Adair knelt too, one hand on Ade’s back. The other reaching for her shoulder and she flinched.
“Don’t,” she whispered.
They sat there in that spot. All three of them on that floor—one crying, one trembling, one too ashamed to speak.
The bedroom was dark. Sabine lay curled on her side, one arm tucked beneath her belly, the other cradling her head. Her face was dry now, eyes swollen but blank. The house was quiet. Adair had taken Ade and rocked him until he fell asleep.
The shower shut off minutes ago, but Sabine didn’t move. Not even when the bathroom door creaked open, letting out a puff of steam and the faint scent of his body wash.
She felt the mattress dip behind her. Then his arm slid carefully around her, the way he used to do when they were still new and figuring things out. He didn’t say anything at first.Just held her. His chest against her back, his hand finding the curve of her stomach. That small, growing bump.
“I miss you,” he said into the silence. Voice low. Heavy.
Sabine closed her eyes, letting his words hang there.
“You’re right,” he whispered. “I’ve been missing a lot. Missing you. Ade. I come home, and it’s like I forgot how to find you in all this.”
Sabine let out a slow breath. “I don’t know who I am anymore, Adair.”
“You’re mine.”
“No,” she whispered. “I’m tired. I’m lonely and I’m scared. I’m tired of always pretending I’m okay when I’m not. You get to go out in the world and be Adair Dayne—brilliant, admired. I’m just...here. Forgotten.”
“I see you,” he said. “I swear to God, Bine, I see you. I just don’t know how to give you what you need right now. I feel like everything I do is wrong.”
Sabine turned then, slowly, her eyes meeting his even in the darkness—somehow, they still found one another. “I’m not asking you to be perfect. I just want you to show up. I needed you tonight.”
Adair pulled her in tighter, pressing his forehead to hers. “I’m trying. I know it doesn’t feel like it.I know you’re mad. I know I deserved everything you said. I just…” he exhaled. “I’m trying, Bine. Really trying.”
“I’m tired. I’m tired of feeling like this. I don’t want to keep yelling. I don’t want our baby to hear this version of us.”
He shifted closer. “Then let’s fix it. Tell me how.”
Sabine’s voice cracked. “Be here. Not just…present. With me. I know you’re working, I know it’s for us, but I feel like I’m drowning and you’re swimming laps around me.”
Adair’s jaw tensed. “You think I don’t feel that too? Like I’m running so hard to get us somewhere better and every time I look up, I’m further from you?”
Sabine didn’t reply. She just let the tears come this time. Her lip trembled, and the first tear slid across her cheek. Adair reached for it, brushed it away with the pad of his thumb, then pulled her into his chest. He held her like that until her breath evened, her body softened, and the weight between them settled.
It didn’t fix anything but it was something.It didn’t undo the distance. Didn’t mend everything they’d torn in each other.
But for a while, it was enough.
SABINE
Sabine stormed out of the venue, her heels clicking violently against the concrete, breaths coming in fast, shallow bursts. The bass inside back pulsing through the walls, but all she could hear was the blood rushing in her ears and the echo of Adair pushing her. She wasn’t crying. Not yet. Her pride wouldn’t let her, however, her hands were shaking as she yanked open her phone, pulling up the ride app, jaw clenched so tight her teeth hurt.
“Sabine!” Adair called after her. She didn’t turn. Didn’t pause. Just kept walking down the block. “Sabine, wait—” he reached out to grab her.
“Don’t fuckin’ touch me,” she snapped, spinning around fast. Her voice cracked, full of heat and heartbreak. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
Adair slowed, breathing heavy. “You think I’m just gonna stand there and?—”
“You pushed me!” she yelled, chest rising. “I don’t care what the fuck Geechie did, you pushedme, Adair!”
“I didn’t mean?—”
“But you did it!” her voice trembled now, but still no tears. “You saw red and forgot everything else. Forgot me. Just like you forgot me when you lied. When youkeptlying.”