what came next

seven - taylor

I couldn't sleep properly that night. Dinner hadn't exactly gone how I'd hoped, and I couldn't stop replaying the words Elena had thrown my way, the judgmental way she'd looked at me.

We hadn't talked much when Travis had taken the kids away. Nothing of importance. Nothing that suggested she cared to try even though I wanted to. For Travis, for Olly, for Bella too. I'd told Travis it was fine, that things were okay, and he'd reluctantly dropped the questions as he'd dropped me and Bella back home.

I'd wanted to ask him to stay the night, but the words had stuck in my throat. We hadn't spent the night together yet. It had only been about three weeks since we'd started dating and we were taking things really slow. I wasn't sure if he had Olly either, but I was sure he would have mentioned it if he didn't.

I tossed and turned, unable to get comfortable, thinking about how messed up this whole thing was. Two kids, three parents, custody, visits, holidays. How would it all work?

The piercing ringing of my phone blared at me out of nowhere and I jumped, realizing I hadn't taken the time to put it on silent or vibrate before I'd gone to bed. Rolling over, I stretched out my arm and picked it up, glancing at the time when I saw that it was Travis calling. Just past one.

"Travis?" I answered. "Are you okay?" Calling at one in the morning couldn't be good news.

"Taylor?"

The soft little voice that whispered back wasn't Travis. I frowned, confused before I realized that the voice belonged to Olly. He sounded scared.

"Hey, hey buddy." I murmured softly. "What's going on? Where's your dad?"

"He's fighting with mom." Olly sniffled. "And they've been arguing for so long because he came to tell her off for being rude to you and they're saying bad words and I think I heard something break and now I'm scared." He hiccupped as he whispered and my heart ached at the tone of his voice. "Dad said that if he wasn't there or mom wasn't there I could call you for help and I'm scared."

"Oh, Olly sweetheart I'm so sorry." I sat up. "You can always call me for help buddy. What do you need me to do?"

"I don't want to hear the fighting." Olly sobbed. "Can I come and stay with you and Bella?"

"Yes, yes of course." I was already swinging my legs out of bed, moving towards the door. "Are you at your dad's house or your mom's house?"

"My mom's house."

"Can you tell me what the address is?"

Olly mumbled out a number and a street name as I got Bella out of bed, grabbing my car keys on the way to the door. She remained asleep, drooped against my chest as I stuffed my feet into shoes and left the apartment. I stayed on the phone with Olly as I drove, knowing it wasn't entirely safe but not wanting him to be alone. He sounded really scared, and I didn't want him to be in that situation any longer. Travis wouldn't have done it on purpose, I knew that, he just wouldn't have realized the impact.

When I pulled up to the house Olly had told me, I could see Travis' car in the driveway. Glancing back at my daughter, I got out of the car and locked it, keeping an eye on the vehicle.

"I'm outside buddy, do you want me to come in and talk to your mom and dad?"

"No." Olly whispered. "They're yelling. I'm scared. I think mom will yell at me if she knows I asked you for help."

"Okay, okay." I soothed. "Okay. You think you can come outside? You can come home with me and Bella and I'll sort it out."

"Okay." Olly sniffed.