But there were planes to catch, and bills to pay

 

Tammy was happy to be at the Easter celebration with Alfie and Zoey. It was a pleasant surprise when they asked her to come to the cookout. Truly, she thought she would be an outsider with Naoki. Of course, he was more of an old grumpy husband than a son.

He'd have none of it. He didn't like being in the sun, among other things. But it was sublime as long as she was in the kitchen with Zoey and all her friends. She got to hold a baby. It was a friend of Zoey and Alfie's. The couple had adopted a newborn. It was possibly the best part of Easter for her. She smiled into tears, thinking of what was to come. She didn't want to miss a minute of it. And there was Boone and Maddie to think about, too. Oh, this was what she'd missed out on.

"Why didn't you hold the baby?" Tammy asked Naoki on the way home.

"It's just not my thing," He was sullen, looking out the window as if she'd put him through hell.

"Of course, it isn't." She began to pout. It was then she told him she was getting her own place. He could just stay at the high-rise.

"What?" Naoki snapped.

"I want to be closer to Alfie." She'd decided.

"Are you for real?" He squinted back as if it were the biggest mistake of her life.

"What are you going to do, just live down the hall from them?" Now he was in a pout.

"No, there are some little houses around here," Tammy noticed in the old town area. Besides, maybe it was best to be in a house to make a home.

"No, you wouldn't?" He looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "You can't."

"You need to be on your own," she told him. "I've held you back far too long."

Of course, when she said it. Maybe it was him holding her back.