Your POV

"So....Sophie!" I tried to call out for her but was out of breath. Damn, I'm more out of shape than I thought, but a half a moment later, she was swiftly coming out of the kitchen. I stool there for a moment, leaning over to try to catch my breath.

"There you are!" She pulled me into a hug. "Is everything ok? You were gone for a while. We were getting worried."

"I'm good, but I need your help." For the first time in a while, I feel excited (in addition to my current exhaustion).

Sophie's POV

She told me that she wanted to do something, to show Tom how much he means to her.

"I hadn't thought up until recently how hard this is on him as well. I really should have talked to him about my doubts. He's the most understanding man I've ever met." I could see the pained look in her eyes as she spoke.

"I've got an idea. Do you trust me?" I couldn't help but smirk.

"I definitely do. What are you thinking?"

"Don't worry about it. It'll be a surprise for both of you." With that, I whipped out my phone and shot off a text to Emma.

Sophie: Is it ready?

Emma: I was just putting the finishing touches on it.

Sophie: Fantastic! I've got an idea.

Emma: I'm all ears!

"Why don't you go upstairs and get some rest? You've had an eventful day. I'll let you know once I've got it together?" It wasn't hard to tell she looked exhausted.

"I think that's probably a good idea. Maybe a hot bath as well."

"I think that's a good idea. I'll let Bobby out so you can relax."

With that, she trudged upstairs. Once I heard the bath running, I took my phone out into the backyard and called Emma, taking Bobby with me to do his business.

S: "She wants to do something for Tom but doesn't have any concrete ideas as to how. She feels just awful with how everything has happened.

E: "I can't blame her or Tom. It's an impossible situation. As hard as it's been on Tom, I can't imagine how hard it's been for her."

S: "I think that's what they've both finally realized. I kind of have an idea of something we could do for them."

E: "Oooooooo tell me!"

I told her what I was thinking. She had some fantastic input. About 25 minutes later, we had a mostly solid plan, and we both had calls to make in the morning to get the ball rolling.

Your POV:

The hot bath felt amazing. Between that and Sophie's help, I'm finally starting to feel better. Bobby came bounding up the stairs a few moments later. As I dried off, I thought back to the texts from Tom I hadn't looked at yet. Once I was ready for bed, I curled up with Bobby and got my phone out, taking my time to read each message from Tom.

Tom's POV

I couldn't get to the door fast enough, praying it was her, my love, my wife. It only took a moment to realize it was Ben? What was he doing back here? "What's going on? Did she not want Bobby? Is everything ok?"

He gestured to the living room. "Let's just sit down, shall we?" Well, that's ominous. Something must have happened for him to be back so soon.

"What's wrong? Why are you back so quickly? Is she ok? Where is she? How...."

He placed a hand over my mouth, effectively forcing me to shut up.

"Would you just shut up for a moment? Nothing has changed." He took his hand back, wiping it on his pants. "You really need a shower man."

I took a deep breath, feeling relieved. "She was beyond elated to see Bobby. We all thought it'd be good if you weren't alone with all this going on. You know, have someone here to talk to now that Bobby is at my house."

I was confused. "I'm sorry?" It wasn't until he said it that I realized he had a bag with him. "I'll just put this in the guest room," and with that he dropped his bag in the guest room closest to mine. "And I'm fairly sure Sophie will check in regularly to see how we're (you're) doing."

He moved over to the kitchen, seeing mostly takeaway boxes stacked up, some dishes sitting in the sink. Just an overall mess. He grabbed a trash bag and started gathering all of the takeaway boxes and various bottles before diving into the dishes, rinsing them before placing them in the dishwasher. After about 20 minutes, everything looked better. I had tried to help, but Ben insisted I stay on the couch saying I was a little too inebriated to really be of much help at the moment.

"Do you think you can take a shower without falling over?" I turned to look at him.

"I think I can manage."

"Good," he said. "Here. Take some paracetamol, get cleaned up, and get some rest." I followed his instructions as best I could.

I couldn't stop thinking about her as I showered, holding onto the wall as I started to cry again. I really fucked up and have no idea what to do at this point. After a few minutes, I shut off the shower, dried myself off (with some stumbling and falling (thankfully onto the bed). Once I was dry, I put on a pair of sleep pants and crawled into bed on her side, her scent still strong on her pillow.

As I laid there, I allowed myself to look at my messages to her one last time for the night, hoping for the best. I couldn't believe my eyes to find something had changed. They no longer said "delivered." They now said "read." It was the sign I had been waiting for. Perhaps everything would be ok.