan actually wanted.

He'd said he missed me and wanted to fix things, but he'd not been in touch or at the house for several days.

When the front door opened I ignored it. Thinking it was Seb or Aya, I stayed seated until I could feel someone staring at me.

"Hey," he said when I turned.

"Hey," I replied weakly, the sight of him making my mouth feel dry.

"Getting ready for the exhibition?" he asked with a nod to the photos after having sat down next to me.

I nodded and offered him the pile. He leafed through pausing occasionally to look at some artwork or smile at stuff he recognised. He stopped at the painting of the broken ring and I heard the sharp intake of breath as he caught the symbolic meaning.

"So.. How are you?" he eventually asked, placing the photos on the table.

"Honestly?" I asked and saw him nod with a careful smile.

"I'm confused," I said.

"Why?" he asked.

"Okay. Here's the scenario. I'm kinda hung up on this guy... and we have all this messed up history between us. And this weekend he took me on a really sweet date and silly me can't stop thinking about him. But then he doesn't phone or talk to me for days and I don't know what that means," I mumbled.

Next to me I heard a soft laughter.

"Seriously, Ethan... if this is a treat them mean to keep them keen kinda thing..." I said.

Ethan just smiled softly and pulled an appointment card from his pocket.

"It's the soonest she could see us," he smiled.

The name on the card was that of a therapist with a bunch of letters after her name. I saw the date on the card was three weeks later.

"This took four days?" I asked waving the card.

"Nope. I've been writing songs," he shrugged.

I gave him a disbelieving look.

"And coaching the boys. They are actually really good!" he smiled.

"I'm not the kinda girl to demand immediate attention, but just a text?" I asked.

His fingers lifted a strand of hair from my cheek and I turned to look at him.

"Didn't you get the flowers?" he asked.

I shook my head.

"I got the keychain you sent me tho. Sebastian was bouncing like a little rubber ball when he gave it to me," he smiled and held up his keys attached to a fob shaped like a house.

"Hint hint!" I said raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah. I got that," he chuckled.

"Now this is my hint back!" he said pointing to the card in my hand.

"In three weeks!" I huffed.

"Eager are we?" he grinned.

"That date was so perfect, Ethan!" I told him.

"You have no idea what you are doing to me right now, Izzy!" he whispered next to me.

I saw a smile in his eyes while his face was struggling to stay serious.

"I want to come home. Sit down for dinner all four of us. I miss my family and sleeping in the same bed as my wife. More than anything!" he said quietly.

"So come home!" I begged.

He sat there thinking for a moment.

"Are you going to talk to me? To work through the last year with me?" he asked.

I threw a look at the new frame. Feeling fresh tears fight their way into my eyes.

"I'll come home when you are ready to turn that around," he whispered.

The heavy emptiness in my chest felt overwhelming, but I nodded. A part of me wanted to turn the picture right then, but I couldn't. Not yet.

Before I could say anything the doorbell rang.

I opened and squealed happily.

"Freddy!!!" I smiled and hugged the man outside. Freddy had been the obstruction photographer since the early days.

"Awww. Izzy! I know you want me, but that ship sailed when I married Rhea!" Freddy laughed and hauled a couple of camera bags and cases into the house.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Simon phoned and said you need some official photos for your relaunch. Apparently your garden is the backdrop of choice," Freddy shrugged before quickly nodding at Ethan.

Before Freddy had reached the patio, Simon and Oddball entered the house, heading straight into the garden without even looking at me or Ethan.

"Do I get a say?" I asked.

"Nope," I heard Dylan's voice behind me and saw the stylist loaded down with clothes entering my house.

"Your bedroom! NOW!" he demanded with a cheeky smirk.

"So you can have your way wih me?" I smirked back.

"Exactly, now go!" he ordered.

"But... My exhibition? My artwork?" I huffed.

"It will be there once we're done," Simon grinned and I childishly poked my tongue at him.

Upstairs, Dylan laid out three outfits for me, all jeans and casual shirts.

I shot him a curious look.

"Simon, Oddball and Ethan have decided that we're toning down the glam and up the normal. You will therefore be barefoot and your hair freed from that horrid ponytail," Dylan explained and motioned for me to change into one of the outfits. I went for a pair of bootcut jeans, a singlet and a short sleeved button down shirt.

Once ready I was led outside to find the three men dressed in similarly relaxed clothes and their hair styled.

Over by the hedge, four amps and some instruments were set up, so that's where we started. We sat on the amps, stood on them, varied our poses and generally fell into old habits. We had done this before. and Freddy knew what we were capable of. I was awkwardly balancing on top of a bassdrum, dreading it rolling sideways to send me faceplanting when I saw Ethan smiling at me.

"What?" I asked him.

"Nothing," he grinned.

"Freddy is over there. Look at him instead of waiting for me to fall and make an ass of myself," I scolded while my arms were out to the side and I was trying to find some kind of equilibrium.

"Yeah... But Freddy isn't half as pretty," Ethan smirked.

"Oh shut up and stop this thing from moving," I muttered, feeling a blush crawl up my face.

Ethan came up to me and held out a hand like a regular prince charming. I tilted my head to study the self satisfied little smile on his face.

"Tell me you need me!" he said and held his hand just out of my reach.

"I need for this damned thing to stand still!" I grumbled.

"No. Say that you need me!" he said, his face set in a teasing smile.

"You're being annoying!" I muttered.

"And you're being grumpy. Now say it!" he laughed.

"Ethan!" I warned.

"Izzy!" He teased.

I stopped focusing on the rolling drum and looked at him. The miscievous glint in his eyes hadn't been there for a long time and without my actual consent, my own face melted into a smile.

"I'll tell you I need you when you say sorry for not phoning me," I said.

"Izzy Ryder, I am sorry for not phoning you" He grinned and held his hand out, taking mine just as the drum rolled from under my feet. In a second he had his hands on my waist, lifting me down.

"See. You need me!" He chuckled.

"Yeah. I need you," I whispered noticing how his face was suddenly so close I could see the stripes in the gray of his eyes and the swirls of brown dotting the grey.

"All right! That means we're on the right track," he said a lot more seriously.

"You two are still potography gold!" Freddy chuckled and drew my attention to the fact that the whole performance had been documented.

I sent Ethan a warning look.

"If I look like a clown in the publicity photos, I'm blaming you!" I warned.

"Don't worry. You won't," Freddy smiled.

Over on the porch Oddball and Simon were stood leaning on the railing with matching wide grins.

"Told you that date was a good idea," Oddball laughed nudging Simon.

"Looks like you're right," Simon replied with a wink towards me.

Suddenly I realised that Ethan's hands were still on my waist and my hands were on his shoulders. I turned my face to look at the shy smile on his face.

"Just come home," I said quietly.

He shook his head.

"Everything is harder without you! We have to do this together," I whispered.

He tilted his head slightly.

"Are you going to talk with me?" He asked.

I nodded, feeling the warmth of hope spread through my chest.

A slow smile spread across his face turning his eyes into a stainless steel colour.

"Okay," he nodded.

"Okay?" I asked.

"Today is obviously a bit busy and crowded... but if we sit down tomorrow and talk things over, you have a deal," he smiled.

"A deal? I ask you to come home and you offer a deal?" I asked feeling confused.

"I want to know that it's not just what we want, but what we need. And that we won't fall apart again," he said seriously.

"Sometimes your over thinking is really annoying!" I huffed.

"I know," he laughed and kissed my forehead gently.

"Okay then... now that we've established that you two are still capable of giving the rest of us diabetes.... We have decided to do the rest of the photos on the trampoline," Oddball laughed.

A short while later, we heard five teenagers breaking into laughter as thye spotted us four oldies jumping on the trampoline, trying to look like Freddy wasn't lying on his back with his camera.

"That is just not safe!" Nico shouted as Simon's foot nearly caught Freddy's ear.

"Dad, for... Just stop trying to do splits! You look stupid!" Juniper laughed.

"No stupider than my dad!" Hale grinned, pointing to Oddball's in-air monkey-moves.

"At least your dad is just jumping. I have both of mine on there," Seb added.

"Oh god... They're going to hurt themselves," Juniper said and turned away as if she was seeing a horror movie.

We stopped jumping and Freddy grinned happily.

"Why don't you show us how it's done?" Simon asked the kids as we scrambled off. Seconds later, Juniper was doing saltos off Nico's shoulders.

"See... We sould have done that," Ethan whispered into my ear.

"Got the ambulance number ready?" I asked.

On the bench, Sebastian was sat with Elsie and Hale waiting for the more daring two to ease up to a level of safety they could join in on.
Seb looked over at Ethan's hand, resting on my shoulder and gave me a smile so much like his father's it gave me goosebumps.

***

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Teaser: the next chapter is another memory. The kids may not always have been so supportive of each other.