"You have to wear pants when you leave the house," I explain. "You can't just wear your underwear because it's hot or you like the pattern on it. It's a non-negotiable. You have to do it."

"But I don't want to wear pants."

"Sometimes we have to do things we don't like." I shrug.

Noah growls with frustration and pegs the dinosaur-printed pants over my head. I retrieve them from the floor and hand them straight back to him.

"Noah Rhodes put those pants on right now!" I shoot him a look as if to say I'm in charge, but from the way this situation is playing out, I'm very much not in control.

He looks me dead in the eye and crosses his arms.

"No."

I stare him down and say, "Yes."

He tips his nose into the air and shakes his head.

"If you have to wear pants to leave the house, then I'm not going."

I want to bash my head against the door and scream until my lungs burn, but I'm the adult here and I can't do that. Noah's never this irrational, so there must be something greater than not wanting to wear pants.

Once I've taken a few deep breaths, I take a seat on the bedroom floor.

"What's wrong?"

Noah's silent.

"Are you upset because you're going to your Daddy's house?"

His head drops and that's how I know I've struck a cord.

"Come and tell me why you don't want to go to Daddy's house." I open my arms and Noah curls up in my lap and rests his head against my chest. He peers up with his round sunflower, hazel eyes and I melt.

"Because I want to stay home with you." He pouts.

I run my fingers through his soft brown hair, then stroke his cheek.

"Daddy's very excited to see you, though. You're going swimming in the big pool and having ice cream. Doesn't that sound like lots of fun?"

"Can you come as well?" His eyes sparkle with hope.

"No baby, I can't come."

"Why?" He frowns.

I'm stumped by his question because he's never asked to hang out together before. When he was younger, I was invited to all of Craig's family events but now Noah's getting older, the invitation is just for him and I suppose that's confusing.

Craig and I aren't good for each other, but he doesn't know that yet.

"Daddy wants to spend time with you." I poke his nose. "Like how we have our fun days together, with just you and me."

"Can it just be you and me forever?"

I kiss his forehead and squish him closer.

"Oh baby, I wish. One day you're going to grow up and maybe get married."

"Get married?" He gasps.

"Or not." I chuckle. "No matter what happens, where you go, what you do, I'll always be here for you, Noah. Always remember that."

"I love you, Mummy."

"How about we have yummy snacks and watch a movie tonight? Just you and me."

"What snacks?"

"What do you want?"

He ponders for a second, then his brown eyes light up with excitement.

"Ice cream."

"More ice cream?" I gasp.

"More ice cream." He squeals with delight.

"If you really want to have more ice cream, we can do that." I chuckle. "Now can you please pick some pants so we can go?"

"Okay." He nods.

I kiss his forehead and he bounds to the drawer and selects a pair of blue PJ pants. The ocean-themed PJ pants don't suit the dinosaur t-shirt.

"What about the dinosaur ones? It matches your t-shirt."

"No." He frowns.

I let out a sigh and nod.

"Fine, wear those pants then." I don't have the energy to fight him and we're running late.

Noah jumps up and throws the pants into the air. Once they fall onto the floor, Noah plonks down and puts them on. I pack a couple of pairs in his backpack in case he wants to change later.

There's some things not worth fighting about.

* * * * *

Noah races up the driveway and bangs on the door. I cringe at the noise it emits but Craig doesn't seem phased when he answers the door. Noah jumps at Craig's feet before he swings him up for a cuddle. He points to the pants and raises an eyebrow.

"Are you wearing PJ pants?" He frowns.

"Yes," he shouts. "Mummy let me wear PJs."

I stand a few feet away from them and cross my arms.

"Noah was refusing to wear pants, so this was the best I could do. If you can somehow convince him to wear something else, there are different pants in the backpack."

He reaches out to me and I take Noah from Craig. I kiss his cheek and squeeze him extra tight.

"Promise me you'll be on your best behaviour." I hold my pink finger out and Noah reluctantly shakes it.

"Mum said we're having ice cream and going swimming."

Craig frowns and looks at me, which makes me want to scream.

"We're going to the park to have a picnic with your cousins."

Noah's face drops and the waterworks brew.

"We can get ice cream at the park."

"Yay."

I put him down and he runs into the house, leaving us alone.

"Why did you promise those things?"

"Because you usually just swim and have ice cream at home. If it's an issue, just tell him we'll get ice cream on the way home. If you're going somewhere, you should really tell me."

"Don't you trust me with our son?" Craig crosses his arms and frowns. His hazel eyes are almost the same shade as Noah's and once upon a time, they used to make me melt as well.

"If I didn't trust you, I wouldn't be dropping him off."

"You don't tell me about every outing you take Noah on."

"If you'd like to know what your child does, you're more than welcome to pick up a phone and call or message me. I'm happy to give you a breakdown about his whereabouts."

Craigh shuffles on his feet and shakes his head.

"Why do you do this?"

"What, Craig?"

"Turn everything into a fight."

The urge to scream until my lungs burn creeps up, but I contain it.

"It's been a morning." I sigh. "Call if you need me and I'll come straight back."

"Are you sure you're free to drop everything?" His eyes trail the length of my body, and it makes my insides squirm. I picked something casual and a light touch of makeup, not too much so Noah wouldn't notice. Apparently, Craig has.

"I would move mountains for that child."

"Except you couldn't get him into a pair of pants."

"I said I would move mountains, not tackle tantrums." I turn around and leave before things get worse. Craig has no idea what he's talking about. He gets to be the fun parent who takes him swimming and has ice cream, I'm the horrible one that tells him he has to wear pants and go to bed.

I jump into the car and see the time.

"Crap, I'm going to be late."

I text Daniel before hitting the road.

* * * * *

Daniel's hanging outside the Ice Skating arena when I arrive. I run into his arms and he pulls me against his chest. I take a deep breath and I'm intoxicated by his musky cologne.

"I'm so sorry." He rubs my lower back. "Noah didn't want to wear his pants and Craig complained about it and got stuck into it. He's so frustrating."

I rub my face and he grabs my arms and pulls me in for another hug. It's tighter and comfier. When we pull apart, he cups my face and pecks my lips.

"It's okay."

"Are you sure?" I frown.

"Yes." He chuckles.

"I feel so bad."

"Don't feel bad, things happen." He shrugs.

"Why are you being so understanding?" I peer up and poke his stomach.

"Do you want me to be angry?" He raises an eyebrow. "It seems irrational that someone would be annoyed that you're late over things you couldn't control."

"You're right."

Craig was always so irrational about things, that now rational things sound irrational. Daniel is so sweet and perfect, it's refreshing and hopeful.

"Are you feeling better?"

Guilt still lines my stomach but I nod.

"Now let's get started with our date." He takes my hand and laces his fingers through mine. Daniel leads me into the ice skating arena and we go to the counter to pay for admission and hire skates.

We take our skates and head to the benches lining the ice. There's only a few people mucking about on the ice, so we slide our belongings under the bench and change into the skates. Daniel helps me lace them up tighter, then leads me to the ice.

Daniel's a natural on the ice, while I hesitate by the gate and watch him. He swirls around before coming back to me, a bright smile on his face. He holds his hand out and I place one foot on the ice to test the waters. I take his hand and set my other foot on the ice.

"See, it's not that scary."

I roll my eyes because it's still scary to me.

He lets go to skate further away and I struggle to keep up. My legs go too wide and my balance is so wobbly I'm surprised I haven't crashed into the ice.

"Just loosen up and glide." He smiles, demonstrating how effortlessly it's like for him.

"Loosen up?" I chuckle. "I don't know how to do that."

"Take a deep breath and move one foot after the other."

Daniel takes my hand and I follow his instructions. One foot after the other, deep breaths and attempted gliding. We make it around the arena once before Daniel lets go and skate a little further in front of me. He's close enough that he can reach me if something goes wrong.

"For someone who doesn't know how to ice skate, you're suspiciously good at this."

"I used to rollerblade when I was a kid, so it's kind of the same thing." He shrugs.

I attempt to skate a little faster to keep up, but I lean too far forward and stagger. I panic, which causes my arms to flutter and results in me nose-diving. Daniel's arms grab my waist and I spin around and come face-to-face with him.

His blue eyes sparkle and my heart soars.

"I did say I would catch you when you fall." He winks.

He pulls me upright and tugs me closer to his chest. I loop my arms around his neck and tangle my fingers through his blonde hair.

"Thank you for saving me."

Daniel plants his lips on mine and I gently move mine to the rhymes of his. I tug on his hair and he nibbles on my lip. His tongue slides across mine and i moan.

Somebody skates past and we jump backward. Daniel hooks his arm around my waist and pulls me back, so I'm safe against his side.

"Should we grab something to eat and have another crack at this after?"

"Sure, sounds good." I nod.

Daniel helps me off the ice and we sit on the bench. I grab my phone and there's several missed calls from Craig. My heart drops, then it kicks into panic mode.

"Oh my god." I gasp.

Tears brim at the corner of my eyes as I hit the call button. I take a shaky breath and lean my elbows against my knees. I place my head in my hand and stroke my forehead. It rings a couple of times, then Craig answers the phone with Noah screaming in the background.

"What's wrong? Is he hurt?"

"Noah's fine. He's just demanding to go home. I tried to get ice cream but whatever I offer doesn't work. He just wants you."

"I'm on my way."

I end the call and immediately yank at the boots to get the off.

"What's wrong?"

"I need to pick Noah up, he's not happy at his father's. I'm so sorry to cut our date so short."

Daniel grabs my shoulders and looks me in the eyes.

"You can't get in the car and drive in this state. Just take a deep breath. Noah's alright."

"But."

"Not buts."

We take a breath together but it doesn't do much to soothe my worry. I just need Noah in my arms and then everything will be okay. Daniel helps me undo the laces on my other boot so I can get them off quicker.

"We could grab ice cream together?" Daniel suggests with a smile.

"I don't know if that's a good idea. Noah's been in a cranky mood since he woke up. I'll take him home and settle him."

"Okay, sure, that's a good idea."

"Thank you so much for this date. I had some fun while we were on the ice."

"Let's catch up again soon."

"Of course."

I kiss his cheek before racing off.

* * * * *

Noah runs straight into my arms with a force that knocks me flat on my butt. I squeeze him tightly to my chest, and that's when the tight, uneasy feeling in my chest washes away like waves lapping at a beach shore. Noah clings to me like a koala as I get up off the floor.

Craig's not impressed, but what am I supposed to do? I can't force him to come, just as I can't force him to wear pants outside the house.

I stroke his brown hair and kiss his cheek.

"What happened? Why were you so sad?"

"I missed you."

"I'm right here, baby."

I glance at Craig who's hunched forward with his arms crossed. It's a stance he always seems to have when we're together. Sometimes it's hard to believe we used to make each other happy.

"What happened?" I ask.

"I honestly have no idea." He scratches the back of his head. "He was fine and then he wasn't. I tried calling you but you didn't answer."

"How about we go home and have ice cream."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?"

I kiss Noah's forehead and head to the front door. There's no way I'd let him tell me how to parent Noah, especially since he's made a point about being so casual about parenting. I don't bother to wave goodbye, I just strap Noah into his car seat and head home. I think we both desperately need some ice cream after today's events.

When we get home, Noah runs to the freezer to get the ice cream while I grab the bowls from the cupboard. We sit on the couch and Noah dives into the chocolate ice cream. Noah got his eyes from Craig, but he certainly got his sweet tooth from me.

"Did you just miss me or did something else upset you at Daddy's house?"

"Daddy asked if you were going on a date."

"Oh." I frown. "Why would you be upset if Mummy went on a date?"

"It's just going to be you and me forever."

"I love you no matter what, remember?"

He smiles at me, and some chocolate ice cream dribbles down his chin.

If this is his reaction to the idea of me dating, how will he cope with me telling him I'm seeing someone? What if this isn't a good idea?

I shovel more chocolate ice cream into my mouth because the idea of losing Daniel and upsetting Noah crushes me. 

* * * * *

Which cover do you like more because I can't decide!! Please let me know in the comments :)