After the End: Book 4

14. Privately

Naomis POV

Louis didn't give much warning this time. He sent me a text less than an hour before he arrived that let me know he was already on his way. I hadn't been expecting him again so soon, but I wasn't surprised.

Oliver was already asleep when I received the text. I'd been putting him down atop the passenger side of my own bed. Ideology aside, Louis was right. He just liked it better. His bed time had gone significantly better than previously, even though Louis hadn't answered his phone. He'd been driving, I now knew.

I'd been getting ready to retire to bed myself when I got his text. I decided to stay up and wait for him, even when Daisy had gone to bed herself. Things had been less weird between the two of us. There wasn't much to do but wait, but she busied herself with reading. Phoebe and her both had started reading a lot while Louis had them under house arrest. Even with her phone returned, Daisy read almost as much as me. We'd also ventured to a nearby park with Oliver that day. It had actually been fun.

I was determined to handle things with Louis better this time around. I was tired of our constant bickering. It was pointless and blatantly unhealthy. While I'd waited for him, I'd repeated those sentiments in my head repeatedly.

Louis knocked lightly on the door of our hotel around 11. I thought the noise would rouse the sleeping toddler or Daisy, but the space remained otherwise quiet. I found the knocking odd considering he'd just let himself in the last time, but I still rose to answer the door for him.

When I opened it, he stood on the other side looking tired and carrying his overnight bag haphazardly on his shoulder. I opened my mouth to greet him, but before I could get any words out, he started.

"I'm sorry for not calling first," he said immediately. I stepped aside for him to enter, and he started inside without stopping his words. "I know I literally just left yesterday morning, but I'm having a shitty day and—"

"That's okay," I cut in quickly. I'd thought a lot about that in the last hour and I'd concluded I was being rather unfair in that regard. "I know you miss him. It's totally fine."

Louis paused, turning his head to look at me. He seemed very surprised by my immediate acceptance. I didn't blame him. I wasn't usually accepting, but I'd spent the last day trying my best to imagine a world where I had more understanding to offer Louis. He deserved that from me.

Instead of acknowledging his puzzlement at my actions, Louis just nodded as if conceding. He relaxed just a little bit. "He's asleep, right?"

"He is," I confirmed. I smiled sympathetically and took Louis bag down from his shoulder. I settled it at the end of the hotel sofa where he'd left it the previous night and waved an arm to offer him a seat. He collapsed down tiredly into the cushions immediately. I sat opposite to him in the small plush chair. "I didn't think I'd be able to get him down when you didn't answer my call, but he dozed right off today."

At the mention of the missed call, his face fell. To me, it was just a missed call, but I could see in his features, he was adding it onto some invisible list of his own failures like it was a big deal to him. Something had happened to make him feel so defeated. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to ask.

"I can't believe I forgot bed time," he murmured almost to himself. "You'd think after two years, I'd know when our child goes to bed."

I decided not to mention that I forgot it frequently when the child in question wasn't infront of me. Louis and I both knew already that we were both very different parents. He never forgot bedtime. I was basically expected to forget.

"You'll be here when he wakes up," I said instead. I flashed him another encouraging smile. "He's going to be really excited about that."

Louis smiled to himself. It was small and timid, but it was a start. The thought of his smiling child warmed something in him just a little bit.