Who's Crying Now, Ex-Husband?

"Don't touch my mom!"

Forrest raised his brows. This kid-unbelievable. Use him and ditch him the second he's no longer needed. Cunning little rascal.

"Adrian!" Mila's tone sharpened as soon as she saw Adrian talk back. "Mr. Whitmore stayed with you so late and even protected you-what kind of attitude is that?"

"He didn't, he—" Adrian started to shout back, but before he could finish, he felt a gentle weight settle on his head. He looked up to see Mr. Whitmore smiling down at him, warm and unbothered. "It's alright, really," Forrest said. "Kids will be kids. Adrian's just been anxious to find you. Let's go home for now. Next time, if you'd like, I'll show you more photos of your mom from back in the day. How does that sound?"

Adrian glared at him, jaw set tight, but didn't say another word.

Mila paused, caught off guard. "Photos?"

"Pictures from our college trips," Forrest explained, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "There are a few with you in them as well. I kept all of them. If you're interested, I can show you next time."

His tone was so casual-almost matter-of-fact that Mila couldn't find any reason to object. They had, after all, taken plenty of photos together during those years— weekend getaways, city adventures, spur-of-the-moment road trips. Most of the time, it was Forrest who brought a camera along. It made sense he'd have backups.

"Mom," Adrian whined, clearly annoyed to see his mom chatting so happily with the weirdly friendly Mr. Whitmore. He tugged insistently at Mila's hand. "I want to go home! I want to go home! I want to go home!"

"Alright, alright. We're going," Mila soothed him, then turned to Nathaniel, who had just caught up. "I'm taking Adrian home. As for Julian, we'll talk once I've sorted things out."

only a second,

a distance, he'd watched Mila and Forrest standing close, speaking quietly to the child between them-so at ease, so natural, that

sense of displacement stopped him from coming closer. It wasn't until Mila looked his way that he snapped out of it and managed to answer. He had never seriously considered stopping her. After all, keeping someone

at Forrest, lingering by Mila's side, then couldn't help but ask, "Would

She didn't step inside, didn't even ask if Adrian had left anything behind just

get home. There were things

at Nathaniel's slightly dejected figure with a mild, indifferent arch of his brow, then quickly caught

could rattle the windows, no more sounds of things being

disappear into the night before finally heading back inside. He paused in

had she

of conversation, she'd gone to rest in Sophia's room,

now emerging.

are you doing up there?" Nathaniel called,

regarded

brilliant and charming, talented

looked up to. Lately, though, Nathaniel found her increasingly hard to understand. Meddling in someone else's marriage was bad enough, but the way she'd spoken to

was no warmth in