“Daddy!” Arrianna went screaming racing across Rhonda's living room and into AJ's arms. She gave him a big hug and kiss and proceeded to bury herself against him. My heart broke at the sight of her, she missed him so much.
“Hi,” he said politely walking towards me and into the living room.
“Hi,” I said back. “Is Howie with you?”
He gave me a strange look. “No why would Howie be with me?” he asked.
“I don't know…he's late and well when we couldn't get a hold of both of you we just figured the two of you might be together,” I stumbled looking for the right words to say. It seemed awkward to be standing here trying to make small talk with my husband.
“Well he's not with me, I thought he'd be here already.”
“Oh.” There was another awkward silence between us before he said, “So where's Tyler?”
“He's upstairs asleep, but he should be getting up from his nap soon.”
“Good, I think I'll just go upstairs and look in on him.”
I wanted to say so much to him at that moment, so much I needed him to know. “Ok.” Was all I could manage. I looked away not being able to stand the void in his eyes as he looked at me. AJ walked out of the room and up the stairs. I watched until he disappeared.

“Is he here yet?!” Rhonda asked pulling me aside so the children didn't here.
“No, not yet,” I answered.
“But I thought I saw you talking to AJ.”
“You did but Howie wasn't with him.”
“The fucker! I can't believe he would do this to his own kids! They're ready to open up their presents and he's no where to be seen.”
“Honey, calm down you can't let the kids see how upset you are.''
It was at that moment that Nikki and Jacob wandered in and ran to look out the window by the door. Jacob turned around to look at Rhonda. “Where Daddy?” he asked.
Rhonda took a deep breath to calm down. “Daddy will be here in just a little bit, why don't you guys go find Nick and tell him it's time to open your presents.” With the thought of presents Jacob and Nikki toddled of to find Nick.

“Ok kids does anyone want some ice cream and cake?” Rhonda asked. The answer came as a rush of kids made their way to the dining room.
I laughed “I guess that was a yes.” I looked around to make sure that none of the kids were left behind when I spotted Nikki on the back of the couch standing on her tippy toes trying to look out the window. I walked over beside her. “Hey bug, don't you want ice cream?”
“Where daddy?” she asked her big brown eyes looking so sad.
I looked over to Rhonda who just turned away not being able to look into her daughter's sad eyes and explain the reason why her father wasn't there. “You're daddy will be here, don't worry,” I said picking her up off the couch and hoping I wasn't telling this innocent girl a lie. “Why don't we go get you some cake and ice cream,” I said as I started walking with her in the direction of the dining room. As I past by AJ I couldn't look him in the eye, how could I tell him that I never wanted our kids to have to go through this.

I was almost through the foyer and into the dining room when the door opened and Howie walked in.
“Daddy!” Nikki squealed and tried to squirm out of my arms and into his. I could tell by the look on Rhonda's face this wasn't a place where a one year old should be at the moment. I turned around and handed Nikki over to Leighanne, who taking in the scene, took the screaming Nikki out of the room.

“I can't believe you!” Rhonda said in a low growl to Howie. “I can't believe you would fucking do this!”
“What?” Howie snapped back at her. “What did I do? You asked me over for the kids birthday party and I'm here.”
“Two fucking hours late! This is the last straw Howie, I 'm not gonna sit around and watch as my children wonder why their father doesn't care enough to be on time for their birthday! I don't care if you treat me like shit, but you're not going to treat them like it!”
“What do you care if I'm here or not?” Howie asked his voice rising in anger. “You've got Nick here, isn't that who you've wanted all along? Don't blame all of this not working out on me. You're heart was never into it, not after you fucked blondie over there!”
“I have NEVER slept with Nick! I was never unfaithful to our relationship…not once! It's too bad not everyone involved in that relationship can say the same!”
“Yeah,” Nick chimed in defending himself “I never slept with her, we've only kissed once!”
“Yeah,” AJ jumped in on Howie's side “just like you only fucking kissed my wife!”
“Well I would have never have kissed him if you hadn't kissed Amanda,” I yelled throwing it right back at him. For the next few minutes no sound was recognizable except for that of all five of us in the hallway arguing. Everyone was trying to be heard above everyone else and no one was listening to anybody.

In the middle of telling AJ exactly where he could go I caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of my eye. I turned to look. There were all of the kids from the party staring at us…watching us fight. In the midst of the crowd I saw my daughter, mouth wide open and a tear sliding down her cheek. I couldn't take that sight. I turned and shocking everybody ran out the door.

Rhonda's View

The shock of Amber rushing out the door stopped everyone from fighting. I glanced around to see what had made her react like that. I saw it, there in the doorway were all of our kids watching their parents fight. And right behind them were the rest of the grown-ups their reactions mirroring the children's.

Kevin made his way through the children and over to AJ. “Go get her!”
“Why should I? She doesn't want me out there,” AJ answered.
“Because you still love her,” I said walking over and pushing him roughly towards the door. “We all can see that. Just like we can all see that she still loves you.”
“I don't know…” AJ said hesitantly planting his feet in the floor.
“J,” Howie said coming over and looking AJ in the eyes. “This could be your last chance to fix things with her,” he glanced at Rhonda, “Don't blow it.”