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the problem is that you’re thinking only about yourself.”
    Seth glanced up, as if he were surprised.
    It told her something.
    “You haven’t even thought about how difficult these last weeks have been on us . I know how hard you were working and how stressed and overwhelmed you were. But you weren’t the only one who had a hard time. Your daughters had to spend a month without you, at an age where that kind of thing really has consequences. A couple of nights ago Anna was afraid that she didn’t even remember what you looked like.”
    Seth’s mouth dropped open slightly. “She what ?”
    “And Mackenzie…” Erin had to swallow before she finished her sentence. “Mackenzie—who adores you more than anything in the world—actually told me that she hated you.”
    She couldn’t look at Seth after she said that. Knew what she’d see in his face, and couldn’t stand to witness it.
    There was a long unbearable silence before he rasped, “Why?”
    “Because you kept promising you’d come back but never did.” Erin pushed her hair back impatiently from her face. “Did you even think about what that would do to them? To have their father keep breaking his promises to them?”
    “But—”
    “I know you didn’t do it on purpose. I explained it as much as I could. But I also had to comfort them when they kept crying about it.”
    Seth turned on his heel and started striding out of the room.
    “Seth,” Erin demanded loudly. “Where are you going?”
    “I’m going to apologize. To make sure they know—”
    This time, Erin hurried over and grabbed him by the arm. “No. They’re asleep. If you wake them up now, you’ll just confuse them.” He seemed to resist, to still try to pull away, but Erin hung on resiliently. “You can talk to them in the morning. Mackenzie doesn’t really hate you. You know that as well as I do. But do you realize how much she had to be hurting for her to say that…about you ?”
    Of course, Seth realized it. The knowledge had almost leveled him. His face and posture were still composed, but the coiled tension was so tight in his body that she was afraid he might shatter.
    “I see your point,” he said at last, roughly and still not fully meeting her eyes. “I wasn’t looking at the whole picture. I figured they’d miss me some, but I didn’t think it would…” He shook his head jerkily. “I was just expecting you all to be waiting for me, without thinking about what the waiting might do to the girls. I was foolish. I made a mistake. I won't do it again. But that doesn’t explain why you’re still packing.”
    And this was perhaps the hardest thing of all. She dropped her arms to her sides. Turned back toward her open suitcase on the bed. “Because the girls aren’t the only ones who've been hurt.”
    Seth was perfectly still for a long, pregnant moment. Then, “Erin.” The word was a thick caress, and he took the two steps over until he could pull her into his arms. “Erin, baby, I’m so sorry. You know how much I love you. That’s never going to change.”
    She was shaking, and she felt so safe and secure in his’s arms that it took all the strength she possessed to pull out of his embrace. “I know,” she choked, the emotional pressure in her chest pushing her into tears at last.
    Eventually, strong emotion always did.
    Wiping her eyes in exasperation, she continued, “I know you love me. That’s not the point. This isn’t just one incident. It’s not just the last month. You’ve been prioritizing work over family more and more for the last year. It’s getting worse, not better. And I’m…I’m getting lost. I need to get away in order to find my way again.”
    “Erin.” Seth seemed to be actively holding himself back from touching her, now that she'd pulled away from him. “I messed up. I can see that. But how is leaving going to help? How can I change if you’re not here?”
    Her eyes burned as painfully as her throat now. In another minute