Page 1 of Falling Together

Chapter 1

Erin

Erin Corcoran sighed as she stared at the email once again with the price increase for the summer program at her son’s daycare. As if it wasn’t already expensive enough, they now expected her to pay an extra hundred dollars a week. And for what? A few days ofwater play? What waswater playanyway? Were they really expecting her to pay extra just because they were going to spray her son with a hose a few days a week?

When she sighed again, a small, but heavy, body plopped onto her lap. “Mommy, you okay?” her three-and-a-half-year-old son, Nolan, asked as he looked up at her with those big round, brown eyes that resembled her ex-wife’s a little too much.

She ran her hands through his dark brown hair, which was already getting a little lighter even though it was only the beginning of May. “I’m good, buddy.”

She tickled his sides to distract him from worrying about her. Even though he was young, he was still very intuitive, and she hated the thought of worrying him with her adult problems. He was too young and naive to realize the extent of her inner turmoil and she wanted to keep it that way.

He leaned his head back as he laughed. “Mommy, stop. I’m going to fell’ed off,” he said between giggles.

She stopped tickling him, gripped him tightly, and pulled him back up onto her lap. As soon as he had stopped giggling, he grabbed her face and licked her cheek. “I’m a cat now. Meow. Meow.”

Erin laughed in spite of the knot in her stomach. This little kitty cat might have way too much energy and oftentimes had her so tired that she wondered how she would get through another day, but she adored him more than anything in the world. Her life hadn’t been easy this past year, but she would let her heart get broken a million more times, because the person who had done the heart breaking had also given her the greatest gift in the world—the little boy sitting on her lap.

Even though it had been over a year since things ended, it still felt like a stab to Erin’s heart every time she thought about her ex, Bianca. Sheshouldbe over her by now, but how could she move on after everything they’d been through? It was almost what should have been their five-year wedding anniversary. In just a few months, it would be the ten-year anniversary of when they started dating. At least, it would have been, if Bianca hadn’t left Erin as if she were nothing.

The worst part was that Erin never saw it coming. From the time they met at a beach bar just a few weeks after graduating from college, they had been inseparable. When Bianca asked Erin to be her girlfriend two months later, Erin already had no doubt that she was the one. If she really studied their relationship (which she had about a million times), things started going downhill after Nolan was born. They both wanted kids, at least that was the impression Erin had. Sure, Bianca was never quite as excited about the prospect of having children as Erin had been. Thinking about their future family didn’t keep her up at night, but she seemed happy to contribute her eggs as long as Erin was the one to carry the baby (something she had always looked forward to anyway).

The first year felt like a fairytale to Erin and it really seemed like they were the perfect family, but looking back, she was living in a dream world. She was seeing what she wanted to see, not what was actually going on around her. Throughout that first year, Bianca became more and more distant. She chose friends over her family, and by the time Nolan was two, she sometimes disappeared for a week at a time. Erin let her have her space, because she figured that was what she needed. She would give Bianca time, and eventually she’d come back to Erin. She’d come back tothem. It’s not like they fought. But looking back, that was only because Bianca didn’t care enough to fight.

Exactly three months to the day after Nolan turned two, Bianca told Erin she was leaving.When will you be back?Erin had asked naively.

That was when Bianca said the words that finally broke her. “I’m not coming back. Thisisn’tthe life I wanted. I can’t do it anymore.”

Erin wanted to ask why Bianca had never told her that before. She wanted to beg Bianca to stay and tell her they’d find a way to make it work. But she didn’t, because what was the point of fighting for someone who wasn’t going to fight for you in return?

The first few months after Bianca left, it killed Erin when Nolan would ask, “Where Mama?”

Luckily, before long, his two-year-old brain forgot about her. Sometimes Erin wished she had the forgetfulness of a toddler so she didn’t have to think about Bianca either.

Her mind was brought back to the present moment by the feeling of teeth digging into her arm. She yanked it away from Nolan and glared at him to show that she didn’t appreciate his way of getting her attention.

“Kitty hungry,” Nolan said, grinning at her as if he was an angel, a look cute enough that it almost made her forget he had just bitten her.

“Well, kitty knows better than to bite someone.” Erin stood from her chair at the kitchen table and set Nolan back on the floor. “Get your shoes. It’s time to go to school.”

“Nooooo. I don’t want to go,” Nolan whined.

Erin rolled her eyes. It was the same fight every morning, yet every night when she picked him up, he told her he wasn’t ready to leave.Go figure.“You love school.”

“I love home more.” The way Nolan stuck out his bottom lip almost made Erin want to call in sick to work and stay home with him.

Almost.As much as Erin loved him, work was her chance to actually breathe for a few hours five days a week. “I know, baby, but Mommy has to work so I can buy you more toys.”

Nolan shot her a devilish grin before running off to grab his shoes. When he got back to her, he dropped the shoes on the ground and pointed to the left one. “This goes on this foot?” He pointed to his right foot.

“Almost.” Erin moved the shoes so they were sitting in front of the correct feet and Nolan dropped to the floor. She watched as he fought to get them on. “Can I help you?”

“No. I do it.”

Erin sighed as she looked at the clock. If he kept up this pace, she would be late for workagain.Her boss had been very understanding since the divorce, but Erin knew that leniency wouldn’t last forever. “I’ll make you a deal. You let me put your shoes on just this once and I’ll take you for ice cream after school.”

Nolan dropped the shoe he was fighting with as if it had just burned him. “Okay.”

Luckily, with the promise of ice cream, Nolan cooperated as she put his shoes on. He even walked to the car instead of insisting she carry him, which Erin was thankful for since he was getting way too heavy for her.

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