If you love something...

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It had been 12 months, 14 days, and a couple hours since she found another woman's clothes in Daveed's apartment.

Emmy knew this date exactly because it was the most humiliated she had ever been in her life. She'd just come back from a girl's trip to Europe. She and her friends had planned to do a whole tour during the month of February. The only downside was that she'd miss Valentine's Day, but her and Daveed never did much for it anyways. She'd be back two weeks after the day and they agreed to celebrate then. They agreed that it'd be fine. Or so she thought.

On the day she returned from the trip, her plane came earlier than expected so she decided to surprise him. What she hadn't expected was for Daveed to have already left for work for the day and for a skimpy crop top to be on his couch.

She ran out the second she caught her breath from the shock. Tears stained her face for days. She was hurt and betrayed like no other. The fact that they had just celebrated a 2 year anniversary before her trip made it all worse. 2 years quickly went down the drain and she hadn't spoken to him since.

Today, however, Jasmine's daughter was turning three. Daveed and Emmy were Jasmine's best friends so naturally they were Nora's godparents. To Emmy, Nora couldn't have a more unlucky birthday, but she'd never say that out loud.

Given the circumstances, Emmy skipped last year's party, but she didn't want to disappoint the little girl again. She figured at least one person should have a happy February 28th, even if it would mean seeing him again.

Emmy was pulling up to the party now. Jasmine's street was lined with cars, so she knew it would be a struggle to find a park. She ended up parallel parking in the cul de sac and crossing her fingers that her car would be there when she got back.

Gift in hand, she walked along the driveway to knock on the door covered in balloons and a birthday banner. She noticed one of the cars on her walk up, but she decided to ignore it for the time being. The princess of the day opened the door, gasping the second she saw who it was.

"Mommy, Emmy's here!" Nora squealed. She was wearing a purple tutu, a crown, and a wig from the Trolls movie, but she sure did look cute.

"Hi birthday girl," Emmy bent down to her level. Nora immediately put a smile on her face, and Emmy already couldn't imagine not being here for such a sweet girl.

"Can I get on your back?" Nora asked.

"Don't you want to carry in your gift?" Emmy asked in response. 

Nora shrugged. "You can carry it," she laughed at her own self. Nora quickly took advantage of Emmy's squatted position and climbed on her back before she could say no. "Go horsey go!"

"It's a good thing I love you, munchkin," Emmy shook her head and skipped off into the house. Nora giggled all the way through.

It was an abnormally chilly Los Angeles winter so mostly everyone had gathered inside. Emmy plopped Nora down on the couch with her friends and then moved to set the gift down. She looked all over for Jasmine but couldn't quite see her through the mass of adults and chaotic toddlers.

In the past few years, Jasmine had gained a lot of Mom friends, so Emmy was starting to know less and less people at these parties. She started sorting through the crowd, smiling and waving at the strangers. It wasn't until she got to the kitchen that she found Jasmine. She and some of the other Moms were setting up a spread of food. They seemed like they had an assembly line so Emmy kept going, trying to find a place at this party.

She moved into the bar Jasmine had set up, hoping that cradling a drink would make her feel less awkward. She felt so on guard and unlike herself and she knew exactly why.

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