One month. It had been one month since the surgery. Both Taylor and Joe were still hurt by the situation but Taylor took it even harder then Joe did. She stayed in her room most of the day, opting to do her work from there.
Joe opened the bedroom door, seeing Taylor sitting on the bed with a laptop on her lap. He approached the bed, sitting down next to her. "Hey," Joe said softly. "Ella was wondering if you could make your mac and cheese for dinner tonight."
Taylor turned to face him, looking straight into his tired blue eyes. "Maybe another night. Or tomorrow for lunch. I'm just busy right now."
He sighed, "You've been saying that everyday for the past week and a half."
"I know, I know," Taylor played with her hair. "It's just been busy lately."
"Anything I can do to help?" Joe glanced at her laptop screen. "What have you been up to lately?"
She shrugged, "Just stuff."
"Don't be too hard on yourself, take a break when you need," Joe brushed her bangs back, kissing her forehead. "Also, Ella wanted to go for a walk, are you coming?"
"In a little bit, maybe," Taylor turned back to her computer. Joe let out a long sigh, before standing up. Taylor looked back up at him, "What?"
"You're going to have to come out of here eventually," Joe said.
Taylor crossed her arms, playing dumb, "What do you mean?"
"You can't stay huddled up in this room until the end of time. I understand that it's hard for you. It's hard for me to! But you need to realize that the world isn't going to end, and you need to keep going."
This time Joe had hit a sore spot for Taylor. An angry look sprouted on her face, "You don't understand shit. You don't understand because you weren't in the position I was. You didn't have to go through the pain of carrying a baby for months, with only the thought that once the babies here it'll all be worth it as your only motivation. You didn't have that motivation stripped away from you in the blink of an eye. So no, you. Don't. Understand. Shit."
Joe was taken aback for a moment, not sure what to say. Speechless because he knew, in a way, she was right. He just shook his head, "I'm going to take Ella on the walk. Let me know whenever you're ready to be a mum again. Because Ella just misses her mum."
He made sure to add extra force as he closed the door on his way out. His expression softened as he saw Ella standing right outside the door, a stuffed elephant in her hand. "Hey there El, ready for that walk?" Joe asked, hoping she didn't hear the conversation between him and Taylor.
Ella nodded, holding up her stuffed elephant, "Can I bring TJ?"
"Sure," Joe held her hand, leading her towards the front door.
"Is mummy coming?" Ella asked, a sad look on her face as if she already knew the answer.
"Mum's a bit busy right now, she has lot's of work to do," Joe explained.
Ella didn't reply, just stared down at her shoes. Averting the conversation, Joe opened the front door and led her out to the sidewalk, "So where do you want to go today?"
"The park?" Ella asked hopefully.
After walking the short distance to the park, the began along the small trail, the trees providing them with shade. They walked in silence for a while, Ella occasionally pointing out one of the various squirrels that hid among the trees to TJ.
"Daddy?" Ella asked, looking up at the tall blonde man.
"Yes?"
Ella looked down at her shoes and stopped walking. "Are you and mum fighting again?"
