A/N: This is a short chapter, sorry, but the next one is quite a bit longer. I know my writing is not as good as it once was...I'm out of practice! As always, please do leave a review :)

Chapter 3.

Ryan was setting up for dinner, an array of ingredients sprawled across the kitchen counter. Robyn and Blake sat sipping wine while watching Ryan fumble around with pasta sauce. "So glad you girls had a good day." he uttered.

"And it's gonna get even better soon, right James?" Robyn winked in her direction.

James appeared from behind the sofa, "Yeah!" she exclaimed excitedly.

"Thank you so much Robyn for agreeing to take the kids out tonight, we are...really looking forward to a night in" Blake reached forward for Ryan's hand and squeezed it gently.

"We are. And you can tell me all about your day." he smiled warmly at his wife. "Oh by the way, Jess dropped by earlier, she was in the neighbourhood and wanted to invite us to a pool party she has coming up."

"Sounds great." Blake smiled contently as she raised the wine glass to her lips.

"We bumped into her friend today, didn't we Mom?" James spilled nonchalantly.

Blake swallowed fiercely, almost causing her to choke on her drink, fortunately no one caught her anguish.

"Yeah we did sweetie. Babe, any help with the tomatoes?" Blake started to lift from her seat to make it to the other side of the island, Ryan pushed her back down in protest. "Absolutely not."

James wasn't finished. "What was his name again Mom? Dan?"

"No, no..um…." for a moment she honestly couldn't remember. Of course she couldn't remember because it was a fake name. Penn was his name, all she could think was Penn. "Oh god, I can't remember...some friend of hers, I've only met like once before maybe. I don't know James."

"He was nice, he told me I had mommy's eyes." The little girl had no idea what kind of damage she was doing in this precise moment.

"Wow…" it took a moment for the complexity of his daughter's remark to sink in. Ryan was confused and a little annoyed. Who was this guy? "What kind of friend of a friend, who you've met once knows your eyes well enough to recognise them in your daughter's?!" Ryan's eyes burrowed together as he gave Blake a rather hard stare.

Robyn felt the tension rising, desperately clambering at a way to save her sister. "Top up?"

"Aren't you taking the kids soon?" Blake shot a small grin in her sister's direction. She deserved more than that.

"Well yeah, but.." Robyn shrugged.

Not knowing when to shut up James continued, she was almost enjoying the conversation for some slightly bizarre reason. Maybe she enjoyed the mystery.

"He had brown curly hair, same height as Mom, same kind of age, he didn't stay for long. He knew Robyn though."

"He knew Robyn?" His eyes were almost squinted as perplexity was displayed all over Ryan's face.

Blake couldn't move, she was dead in her tracks. Telling Ryan just didn't seem like an option right now.

"I don't know, babe, you're really overreacting, I think his name was Dean or something...I don't even know okay. It's not a big deal." In times like this she was grateful to be an actress.

Blake looked at her husband, tilted her head compassionately as her eyes asked for understanding.

He threw a half smile her way, reluctant, disbelieving.

"Okay, time to go sweet pea." Robyn launched from her seat and waved for James to follow. Fortunately this was enough to end the interrogation. For now.

Soft music played in the background as the couple sat snug on their leather couch.

Blake laid her head back as she sighed, a feeling of contentment washing over her. The evening had been bliss, she had been feeling stressed lately and tonight was just what she had needed.

"So, when is Jess' party?" Blake lulled with her eyes blinking heavily. She hadn't even thought about the repercussions that were bound to ensue at the mention of their friends' name.

"Uh, next month I think, like May 15th or something." he paused. "Hey maybe our mysterious friend will be there."

Oh god, please drop it. "Maybe.." Blake countered softly.

"What was his name again?" Ryan uttered as he rested his drink on the coffee table.

"I don't know, um...David, I think?"

She had been acting well earlier that night, Ryan had bought her lack of knowledge and memory too, but she was tired now and it was showing.

"Blake, what's going on? Who is this guy? First you tell me his name is Dean and now it's David?"

She looked at him, her eyes trying to tell a story her lips were too afraid to utter.

"I don't remember okay…" she snapped.

Silence filled the dimly lit room.

"Wait, you're being all coy about him…..he said that James' eyes were like yours. He's the same age as you. Same height as you, knew Robyn and had dark curly hair..." He paused, the facts settled into his brain as the cogs turned quickly. "Fuck, Blake. Why didn't you tell me?"

Could she fib her way out of this one? Even if she could, she shouldn't.

"Ryan…" she reasoned.

"Blake, I can't believe this - you ran into your ex boyfriend" his voice was getting louder by the second "and didn't see fit to tell me!"

"It wasn't that I didn't see fit to tell you, I…" she stuttered. "I haven't even had a chance to.." she shuffled forwards on the couch to face him better.

"Haven't had a chance to tell me? What about the fucking conversation we were having earlier?!" Ryan's temper was rising. Though he displayed anger, he felt concern.

"I just...I didn't want you to overreact, like you are now!" She tried to reason with him but she knew it was a losing battle.

"I'm not overreacting because you bumped into him Blake, I'm overreacting because you didn't tell me!" He was standing now.

"I'm sorry, I…" she didn't know what to say. To him...or to herself. "I should have told you.." she said rising from the couch. "I just, I know when me and Penn talked, briefly a few years ago, you got….really mad and I didn't want you to get mad over something that happened by accident." She clasped his hand in hers. Her eyes seeking, approval, love, forgiveness.

He looked at her for what felt like the longest time. How does someone respond to news like this?

"So there's nothing else you're not telling me. You just bumped into each other, that's it?" He believed that was it, he was ready to forgive her.

Letting this moment linger would do irreparable damage. Lying would do irreparable damage. Telling the truth was the only option. It was the best option for their marriage.

"That's it." a smile erupted from her lips, disguising the hideous feeling of guilt ripping through her stomach.

"Okay." He sighed. "Just, if anything like that happens again, I want you to tell me. I don't want you to hide it from me Blake, I trust you and I hope you trust-" she couldn't hear this right now. She closed the gap between them and launched her lips onto his throwing her arms round his neck in the process.