This morning around nine, he showed up at my place, asking if I wanted to go get breakfast, and on our way home, he asked if I wanted to come up to his place to watch the show we started the other evening. Since I didn’t have plans and I really wanted to spend time with him, I agreed, so we picked up PJ and came up to his place. Into the fourth episode, he asked if I’d mind if he worked a little, and I said no, so he brought over a file and started reading through it while I lounged and watched the show—not exactly leaning into him… but also kind of leaning into him.

At some point, I must have fallen asleep and was so out of it that he was able to adjust me and place my head on his thigh without waking me up. I’m not sure what to think about him maneuvering me into this position, when he could have just tucked the pillow I was using under my head. It’s the same way I’m not sure what to think about him leaving me last night—with a soft touch of his fingers to my jaw and a kiss to my forehead.

I don’t want to read into things.

I shouldn’t read into things.

But it’s difficult not to think about what it might be like to be with him, to wonder if this could be the start of something more than us just becoming friends so that we can co-parent our child.

When my phone beeps three times in a row on the coffee table, I reluctantly sit up and reach for it while I push my hair out of my face. Seeing that it’s a string of messages from Matthew, I drop it back to where it was and turn to look over at Dayton. With his glasses on and his hair a mess, he looks like a sexy professor who has broken a million hearts.

“Everything okay?”

“It’s just Matthew,” I tell him, and he glares at my phone like if he could blow it up with just a look, then he would.

“What happened between you two?”

“Do you mean, why did we end up divorced?” I ask, and he nods.

“I couldn’t fake it anymore.” I drag my fingers through my hair as I lean back against the couch.

“Fake it?”

“Fake being happy… fake being in love… fake liking the person he had become or the person I was when I was with him.” I smile when PJ gets up and wanders over the top of Dayton’s lap to come to me. “We both changed.” I meet his intense gaze as I shift my fingers through PJ’s fur.