Few days later Eve was in a hurry, just switching of her laptop.

„Excuse me? It’s five. Where are you going that early?“ Mateo complained half seriously, sitting at his desk opposite of her.

„I promised to cook Josh’s favorite dinner tonight. But I need to do some grocery shopping first.“

Mateo raised his eyebrows. 

„Josh’s favorite dinner, hm?“

Eve gave him an irritated look, while packing her bag. 

„What are you trying to say?“

„Nothing. It’s just, all I hear since you moved back into his house is Josh, Josh, Josh…“

„That’s not true.“

„Of course it’s true.“ Sarah said, just entering their office. 

Eve felt kind of caught.

„So what? We’re back together and I’m enjoying it. A lot.“ She tried to justify her behavior. 

Mateo and Sarah exchanged glances. 

„And what’s with the other guy in your life? What was his name again…? Matty, help me out, because I have trouble to remember…“

Mateo frowned, pretending to be in deep thoughts. 

„Jeremy… no… Jackson… no… I remember she calls him James sometimes… but this wasn’t his real name…“

„Justin! Justin fucking Timberlake it is, right?“ Sarah said cynically. 

„Ya… Justin it is… I didn’t hear that name for a while… please excuse me, Sarah…“ 

Eve watched the scene, feeling a bad conscience raising up. Both looked at her now, as she was a little girl who just stole some candy. 

„I love Justin. Nothing changed.“

Again Mateo and Sarah glanced at each other.

„Okay… if you say so…“ Mateo replied. 

„He’s very busy planning his tour and not around that often.“ Eve added. 

Sarah smiled smugly. 

„And how do you feel about Justin going on tour, not being around for months?“ 

Eve shrugged her shoulders. 

„It’s his job. I can’t change that fact.“

Mateo scoffed. 

„His promo tour took six weeks and you’ve been whining about it every day. But the real tour is not a problem?“ 

Eve suddenly turned upset. She stood up and grabbed her bag.

„You know what? I don’t have time for this.“ She said and left the office. 

When Eve arrived home, no one else was around. She slipped out of her heels and carried her shopping bags into the kitchen. Then she went upstairs to change into comfortable clothes. As she finally returned into the kitchen, she unpacked the groceries and begun filling a chicken with vegetables and herbs. 

Few minutes later she heard Josh with Jake entering the house.

„Look who’s already home.“ He said, coming into the kitchen, with the baby on his arm. 

Eve turned into their direction, smiling happily. 

„Hey boys, how was your day? Have you been in the park?“ 

„Yes. We’ve been feeding some ducks.“ Josh answered. 

He stopped standing next to her and gave her a gentle kiss. Jake reached his arms out for his mommy. 

„Sorry, sweetheart. My hands are messy.“ She said to her son and kissed his little head instead. 

Josh put Jake into his highchair and gave him a little snack. Then he returned to Eve and embraced her body tightly from behind, placing soft kisses at her neck. She enjoyed his attention and smiled. 

„I like it when you’re home early.“ He whispered in her ear.

„Mostly you like seeing me making food for you.“ She teased. 

He bit her neck playfully and made her giggle. 

„It’s the combination both.“ He confessed. 

„Will Justin make it or is he spending another night with his team?“ She wanted to know. 

„Guess he won’t be around for dinner. He said, they are reworking the whole concept.“

Eve sighed. Josh released her and leaned against the counter. He stole some vegetables, as she finished filling the chicken. 

„What’s wrong?“ He asked, seeing that she was having something on her mind.

„Matty and Sarah made some comments today.“

„Which comments?“

„That I’m just talking about you since we’re back together.“ 

Josh smiled all over his face, while chewing a carrot. 

„Can’t see the problem.“ 

„Me, neither. But they claim I’m neglecting Justin. I told them that he’s busy with his tour coordination but they continued blaming me.“ 

„Honestly spoken, that’s non of their business.“

„You’re right, but still it made me upset.“

„Why?“

„Because they made me feel like I’m not able keeping balance between you and him.“

Josh finished chewing and cupped her face with both hands.

„Baby, did T complain about how you deal with things?“

„No.“

„Then stop worrying.“ 

After having dinner together, Josh smiled self satisfied, leaning back into his chair.

„The chicken was delicious. Thank you, love.“ 

„I’m shocked we ate the whole animal by ourselves.“ Eve replied. 

„T can have the side dishes, when he comes home.“ Josh teased. 

Jake started whining, obviously being tired. 

„Let me bring you into bed, buddy.“ Josh said to his son.

„Nice try.“ Eve said, giving him a warning look. 

Then she stood up and took Jake on her arm. 

„I’m taking care for our baby. You take care for our kitchen.“ She added. 

Josh moaned, not liking the deal. But he knew he lost the game. Then he stood up to kiss his son goodnight. 

„Sleep well, tiger.“ 

When Eve returned downstairs, the kitchen and the dining room were tidy. Josh was waiting for her at the sofa and scrolling through their watchlist on Netflix. 

Eve let herself fall next to him. He put his arm around her and pulled her closer to his body.

„Good boy.“ She teased. 

„I hate cleaning the kitchen.“ 

„And I couldn’t care less.“ 

Again he bit her neck to make her giggle. 

„It’s unbelievable how lazy you are.“ She continued teasing. 

Josh put the remote control aside and made her lie under his body, still biting at her neck. She laughed hard, not being able to make him stop, as he was holding her arms above her head. 

„Josh! Enough! I’m almost peeing myself!“ 

He stopped teasing her slowly and released her arms. She put them around his neck, playing with his hair. 

„I took care for our son the whole day and you call me lazy?“ 

„You mean, hanging up with him at Starbucks, eating cake and feeding some ducks with your leftovers?“ She started teasing again. 

He smiled at her, but turned serious in the next moment.

„Honey, I would like to talk to you about Jake.“

„Okay, I’m listening.“ 

„Don’t you think this is the right moment stepping back from work? Before Jake was born, we agreed you staying at home for a while. What happened to that idea?“ 

„I needed my work to distract myself, when you’ve been in the hospital. It really helped me to go through all of this.“

„I understand, my love. But bringing a baby to the office is not right.“ 

I know it’s not the best solution. But it works. Sarah helps a lot and even Matty gives his best to be a good uncle.“

„But I’m back. And you don’t have to distract yourself from anything anymore.“ 

„I want to be honest, Josh. Being a housewife is not my thing. I love our boy with every cell of my body. But it’s not enough. I want more from life than just being a mom.“ 

He stroke some hair out of her face and kissed her forehead gently.

„I know you love what you do. You worked very hard for what you achieved and I’m very proud of you. But still, bringing Jake to work is not what I want for him.“ 

„Means?“ 

„I just started with some new projects, but I don’t have hard deadlines to keep. I can control my schedule easily, if I don’t sign too many new contracts.“

„Are you saying, you wanna take care for Jake?“

„I was thinking about bringing him to daycare for few hours in the morning to give me a chance to do some work. The rest of the day I would love to spend with him. I missed a lot and I really feel the urge to catch up.“

Eve caressed his face gently. 

„I love the idea, Josh.“

„Really?“ 

„Yes, really.“

He smiled and kissed her lips softly. She kissed him back and started grinning cheeky. 

„Does it also mean, you learn to cook and surprise me with a new dish every day?“ 

Josh gave her a stern look. 

„Hell will freeze before I learn to cook.“ 

„That makes you a lousy housewife.“ 

Again he kissed her lips, but this time a little deeper. 

„I’m gonna make things up to you differently…“

Justin arrived home short before midnight. The house was almost dark. Just the telly was lightening up the living room. He went inside and found Eve sleeping peacefully in Josh’s arm. Josh was asleep as well. Justin knew waking them up made no sense, as both were deep sleepers. Instead he switched off the telly and covered their bodies with a woolen blanket. 

Then he went upstairs and lurked into Jake’s nursery. As his parent’s, he was in a deep sleep. Justin kissed his little head carefully. Finally he went into the bathroom and took a long hot shower. 

Justin was too tired to feel frustrated about the fact, that he needed to sleep alone tonight. He let himself fall into bed, closed his exhausted eyes and slowly drifted away.