what came next

three - taylor

Taylor's POV

On Monday morning when Bella and I left the house so that I could drop her to daycare, I opened the door to find a little bouquet of orchids propped up against the doorframe. Bella squealed in excitement, touching the petals of one flower.

"Mommy pretty!" She told me.

"Yes." I murmured, crouching down and picking up the little folded card underneath. I opened it, reading the words written in black ink.

'Whatever it takes'

I swallowed, tears forming in my eyes as I closed the note up again.

"Mommy who put the fwowers there?"

"Daddy did." I whispered. "Should we put them inside?"

Bella nodded, and she helped me to find a vase and put the flowers on the table. I tucked Travis' note into my pocket, urging Bella out of the apartment so that I could take her to daycare. I didn't know what to think about Travis' gesture. He'd been so amazing these last few days; taking care of me when I was sick, meeting Bella, insisting he paid for our groceries, making us dinner, sending more money even though I tried to say I didn't want him too, texting a few times a day to check in, and now this. I knew he was making an effort, and I knew my heart was responding. But I wanted to make sure his effort would last and it wasn't just so he could get me back.

I was distracted all morning, Travis' note burning a hole in my pocket. I didn't let myself look at it again, but I often reached to touch the silky paper, run my fingers over it and imagine the ink bleeding through onto my skin, words going through my veins into my heart.

The door dinged at half past twelve just as I was about to take a quick lunch break and I glanced up, frowning to myself when I saw an uber delivery guy coming through the door. He smiled, coming over to me.

"Taylor?" He asked, and I nodded. "Here you go."

"I didn't..." I trailed off when he placed the bag on my desk, going red when I realized. Travis. "Thank you." I whispered, watching as he left. Checking the receipt stapled to the side of the bag, I looked at the last numbers of the payment and then picked up my phone, calling Travis. He answered immediately.

"Hey you." His voice murmured.

"Travis you don't need to keep doing things like this." I said quietly. "It's so sweet, but..."

"Hey Taylor?" Travis gently cut me off.

"Yeah?"

"What were you going to have for lunch?"

"Umm..." I looked into my purse. "I brought a muesli bar."

"Exactly." He told me. "That's not lunch Taylor, that's a snack. I knew you'd only have something like that, and I don't want you to get sick again. I'm not doing these things to try and buy you back or anything. I'm doing them because I care about you, I care about Bella, and I'm going to continue to do them even if you decide you can take me back. I want you to expect to be treated like this from now on, because it's how it's going to be until the day you kick me out of your heart for good."

I was almost in tears, trying not to cry as Travis spoke. I felt my heart reaching out for him, finding the truth in his words. He meant it.

"Taylor?"

"Yeah." I sniffed. "Sorry. Thank you Travis, I really appreciate it." Then I paused. "Hey, what are you doing tonight?"

"I have Olly."

"Do you want to bring him to meet Bella?"

There was a long silence in response and I started chewing on my lip, suddenly nervous. I knew he'd said he wanted Olly to know his sister – well, half-sister – but maybe he thought it was too soon.