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"I think this is officially our first date in a month." I mention as Liam and I cross the street, hand in hand.

It's slightly after one in the morning as we walk through downtown Louisville and head to my favorite diner for a midnight snack. After drinks at the bar with Josh and Claudia, I'm thinking of nothing but chili cheese fries and fried pickles.

I've been so caught up in taking care of Brielle, helping her adjust, figuring out a new life plan, that Liam and I have barely had five minutes to ourselves. In all honestly, the most alone time we had in the past few weeks was between the hours of 8:30pm, when Brielle went to bed, and 6:00am, when she crawled into bed with us. We were well overdue for a date.

And now that everything has finally settled, I'm more comfortable going out for a few hours and leaving Brielle in the care of my parents. Though Liam and I had had very different goodbyes with her.

Brielle was in her pajamas and playing with her Samantha doll when Liam and I came into the living room. Liam walked over to her and kissed the top of her head, her hair wet from the bath she had just had.

"Alright short stuff, Jenn and I are going to go out for a little bit." Liam explained.

"Yup. But you will be back, Jenn telled me that when I was in the bath." She answered, not even bothering to look up as she redressed Samantha.

"I love you, Bri." Liam told her. Brielle looked up at him, his words catching her attention. "I love you too, Liam." She replied, hugging him tightly.

"Okay," I said as I walked over to Brielle, bending down to her level. "do you need anything before we go?"

Brielle shook her head. "Nope."

"We'll be back before morning, I promise. And Mimi and Pop are just down the hall if you wake up before we get back, okay?"

"Yeah, I know."

It was obvious who was having a harder time separating.

"Jenn, it's a few hours. Your parents have raised three children, she's gonna be fine." Liam reassured me.

"Okay, alright, hugs and kisses." I said, trying my best to keep it together.

We needed this night out.

Brielle put Samantha down, hugged me tightly, and kissed me on the cheek.

"I love you, B. I'll see you in the morning."

"Bye Jenn, I love you too."

In the end, Liam had to practically drag me out of the house, refusing to give into my eight hundred excuses of why I needed to run back in before we even reached the car.

"I think you would be correct." He replies.

I'm about to open the door when he places his hand on mine, stopping me. I look up at him.

"Hey." He says, tucking a few strands of my hair behind my ear. "I've missed you."

I smile, feeling slightly guilty and neglectful. "I've missed you too."

I lean up on my toes, and wrap my arms around his neck as I allow myself to melt into the kiss, and get lost in his scent, his taste, his arms.

Reconnecting has never felt so good.

Pulling back from each other, Liam kisses my forehead and opens the glass door, allowing me to walk in.

"Hah! There she is! There's my girl!"

I'm bombarded before I can even get my coat off.

My family has been eating at the Princess Maria Diner since before Ben was born. It had been a Sunday tradition in our family, and we ate breakfast together here after Church each week. The owners, Jack and Maria, have known me since day one.

The day my mom and I had left for New York, this had been our last stop in Kentucky. Maria, with tears in her eyes, had demanded an autograph, claiming she wanted to be the first to have one. In a brass frame over the cash register, was a signed picture of me with the both of them. I was young, sheltered, naive, and had no idea of what lay ahead. No trip to Kentucky is ever complete without a stop in at the diner.

"Hi Maria," I say, embracing her. "It's good to see you."

All five feet two inches of her hugs me back as tightly as she can. "Oh, let me get a look at you, I swear you get more beautiful each year!" She gushes.

"Come! Come sit!" Maria grabs two menus, and leads Liam and I to a booth. I laugh as I watch Liam bend practically halfway down to hug and introduce himself to Maria.

We order two cups of coffee, knowing sleep is going to elude us tonight. Our flight for Los Angeles leaves at 8am, and between the need for extra security, and pre boarding, our goal is to be there by six.

Maria comes back with two coffees and waters, and takes our order of greasy, delicious, diner food.

"Now Miss. Jenn," She whispers, despite the practically empty diner. "You know I try not to listen to the tabloids, but I know it was confirmed."

"Yes, I adopted a little girl." I answer, already knowing what she's asking about. I smile as I pull out my phone and show her a picture of Brielle and I on Christmas morning. Tears fill her eyes as her hand covers her mouth. "She is absolutely precious!" She whispers.

Shaking her head, she hands me back my phone. "Jack and I, we're so happy for you. For you both."

"Thank you, Maria."

With a smile, she heads back to the kitchen, leaving Liam and I to ourselves.

I circle the rim of my coffee cup, glancing my eyes up at him. There is so much that needs to be discussed. Everything happened so damn fast. In less than a month I went from care free movie star doing whatever I pleased, to a grounded, overwhelmed with love, mother, who constantly felt as if my heart was walking outside of my body.

I knew Liam loved me. I knew he loved Brielle. But what now? Did we move in together? Did we continue on with life as we had before? I knew I wasn't ready to get married. Nor did I want Liam marrying me solely because I now had a child and we were, in some fucked up kind of way, a family.

"What's going on in that head of yours?" He asks, grabbing my hand and running his thumb across it. I stare back at him.

"Toilet papering Josh's house and the fifty two different ways I can piss off the paparazzi today." I deadpan.

"Don't think I can't read straight through the sarcasm, Jenn." He smiles in a way that tells me he wants to have a serious conversation with me.

"I'm serious," I continue. "We could tell 'em were moving to Africa to become the next Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, and save the world. We could tell them we've quit acting and are joining the witness protection program. I could tell them the rumors about the love triangle are all true."

Liam looks into my eyes and sighs, knowing not to push me. I don't have the slightest clue what I'm doing with my life at the moment, and to be honest, after weeks of crying and emotional upheaval, I just want to be done with emotions. I turn my head to the side, avoiding his eyes.

"Did I ever tell you about the first time I ever saw you?"

I look back over at him, thinking about that first Hunger Games table read. Maria quietly delivers our food, and pats my shoulder before walking away.

"Miley and I had been having problems, and I was stressed out beyond belief." He begins, leaning back against the booth.

His former relationship with Miley is not a topic we often discuss. Despite what the media shoved down everyone's throats, we both knew that our relationship had begun after Liam officially called off their engagement. While I was willing to admit that I was part of the reason for that ending, I was in no way the home wrecker the press portrayed me as. I knew better than to go after someone in a committed relationship. After Miley's spiral however, Liam wanted, needed, a relationship where he had a partner, not someone he felt he had to look after.

"You lit up the room the moment you walked in." He continues, closing his eyes briefly as he allows the memories to come back to him.

"Jenn, you had, have, the most incredible smile and a contagious laugh. You came off as someone so sure of yourself. Not cocky, but confident. You weren't afraid to be yourself, and you certainly didn't pretend to be someone you weren't. I knew I loved you the moment I laid eyes on you, but I fought it for so long. My loyalty was to Miley, and despite all the shit we were going through, I knew she needed me."

I listen, my stomach doing flip flops. It's not often that Liam and I are serious with each other. Our relationship was built on jokes and inappropriateness. This was the first time I had ever heard him describe our first meeting from his perspective.

"I tried to help her." He sighs. "But she just kept pushing me away. Suddenly, we were fighting about everything it seemed like. Work, family, money, you. After someone accuses you of cheating, non stop, day in and day out, it almost makes you want to cheat just to shut them up."

He takes a moment to eat a bit, and have a few sips of his water.

"The stress of the relationship was wearing me thin. And every moment I spent with you, made me realize that my relationship with Miley was no longer healthy. Cause the truth is, I felt like I was a different person around you. I was relaxed, our chemistry was just effortless. I found myself truly happy when I was around you. And at the end of the day, when I laid in bed at night, I realized it was no longer Miley I wanted to be laying next to at night. It was you. It's always been you, it's always going to be you." He insists.

Reaching across the table, he takes my hands in his. "Jenn, I know what you're thinking. Stop putting so much pressure on yourself and let's just allow things to unfold naturally. You just adopted a child, completely unexpectedly, and dealt with nearly losing your father. That's a lot. It's been an emotional month. Let's go back to LA and just take things one day at a time.

"Okay." I say, breathing a sigh of relief.

Getting up out of the booth, I slide over into his side, curling my body into his. Liam kisses me on the forehead. "I love you, Jenn."

"I love you too, Bear."

Popping a French fry into my mouth, I smile.

"PS, I was totally serious about toilet papering Josh's house..."

It's two thirty in the morning when we make it back home. And as we make our way inside, it hits me like a car crash that this is the last time I'll be walking in thedoor, the last time coming home late, for who knows how long. The three week Kentucky vacation is coming to an end in a matter of hours.

While Liam sets up a movie for us to watch, I head upstairs to change into more comfortable clothes and check on Brielle.

A wave of guilt washes over me as I open her door and find her sleeping.

"You had no right."

The thought stops me dead in my tracks, and all at once, it becomes difficult to breathe.

I took this baby girl away from her mother. I, Jennifer Lawrence, took her away from the only life she had ever known. And now, just when she's starting to adjust, settle, and get comfortable, I'm about to turn her world upside down all over again. I'm about to rip her away from her family again.

For the first time since I laid eyes in her, the gravity of what I've done has fully hit me.

I know what I've done was the right thing. I know it in the deepest of my heart. This adoption was an act of love, the fight for her was an act of love. With the signing of a document, I changed this little girls life for the better. And deep in my heart, I know that everything will work out. But for the time being, I hurt for her. In a matter of hours, were about to go from constant family support to just her and I.

In a matter of hours, I officially become a single mother raising this child on my own.

I owed it to Brielle not to fuck this up.