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[Jasmine's POV] Early August, Finn calls with a request. "Can I take the girls this weekend? Just me, no Sienna. I want some quality time before the wedding." His voice carries something I can't quite name. Distance, maybe. Or grief. "Of course." I'm packing their bags even as we speak, but something feels off. "Everything okay?" "Yeah. Just want to spend time with my daughters." The emphasis on 'my' is slight but present. I approve the visit, but suspicion lingers as I fold clothes into small suitcases. Is this about the girls or about saying goodbye? To them? To me?

To what we were before I became someone else's wife? Finn's been distant since the engagement announcement. Not hostile, just... absent. Processing, he said. But what does that mean in practical terms? Drop-off at Finn's apartment Saturday morning. He's waiting outside, and the sight of him makes my breath catch. He looks exhausted, too thin, shadows under his eyes that weren't there a month ago. "You okay?" I ask as the girls run to him. "Yeah. Just busy." He hugs Chloe and Zoe like he's trying to memorize the feeling. "Studio's been crazy." "Finn-" "I'm fine, Jasmine.

Really." His smile doesn't reach his eyes. "Go enjoy your child-free weekend." Liam's waiting in the car, engine running. I hesitate on the sidewalk, watching Finn guide the girls inside. Something about his posture-defeated, heavy-makes my chest tight. "He'll be okay," Liam says when I slide into the passenger seat. "Will he?" I'm not convinced. That night, Finn's Instagram lights up my phone. Photos with the girls flood his feed-at the studio teaching them about mixing boards, making pizza together with flour everywhere, reading stories on his couch with both girls tucked under his arms.

The caption: "My whole heart." Comments flood in within minutes. Mostly positive-fans loving the daddy content, people gushing about how good he is with kids. But some cut deeper: "Where's their mom?" "Is he a single dad?" "Lucky guy getting full custody!" The ambiguity of our situation on full display. The world seeing what they want to see, making assumptions that aren't quite wrong but aren't quite right either. Sunday pickup, the girls are quiet. Subdued in ways that don't match a fun weekend with Daddy Finn. "Did you have fun?" I ask as I buckle them into car seats.

Zoe nods, but her eyes are wet. Chloe stares out the window, won't meet my gaze. Finn stands in his doorway watching us leave, and the expression on his face makes my throat close. Goodbye. He's saying goodbye. Once home, I'm barely through the door when Zoe breaks down crying. Full body sobs that shake her small frame, hiccupping gasps that mean she's been holding this in. "What's wrong, baby?" I drop to my knees, pull her close. "Daddy Finn was sad." The words come between sobs.

"He kept hugging us and saying he loved us like he was saying goodbye." My chest tightens with understanding I wish I didn't have. Finn said goodbye this weekend. Not permanently-he'll still be their father, still show up for visits and birthdays. But goodbye to the closeness, the primary role, the daily presence he never quite had but hoped for anyway. He's mourning what they were. What he'll never be. After the girls are finally asleep-bath, stories, extra cuddles-I call him. Liam gives me privacy, takes his laptop to the bedroom. "Zoe said you were sad this weekend." No preamble.

Just truth. Silence stretches long enough that I check if the call dropped. "Finn?" "I'm losing you." His voice is raw, broken. "All of you. To him. And I know it's right, I know you're happy, but fuck, Jasmine, it hurts." The pain in his voice makes my eyes burn. "You're not losing the girls." "But I'm losing you. The us that was. The version where we were building something together." He takes a shaky breath. "I loved you. I still love you. And I'm losing you." "Finn-" My voice cracks. "I know. I know it's selfish. I'm with Sienna, you're marrying Liam, we made our choices.

But that doesn't make it hurt less." He's crying now. I can hear it. "You were my person. For five years, you were my person. And now you're his." I'm crying too. Tears streaming down my face in the quiet house, mourning what we tried to build together. "You'll always be in my life. The girls' father, someone I care about-" "Just not like before." He finishes the thought. "No. Not like before." The honesty tastes like ash. We cry together over the phone. Grieving what was, accepting what is. The death of possibility, the closing of doors, the finality of my upcoming marriage.

"I'll be at the wedding," he says finally, voice thick. "I'll smile and celebrate and be supportive. But right now, I just need to grieve." "I understand." And I do. "You can grieve as long as you need." "But you're still marrying him in six weeks." "Yes." No hesitation. "I'm still marrying him." "Okay." He exhales shakily. "Okay. I'll learn to live with that." "Thank you. For understanding. For being honest." I wipe my face. "And thank you for this weekend with the girls. Even if it was sad, they needed it." "They're amazing kids." His voice softens.

"You raised them right." "We raised them right. All of us together." "Yeah." A pause. "We did something right, didn't we? Even if everything else was wrong?" "We did." I lean against the wall, exhausted. "Those girls are proof that love matters, even when the structure doesn't work." After we hang up, I find Liam in our bedroom. He opens his arms without question, and I collapse into them. "Finn's struggling," I say against his chest. "I know." His hand rubs circles on my back. "Give him time." "What if time doesn't help?

What if he's always going to be grieving what we were?" "Then he grieves. That's his process." Liam tilts my face up to meet his eyes. "But you can't stop living your life because he's processing loss. You chose me. He chose Sienna. The girls have stability. That's what matters." The logic is sound, but guilt lingers. "I'm hurting him by marrying you." "You'd hurt him more by marrying him out of guilt." His voice is firm. "He'll survive this. He's stronger than you think." "He looked so thin. So exhausted." "He's processing. Creating art from pain. It's what he does." Liam kisses my forehead.

"But you can't fix him, Jazz. You can only love him as the father of your children and move forward with your life." I know he's right. But knowing doesn't make the ache less sharp. That night, I dream of Finn standing in his doorway, waving goodbye. The girls running toward him while I watch from a distance. Him getting smaller and smaller until he disappears entirely. I wake gasping, reaching for Liam in the dark. "I'm here," he murmurs, pulling me close. "I'm right here." "I'm sorry." I don't know who I'm apologizing to-Liam for the nightmare, or Finn for choosing someone else.

"Don't be sorry." Liam's voice is steady, certain. "You're allowed to grieve what you're leaving behind while moving toward what you want." "What if I'm making a mistake?" The fear surfaces for the first time since the proposal. "What if choosing you means destroying Finn?" "Finn will survive." He holds me tighter. "And you're not responsible for his happiness. You're responsible for yours. And the girls'." The certainty in his voice grounds me. He's right. I've spent too many years trying to manage everyone else's emotions. Time to focus on my own.

But as I drift back to sleep, I can't shake Zoe's words: "He kept hugging us like he was saying goodbye." Because that's exactly what Finn did. Said goodbye to the version of us that lived in possibility. Said goodbye to hope of reunion, fantasy of second chances. Six weeks until the wedding. Six weeks until goodbye becomes permanent. And Finn's learning to live with that loss one painful day at a time. Virgin Dot Com