Learning to love again

Chapter 4

Distraught, she eventually got home near one o'clock in the morning and jumped in surprise at the sight of Trevor.

How could she forget he was here?

"Trevor, you scared me!" she said breathlessly placing her hand on her racing heart.

"Sorry I didn't mean to," he said softly frowning in worry at the sight of her.

"No, I'm sorry. How could I forget you're here? I'm such a mess I'm sorry. I kept you late and I'm causing you trouble. I-"

"Stop." he cut in make tense and go rigid. "You don't need to apologise so much; I'm not being forced to do anything I volunteered. So just relax," he reassured helping her relax.

"Right, I'm sorry," she said before realising her mistake. "I'm- it's a bad habit," she admitted catching herself before she apologised again.

"I noticed, sit down," he said gently sliding closer to the other side of the sofa.

Without argument, she sat at the other end and sighed.

"You know if you need to talk, I'm willing to listen. I know it can help to talk when things are rough," he said itching to just hug her.

She looked like the definition of defeated and tired.

"Thanks, but I'm fine," she said smiling weakly.

"Alright, I'll be heading out then," he said not convinced.

"Right, I'm sorry for keeping you so late," she said apologetically.

"No problem, you should sleep too, you look tired," he said standing.

"Yeah, I have an early shift tomorrow."

"How early?" he asked concerned.

"Six in the morning, but I'll be late because I got to get Peter to day-care." she sighed.

"If it will help, I can come to stay with him and take him to school, it's where I work after all."

"You'd do that?" she asked hopefully hating how her voice trembled.

"Sure, it's no problem."

"Oh, thanks, that will help," she said happily her fatigue suddenly taking her over.

"Alright, well, I'll be here by 5:30, sleep well," he said heading to the door.

"Thanks, goodnight," she replied seeing him out before heading to bed.

That same morning, Trevor returned like promised and his eyes popped at the sight of Denise.

"Are you okay? You look flushed." he worried.

"I'm fine, it's fine, come in," she replied stepping aside to let him in.

"You sure? Maybe you should take the day off," he said entering.

"No, it's just a little fever, it will pass, I'm fine, don't worry," she reassured.

"Alright." he gave in not convinced at all.

"You can sleep on the sofa until Peter needs to wake up. I'm sorry it's not the best. We don't have much." she said ashamed.

"It's fine, be careful. Don't push yourself too hard."

"I told you not to worry, besides hard work pays," she said before heading off.

He wasn't completely convinced of that, but for now, he simply lay down and got the extra sleep before waking up to make breakfast only to realise there was not much left in the cupboards.