Free The Sweet Spot by Ariel Ellman

whispered, kissing Sebastian’s eyes and turning him around to press her face against his back. “You’re free now, and you’ll never lose me again.”
     
     

Chapter Seven
     
    “Nice clothes,” Sawyer commented when Ani showed up at her apartment to pick up Raffi.
    “Thanks,” Ani replied, refusing to rise to Sawyer’s bait. “Is Raffi ready to go?” Ani had sat in her car around the corner from Sebastian’s apartment reading Jordan’s texts before she drove over to Sawyer’s. He said he was coming home early so she wanted to get home before he did.
    “You’re welcome for today,” Sawyer said pointedly as Ani gathered up Raffi’s backpack and lunchbox.
    “Soy,” Ani sighed.
    “Let me guess, you just can’t talk about it?” Sawyer hissed at her sister as Raffi walked into the room. 
    “Soy,” Ani began.
    “I hope you know what you’re doing A,” Sawyer interrupted, turning away from her and walking out of the room.
    “Bye A unt Sawyer,” Raffi called as she followed her mother out of the apartment.
    “Bye sweet pea,” Sawyer called back to her niece, ignoring her sister as Ani walked out the door with Raffi. 
    “How was your day?” Ani asked her daughter as they settled into the car and drove home.
    “Fine,” Raffi replied, proceeding to tell her mother about a girl who got in trouble at school for copying her friend’s homework and all of the toppings that Aunt Sawyer had let her get on her pizza. “Did you get all of your errands done?” Raffi asked her mother.
    “Hmmm, yeah,” Ani replied, realizing that she had no idea what excuse Sawyer had given her daughter for her absence this afternoon.
    As soon as they got home, Ani ran upstairs to her bedroom and locked the door, peeling off Sebastian’s clothes and jumping into the shower in the master bathroom as the first tears fell.
    “Fuck,” she whispered, leaning her head against the tiled wall. “ Fuck, fuck, fuck,” she wept as she dried off and folded Sebastian’s clothes up and hid them on the back shelf of her closet.
    Jordan was bringing dinner home - her favorite pasta from the Italian restaurant near the hospital. Ani quickly blow-dried her hair and dressed for the third time that day, trading Sebastian’s jeans and t-shirt for a soft purple cashmere sweater dress. She swiped mascara over her wet lashes and lined her eyes with smoky blue eyeliner and a light dusting of sparkling green eye shadow. The effect was sexy but subtle, and Ani added a dark Italian leather belt and high-heeled suede boots to complete her outfit.
    “ Ani, sweetheart?” she heard Jordan call from downstairs, and she opened the door to her bedroom and took a deep breath before going downstairs to join her husband and daughter. “You look beautiful,” Jordan said, walking over to Ani and kissing her softly.
    “Thanks,” Ani whispered in reply, stepping away and walking over to the bag of food that Jordan had placed on the kitchen island. “Thanks for bringing dinner home, this looks great,” she smiled, taking the containers out of the bag and grabbing plates and silverware.
    “Can I go watch TV since I already ate with Aunt Sawyer?” Raffi asked, grabbing a cookie out of the jar on the counter.
    “Sure,” Ani replied, relieved to have Raffi out of the kitchen before she started talking about her day with Sawyer.
    “Raffi ate with Sawyer?” Jordan asked, raising his eyebrow as he opened up the containers and filled their plates.
    “Yeah, I had some stuff to do so Sawyer took Raffi home with her after school,” Ani murmured, twirling a forkful of pasta around on her plate.
    “Wine?” Jordan asked, pouring wine into a wine glass and setting it down in front of Ani.
    “Jordan,” Ani began, staring down at her food, unable to meet her husband’s eyes.
    “Ani,” he replied, mimicking her use of his name as he reached across the island and took her hand in his.
    “We need to talk about some stuff,” Ani whispered, still not