Chasing Rain
“You know, you really didn’t have to come with us,” Louise repeats for the third time since boarding the jet. “I’m just saying—”
I didn’t bother replying, not when I’d already explained myself to her once.
It seemed to me like she was the one with the problem, not me.
My brother had run off to some small town in the middle of nowhere with Louise’s best friend, and I needed to check on him.
August was too nice for his own good — so if I had to swoop in and be the bad guy so he could walk away from Sienna and all her drama, then that’s what I would do.
Tyler fussed against my chest and I resumed pacing the aisle between the jet’s seats, bouncing lightly.
Becoming a dad unexpectedly had been a challenge, and ninety-percent of the time I was beyond grateful for the gift that was my son, the other ten-percent of the time I was exhausted.
As if to prove my point, my left eye twitched and I grimaced at the pulsing sensation while Tyler squirmed and tugged on his ears.
Louise sighed and stood up, walking over to me with her blue eyes fixed intensely on my face. “Pass him here. You look like you’re about to pass out at any second.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m fine. Thanks.” My next blink took effort and Louise folded her arms across her chest, straining the buttons of her shirt.
Truthfully, it had been harder to look after Tyler without August around — he often watched the baby for a few hours so I could get a chance to breathe… or sleep.
When my other eye started twitching, as if in protest, Louise stepped closer. The faint smell of roses and sweet blossom drifted toward me and I instinctively relaxed, the scent putting me at ease. Until she reached for Tyler, who began to cry. “He really doesn’t like most people—”
Ignoring me, Louise settled him against her chest and began to murmur to him in a tone too low for me to understand what she was saying. My mouth fell slack when Tyler quietened after only a few strokes of her palm across his back.
She shrugged, a small smirk playing on her mouth. “Babies like me.” When I continued to stare, she bit her lip. “Look, you can have him back if you really want — but you look like you could use the rest. I can watch him while you sleep.”
I swallowed, taking in the uncertainty written out across her face.
“Okay. Thanks.” If the words sounded like they were being dragged out of me, it was because they were.
Accepting help wasn’t something I was used to, not outside of my family anyway.
But Tyler needed me to be able to function, so for him I could swallow my pride.
“Sure,” she said softly, and sat down opposite me with Tyler still curled against her. I’d barely sat down before my body gave in to sleep, the image of Louise cradling my son burning into my eyelids before exhaustion took me away.