Free Bittersweet by Noelle Adams

done.”
    “I
do.”
    He
told her it would take a couple of hours, and Zoe resigned herself to the long
wait—pleased that at least she hadn’t let herself be taken advantage of.
    It
was nice not to feel quite so helpless.
    Although
it would be nicer if Josh was still around.
    “When
you get old enough,” Zoe said, trying to keep Logan from pulling on her hair,
“You’re definitely going to learn about car maintenance. And then maybe you can
teach your mommy.”
    “Momma,”
Logan said with a smile, as if pleased at the sound of the word.
    “Yes,”
Zoe said, leaning forward to kiss his cheek. “That’s right. You’ll have to
teach your momma.”
    *
* *
    The following
day, around dinner time, Zoe finally made it home again.
    She’d
spent the night with Nora and her family, since she hadn’t arrived until
mid-afternoon. It was nice to see her friend and meet her husband and their
four children.
    But
Zoe was relieved to be home.
    She
was exhausted, not having been able to get much sleep the night before, and she
was stiff from driving. Not only was she out of practice in driving in general,
but she was always tense when driving the SUV, since it never seemed to fit
properly into a lane.
    “Maybe
I’ll have to sell the monster,” Zoe said to Logan, whom she’d put on the floor
so he could have some physical activity after being stuck in his car seat for
so long.
    Logan
babbled a reply, repeating “Momma” a couple of times. He released a delighted
exclamation when she put his Wheely Bug on the ground. He immediately began to
push it around.
    She
sent Adam a text message that simply said, “I’m home,” since he’d asked her to
let him know she’d made it back. Then, before she started to fix dinner, she
turned on a cable news channel so the apartment wouldn’t feel so silent.  Nora’s
place had been constantly loud and active—with so many kids of different ages.
    They
were very happy with their small-town life and big family, and Zoe was happy
for them, but the visit had been hard in a way she hadn’t expected.
    Every
time she’d seen Nora’s husband play with the kids, hold the new baby, or help Nora
out, it reminded Zoe that Josh would never be there to do the same thing with
her.
    And
it hurt. Even after more than four months, it still hurt that she would never
be able to have those experiences with Josh.
    Zoe
wanted to talk to someone. She wanted to call Adam. She felt alone and blah and
like she could very easily start to feel sorry for herself.
    And
she really didn’t want to do that.
    But
she was trying to do better about not depending on Adam unnecessarily. Plus, it
was Saturday night, so he more than likely had a date.
    She
knew he’d found someone to go to the ballet with him the night before.
    So
she didn’t let herself call. Instead, she fixed a salad and warmed up some of
the soup she’d made a couple of days ago. She cut an avocado for Logan—since that
was his new favorite food, and she put a few slices in a plate with some puffed
baby crackers.
    She’d
taken Logan’s hands to help him walk over to the table for supper when the
phone rang.
    She
saw it was the doorman before she picked up, but she was still surprised when
he told her that Mr. Peterson was downstairs, wanting to come up.
    Feeling
off-stride and confused, Zoe told the doorman to let him up and then held
Logan’s hands as he walked—too quickly for good balance—toward the front door.
    She’d
opened the door just as Adam was approaching down the hall.
    “Hey,”
she said, “What are you doing here?”
    “You
said you were home,” Adam replied, as if that answered her question. He was
dressed casually, in a camp shirt and khakis. “Hi Logan.” Although his tone
didn’t change as he spoke to his ten-month-old nephew, his lips did quirk up in
a smile.
    “Lala!”
Logan exclaimed, dropping his mother’s hands in his excitement and promptly
falling down, since he could only walk when she held his hands.