Chapter 9 – Monday

AJ rocks in the swing outside the cabin. Well, it's not really a cabin is it, since it can sleep her entire family and significant others. It's her mother's place, from her mother's family, not that her father didn't come from his own cream of the southern crop.

She pushes her toes against the wood, looking out across the lake, waiting with her phone in her lap. When they'd hung up last night, he'd promised to call when he had the boys down. It's inching towards ten and she's starting to get nervous. She can't help it. She's usually with her boys the equivalent of twenty-four hours a day and while she knows this is exactly what she needs, it's very hard to be away from them.

It's also hard to be away from Vaughan.

It has never been a question. She didn't leave because she didn't love him and she didn't really leave because she felt like they were finished. She just… she needed time. She needed space. She needed a few days to reorient herself. And yeah, maybe he needed a few days to walk in her shoes.

She feels guilty, yes, but she doesn't feel like she made a wrong decision. She doesn't feel like she needs to go home.

"Annie?"

AJ looks up to see Gabi's head poke out of the door. "Not yet," she says, even as she scoots over.

Gabi comes to settle beside her best friend. "Are you worried?"

"No," AJ answers. "Actually, I'm kind of proud."

"Proud?"

"Well, he hasn't called except these late night ones for a couple of days now." AJ smiles. "Maybe it's getting easier."

Gabi doesn't say anything for a moment, and she doesn't stop AJ from pushing against the deck like she normally would. "How are you?"

"Still guilty," AJ answers immediately. Gabi is, after all, her best friend and Gabi knows almost too much about her. "A little restless after a week of nothing. I'm used to being constantly busy."

"But good."

"But good," AJ agrees just as her phone begins to ring.

Gabi watches AJ's face light up as she hits the key to accept the call. It warms Gabi's heart. A week in and AJ looks a substantially less harried. Even better, the fact that she takes the call so quickly, without waiting, without pondering, or without thought.

When Gabi'd first heard Aunt Emily was whisking AJ up to The Cabin, she'd been more than worried. She'd seen AJ slipping further and further away. There had been a couple of times where Gabi'd been over for a visit and AJ had absolutely passed out. She'd done it the previous month, at Kate's house. They'd gone looking for her because Brad was starting to fuss and found her dead asleep in the guest room.

This AJ doesn't look like that. The bags are gone from beneath her eyes and her smile is lighter. She looks like she's putting on weight she couldn't afford to lose and the sparkle is back in her eyes.

"Did you leave early?" AJ's asking her fiancée, still absently swinging. Gabi grins, squeezing AJ's shoulder. Her best friend doesn't need her right now and she feels like a bit of a voyeur.

"You what?" AJ inquires as the door closes behind Gabi.

"I worked from home," Vaughan repeats and there's an odd combination of irritation and pride in his voice. "Everything's online, Annie."

"Well I know that," she says with a laugh. "Did you get much done?"

"More than I would in the office," he admits. "I never realized how many times coworkers come to check on me or talk to me or try and butter me up, and then, of course, there's my dad…"

"How did he take your decision to work from home?"

"I've been ignoring his calls, actually," Vaughan admits. "He called me six times while I was putting the boys down for a nap."

"Did Kate come by?"

"Nah. I called her. It was a good day."

AJ smiles. She knows just as well as anyone that not all good days will be like this. It's never quite that black and white. Regardless, she's glad that he's getting some confidence. She knows he loves his boys, he loves her, and she knows he tries to get home for night feedings and bedtime. She's glad he's had a good day.

"I'm going to try and work at home again tomorrow. I have a couple of factums to finish and submit and two case summaries for a senior partner on a fraud case."

"Come work here."

She surprises herself when she says it, even though it's not a terrible idea. They have access up here, a necessity during her parents' working years, so he could. And she could have her boys. All of them.

"What?"

"We have access," she says, warming to the idea. "You could do it. We could spend a week, you, me and the boys."

"My dad'll kill me."

AJ tries not to blow out her breath. Of course. "Yeah. Stupid idea."

"What do I need to pack?"

Now it's her turn to be surprised. "What?"

"For the boys. I can't say I've ever packed two infants for an overnight before."

"Vaughan, your dad-"

"He can work with it." She hears a heavy sigh. "My family comes first, Annie. It should always come first. I shouldn't be working twelve-hour days at the office."

"No," she agrees, looking down at her toes and the dark-stained wood beneath. "I shouldn't have let you start working twelve-hour days."

"So I'll pack up the boys first thing in the morning."

"Want me to e-mail you a list?"

"Of everything you can think of. Town's not that far if I remember right, so if we forget something, we can always just grab it."

AJ breathes in slowly. "You're really going to come?"

"Yeah," he replies. "Good a place as any, really."

"My mom wanted to head home tomorrow," she says. "It'll be just us."

"Think you can handle just us?"

She barks out a laugh, the lightest she's felt in months. "I don't care if I can handle it. I miss you."

"I miss you too, AJ. So much."

Her body warms. "Get your rear up here, Cliff."

"First thing," he promises.

AJ grins because she knows he means it.