"Yeah, no, I'm definitely interested. I'm sure Jason will be, too. It sounds like a pretty good deal. I'll, uh, I'll talk to Jason about it and I'll give you a call, probably tomorrow. Yeah. Thanks. Okay, bye."

I hear the phone hang up and walk out of the nursery after putting Claire down for her nap. "Who was that?"

Blink walks up to me and puts his arms around me, grinning. "Some producer."

"Uh-huh, and what'd he want?"

"Um... How do you feel about maybe going back to work sometime soon?" When I just look at him, he squeezes my waist a little. "Come on. Claire's four months old. I think she can handle us working. This guy is producing a huge, overblown movie musical and wants us to do the choreography. They're offering us two million dollars as a team. Two million. And it's been, like, forever since we worked as a team. What do you think?"

"Two million? Jesus, what's the budget for this movie?" I roll my eyes. "You sure you want to do something that corporate?"

"Mush, we do Broadway. That classifies as corporate, I'd say." He laughs a little. "Come on, what do you think?"

"I... I don't know, Blink. I'm not sure I'm ready to go back to work. I'm actually kind of digging this stay-at-home-dad routine." I shrug, looking at his face and sighing. "When do they want us to start?"

"Four weeks from today." He rubs my sides, looking into my eyes pleadingly. "Mush, this could be our big shot. We could really make a name for ourselves."

"We've already made a name for ourselves. People kill for us on Broadway."

"Yeah, but we can go national. Maybe finally start that dance company we used to talk about."

"That was, like, five years ago. Don't you think our priorities have changed a little since then?" I nod toward the closed door of the nursery.

"And I'm not saying she won't still be number one. But there are still other aspects to our lives." His face looks so earnest and hopeful. "Come on. Mush. Please."

"Two million dollars." I sigh. "How long do they think it'll take to film?"

"With planning out the choreography, six months, tops."

"What're they looking for, like, as a style?"

"He said he wanted something 'modern and hip,' which means he's at least sixty, sixty-five, so that'll mean probably nineties hip-hop style."

I laugh a little. "Will you shut up if I agree?"

"I will zip my lips, lock them, and throw away the key." He flashes me that grin again.

"Okay. Yes. Fine. Let's do it."

"Yes!" He puts his hands on my cheeks and kisses me, laughing. "I love you!"

"I love you, too. Please let go of my face." He does and I smile.

"Oh! They said they'd pay for housing, too."

"Wait, what? Housing?"

"Yeah, um... I guess I forgot to mention. We'll have to move to LA for the time it's filming."

"We can't move to LA, Blink." I shake my head.

"Come on. This is our big shot, Mush. Why can't we do this?"

"Well, let's see. First off, we have a four-month old daughter. Secondly, we live in New York. We are New Yorkers. We are not creepy, surfing, tofu-eating Californians. Third, we have a four-month-old daughter and do you have any idea what a move like that would do to her?"

"We'll be moving back," he says, glaring at me.

"Fuck you, I'm not moving to California."

Blink's eyebrows knit together in frustration. He crosses his arms and sets his jaw. "And suppose I were to go anyway."

"Oh, Jesus Christ, Blink. You're acting like a two-year-old." I sigh and roll my eyes. "Fine. You want to go, then go. I don't care. But take your shit and leave your key, because you walk out that door and you're not coming back."

His mouth drops open for a moment but he quickly closes it. "Fine. I'll start packing." He turns on his heel and heads for the bedroom.

I stand for a minute, frozen in place, unsure of what's just happened. "Shit," I mutter, heading into the bedroom after Blink.

"You know, Mush, sometimes I can't believe how selfish you are," Blink says, pulling clothes out of the closet and tossing them haphazardly, hangers and all, into a suitcase.

All thoughts of begging for forgiveness completely leave my mind. "I'm selfish?" I laugh coldly. "You're the one leaving your partner of thirteen years and your daughter because you want to work on a fucking movie and I won't move across the country with you."

"See, that's the problem, Mush." He stands in the closet doorway, shaking his head at me. "You're so caught up in your own little world that you can't see what's going on around you."

I roll my eyes. "What are you talking about, oh wise one? Do enlighten me."

"You wanted a child. I agreed, because it would make you happy, and because I wanted to share that with you. I thought it would make our lives a little bit better, even though I was perfectly happy the way we were. So we adopted Claire, and we're both happy about that, yes?"

"Yes, but I fail to see where you're going with this."

"You've been so busy playing mommy and daddy that you haven't really given me a chance to be a parents as well, and on top of that, you've been completely ignoring the part of our relationship that makes it a relationship. We're supposed to be partners, Mush, and everything lately has been so one-sided."

I feel my eyes start to sting. This is really happening. It can't be happening. "Blink, I--"

"No, Mush." He sighs and looks up at the ceiling. "You and I are barely together anymore in any sense of the word. And when we are, you're either thinking, talking, worrying about the baby, or you're picking a fight with me about some bullshit thing." He bites his lip and looks back at me. "I'm sorry, Mush, but I just can't do this anymore."

Closing the suitcase, Blink pushes past me into the hallway. I follow. "No, Blink, you're not really leaving. This is just another one of our stupid fights. This is what we do. I'm being an asshole, you're being an asshole, and in a little bit we'll both realize that and forgive each other and we'll just be assholes together."

He looks down at his shoes and shakes his head. "I don't think that's how it's going to work this time." Running a hand through his hair, he looks up at me. "I'm going to say goodbye to Claire, and then I'm going to go... somewhere. I don't know where. But I'll send you my address when I get to LA and you can ship the rest of my stuff to me. And we'll figure out a custody thing for Claire later."

I wedge myself into the doorway of the nursery, sniffling and wiping my cheeks. I know I probably look pathetic right now, but I really just don't care right now. All I care about is making him stay. "No."

"Get out of my way, Mush."

"No. You can't. You can't do this."

He sighs and puts his hands on my waist, pulling me away from the door and moving me aside. I forgot how strong he is, especially when he's angry. He walks into the nursery, and I hear him talking softly to Claire, calming her down as she fusses from being woken up. A few minutes later he walks out, wiping his cheeks. He looks over at me, slumped against the wall, and picks up his suitcase and walks out the front door.

I close my eyes. He'll be back. He loves me. He'll be back.

I walk out to the entryway, intent on looking through the peephole and seeing him standing in the hallway. The only thing I see is the table next to the door.

With his key sitting on it.