couch. The coffee stains spreading across the white linen didn't bother me nearly as much as the tense silence between us. My eyes kept flicking towards the clock on the wall. We'd been sitting there for twenty minutes, and she hadn't taken her coffee.

"Is this how you usually do things?" I leaned back, crossing my arms. "Act all serious, then disappear for two years, then show up with two kids and expect me to just roll over and accept everything?"

She scoffed, tossing a strand of hair behind her ear that had somehow escaped the silk chemise she was wearing. "You're making it sound so easy, but it's not. I missed you, Alex. I really did." Her voice dropped, the anger softening into something almost pitiful. "And the kids... what about them?"

I didn't answer right away. How could I? The last time I'd seen them, they'd been small enough to sit on my lap. Now, here they were, walking around like little adults with their own problems, their own mothers to deal with.