Author's Note: I am so sorry it has taken so long to update. My computer went wacky…the most detrimental issue being that any time I tried to type it would randomly toss the cursor all over the screen. It made writing impossible. That same week, my son's desktop died too, so I had no good way to write. Thankfully, I just picked up a new used laptop that is working like a dream! With any hope, I'll be back on a regular posting schedule soon! Thanks for being patient! A big thanks to my beta, AGoodWitch, who looked this over for us on her commute home from work last night. Muchos Gracias, love!

Chapter 9

Christmas fell on a Wednesday, which meant those of us working hourly jobs were back to work the day after Christmas. The numbers were extremely low, which gave Sue and I more time than usual to chat while the kids played in centers. When I was done explaining the ridiculous series of events that had filled the day before she sat back and crossed her arms with a smug smile.

"I knew it!"

I frowned at her. "Knew what?"

She scoffed. "Oh please, girl, there's sexual tension so thick between you two you would need a chainsaw to break through it!"

I couldn't help but snort. "Sexual tension? You're crazy. We're only barely learning to be in the same room together without yelling at eachother."

"Or tearing each other's clothes off."

I rolled my eyes.

"You laugh, but anger and passion are only a hair's breadth apart on the emotional scale and sometimes when you can't indulge one for whatever lame reasons you make up, you indulge another. That's why angry makeup sex is so hot. It's chocked full of all kinds of passions that take things to a primal, gotta tear your clothes off before you tear their arms off place."

I shook my head. "Woman, you are disturbed."

She waggled her eyebrows at me. "How else do you think Harry and I have held on all of these years? It certainly hasn't been the sweet and tender way he romances me. Just you wait, honey, all of that sexual tension will either have you guys screaming in the front yard again or ripping each other's clothes off in the heat of passion, but either way, the heat is going to resurface."

I laughed and walked across the room to break up the argument over the legos. "Whatever, Sue."

She sat waiting with her arms crossed until I came back to sit back down. "Twenty Bucks."

"Twenty bucks?"

She nodded. "Twenty bucks you and Mercurial Mancake are either hot and heavy or back to mortal enemies in six months."

"I don't know about the mortal enemies, but I can guarantee you we won't be hot and heavy in six months. No way."

"So then it's easy money."

I shook my head. "I'm not stealing your money, Susie. It wouldn't be fair."

She smiled that crooked smile and settled back in her chair with her arms crossed back again. "More like you know you'd lose."

I just smiled back before turning my attention to the little girl who walked up asking me to draw her a doggy.

The rest of the week was business as usual. Things were always slow the week between Christmas and New Year's. Since Edward had the kids for Christmas, I got them for New Year's. Mom was off New Year's Eve so we spent the night playing board games and trying to stay up until the ball dropped in New York City. Ellie passed out in my lap by 10:30 and EJ fell asleep ten minutes before the ball dropped. I tried to wake him up, but it was no use. Mom and I toasted the new year with a cheap bottle of Moscato, then tucked in EJ. I glanced across the street as I made sure the door was locked before bed. Lights flickered in the window of the living room, giving the impression that the TV was still on. I'd considered inviting him over, but after the hoopla on Christmas, I figured it wasn't a good idea. I hoped I'd see Emmett around, though. I'd rather enjoyed having a new adult to chat with.

Life returned to normal just after the holidays, with one exception. Edward who had been all too diligent about coming to see the kids on his scheduled nights suddenly kept getting "sick." It didn't take a genius to deduct the truth. I'd had my suspicions for a few months already, after seeing a few pictures from a social gathering of him with the girl he had almost cheated with four years before. A few weeks later, the kids mentioned her showing up to a family get together at Carlisle and Esme's.

The suspicions were confirmed one Tuesday afternoon about a month after the party, when this girl's younger sister posted that she was hanging out with her sister and Edward, having brunch and watching a movie before heading out for the two hour trek back home. It was during his working hours, so I assumed he probably called off sick. She had tagged Edward, so I saw it before it disappeared a day later when apparently Edward had seen and tried to hide the fact.

The following Sunday, he brought the kids home at the end of his weekend. Apparently they had been to a family party at his aunt's house that I hadn't been invited to…the first since everything went south. I'd always known the day would come and tried to mentally prepare myself for it, but it still didn't keep it from hurting. It was only made worse when I found out that Amy had been there, playing with the kids all day, apparently. It wasn't the heartbreak it might have been before, but it still stung. It would have hurt no matter who it was, but it being that particular girl, who was now 23 to his 38, made it all the worse. There was something very aggravating that after acting so selfishly for so long and leaving me to pick up the pieces, he somehow managed to get everything he wanted. He got out of the house and into his own place, got a new truck and a new bike, and a new me, because the poor girl reminded me a whole lot of myself when we got together. I had been 22 at the time. She even kind of looked like me a little. It all snowballed into this big ball of resentment inside me, made worse by the fact that everyone was trying to hide it all from me. Once again I was being underestimated.

I debated calling him out on everything, but then I decided I didn't want to. Instead, I was going to play ignorant and see exactly how far it went. It was a really confusing time. I was stuck somewhere between angry and relieved. It didn't hurt like I feared it would. I felt more insulted and annoyed instead of heartbroken. I realized that I'd finally reached a point where the feelings truly were dead. I didn't want Edward. I could get along with him for the kids' sake. I could communicate with him on important kid issues. But I wasn't going to go out of my way to keep him informed like I had before. If he wanted to miss out on his children's lives for a quickie in the evening, it was him who was missing out. It would only be a matter of time before his new child lover would outgrow him and move on. I just hoped it wasn't after he'd already knocked her up, or worse.

I think the thing that probably bothered me the most, though, was that he was breaking our custody agreement by bringing her around. I guess his excuse was the she was being introduced as "Daddy's friend," just like Emmett. The only exception was, Emmett truly was just a friend. Little did Edward know, I knew he had been bringing her around the kids for at least a month before the whole Emmett situation. I hadn't pushed it then, because while he was being an asshole in general, the kids didn't really know it.

Monday night is gymnastics for both kids and as a rule Edward always comes to see them since it's less than five minutes from his new place. My spidey senses were tingling all day, warning me that he was going to bail. If history stood, little miss in-over-her-head didn't have to head home for work until Tuesday afternoon, meaning that the Edward I knew and once loved, was going to lie his way into more time with her. I sat there, my stomach sinking with each passing minute. Finally, he texted thirty minutes in, apologizing for not telling me sooner, but supposedly he had left work early because he was sick and had fallen asleep and just woken up. I played along as I suppressed the vomit. Making a scene at the gym would do nobody any good, and the kids would be far better served believing Dad was sick versus the truth.

Wednesday night was normally Edward's night to visit. This particular Wednesday night was also open house night at the grade school and both of the kids were so excited to show us around and see the special artwork they had done. I texted a reminder that morning about the open house and that he was supposed to watch them while I went to a work meeting after the open house. At noon, he texted back that he was still sick and arranged for Esme to come watch them instead. There was a post on facebook later that day with a location tag…he was two hours away in the city where Crystal lived. I could barely look Esme in the eye that night when she came and went with us to the open house and watched the kids during my meeting.

I always knew it was a matter of time…all of it. It doesn't make it any easier. Either way, I couldn't wait for the fucking divorce to be final!

It was another brutal winter. The temperatures were so low that my heater was barely keeping up, so when a blizzard blew through at the end of January knocking out the power throughout our entire corner of the state, I didn't know what to do. One would think I would be prepared for such disasters by that point, but alas, I wasn't.

I was gathering clothes for the kids while trying desperately to reach my mom so we could possibly make our way to her house. It was a dangerous plan, but it was better than freezing to death. Unfortunately, she wasn't answering, most likely snowed in at work the night before. I almost had us all packed when a knock at the front door made me jump.

I shuffled to the door and struggled to unlock it and turn the handle with my three pairs of gloves on. When I finally did, there stood the Abominable Emmett, bundled in a full Carhardt jumpsuit, coat, boots, gloves and hat. He smiled at me was he took in the sight of my bulky, triple layered frame.

"Yeah, I thought so. You don't even have a space heater do you?"

I glared. "Sure I do. Unfortunately, it's electric."

He snorted and smiled at me with his cocky grin. "Come on, Randy. Grab Ralphie and Shirley. I've got kerosene heaters, a Coleman camp stove, and plenty of space for you three to keep warm until the power company gets us all back up and running."

I hesitated. "Are…are you sure? I mean-"

"Of course I'm sure! We don't want any human popsicles on our hands, and there's no way that van is going to get you across town to wherever you had it in your head to go."

"Well…if you're really sure."

He rolled his eyes and picked up the two duffel bags in the middle of the living room floor. "Come on, you three. Let's go defrost you!"

EJ and Ellie both cheered and ran toward the front door to bound out into the snow.

"Thank you," I whispered. "I really appreciate it."

He winked and squeezed through the door, following in the wake of the giggling duo. I looked around and then groaned.

"Awe crap," I sighed and then turned to yell at Emmett's back. "Is it okay if the dog comes too?"

"I assumed she would," he yelled back. "Doggypops are almost as bad as human ones!"

"Come on, Lola," I chuckled and grabbed the leash to hook her up and then locked the door behind us as I followed the crew into the great frozen beyond.

"Ugh! I hate winter! I hate cold! Give me summer back, Pleeeeeeze!" I muttered and grumbled as I tramped through the snow, every step shoving snow into the gap that had somehow managed to open between my boot and doubled up socks. Beside me, Lola snorted and pranced, apparently not liking the snow any more than I did.

I stomped my feet on the porch, trying to knock free some of the snow pack that had adhered to my legs all the way up to my lower thighs. Walking through the door was such a lovely gift. For the first time in several hours, I was in a place that felt warm to my skin. I helped the kids shed their wet outer layers before attempting to do so myself. Meanwhile, Emmett immediately got the kids involved in setting up a board game from a selection he had by the couch. His smile was so wide, it was contagious and the kids were reflecting it right back at him. There was no hesitation. No trepidation. They genuinely liked and trusted him.

Suddenly, a chill ran up my spine that had nothing to do with the cold. It was followed by a warm feeling in my pelvis and a sudden race of my heart. It'd been so long since I felt anything like that, it scared me to my core. It wasn't part of the plan…it wasn't ever going to be in the plan again. I'd been hurt enough. I really didn't need this, and yet all the fears and logic didn't do anything to stop that odd gooey warmth that was spreading up from through my body, leaving me tingling in places that hadn't been enticed to tingle in many, many years.

I finished shucking my cold outer layers and sat in the chair in the corner, my legs tucked underneath me and my arms wrapped protectively around me. My safe corner only lasted a few minutes before Ellie came over with a huge smile and grabbed my hand.

"Come on, Mom. We set up pieces for you, too! You can be your favorite color, Blue!"

And with that, I was led to sit on the couch next to Emmett. He smiled at me and I smiled back before we all got sucked into a vigorous game of Sorry. I won…but just barely, but I knew that in reality, I'd most definitely lost. Damn him and his way too sexy cologne!