This Ain't A Fairytale- Lando Norris

3. For Just One Glimpse Of His Smile

Hannah had never regretted words that had left her mouth more than the promise she'd made to Isla stood in the airport arrivals hall when Lando was still nowhere to be seen later that evening.

By the time Isla had reached a level so beyond tired Hannah couldn't bring herself to keep her awake anymore, with absolutely no idea what time zone the two of them were existing in, Lando was still nowhere to be seen.

She'd tried to call him a couple of times, and the text messages she'd sent him had also gone unanswered. So she'd reluctantly and wearily decided she'd just put Isla to bed and he'd have to see her in the morning.

What she hadn't factored into this plan, was that Isla had been hanging onto her promise that her Dad would be the one putting her to bed that night.

So, just to make matters even worse for Hannah and the way she was quietly fuming at Lando, Isla had fought her every single step of the way. She would never understand how someone so tiny could posses such superhuman strength as she'd fought with her daughter trying to wrestle her out of her clothes and into the bath.

Hannah couldn't even tell which one out of the two of them was crying the most by the time she'd eventually managed to get the child bathed, into pyjamas and into the small bed in the hotel room for her.

"I want Daddy!" Isla screamed for about the hundredth time since the plane had touched down, fighting Hannah off as she tried to tuck her into bed. "You promised!"

"I know, I'm sorry baby." Hannah choked out, her voice catching in her throat. "Maybe he'll be here when you wake up in the morning."

She wasn't about to make another promise to her daughter that he definitely was going to be. Even if she knew his schedule, which she didn't, she wasn't about to put herself in the same position as this again tomorrow.

She wasn't sure how long she sat there before Isla's quiet crying gave way to gentle snores as she finally fell asleep. Hannah almost didn't dare move for fear of waking her up again, knowing full well the crying would restart and she'd be back to square one if she did.

So she got up off the bed incredibly slowly, tiptoeing over to the suitcase to find her own pyjamas. A glance at the clock revealed it was only 7.30pm, it wasn't even dark outside, and yet she was beyond caring. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been so exhausted.

A couple of years ago, before they'd had Isla, if she'd flown out to meet Lando like this and he had to work late she would've waited up for him. She could think of more than one occasion where she'd waited up until the early hours of the morning for him to get back, because they got such little time together. She'd been so excited to see him that she wouldn't have been able to sleep even if she'd tried.

Tonight though, all she could think was that if she was asleep when he got back maybe they'd be spared the inevitable argument that would come. Maybe she if she got some sleep she wouldn't be quite so bitter that he hadn't shown up to collect them from the airport, or that he'd left the two of them alone in this hotel room all afternoon and hadn't even answered his phone. Maybe if she didn't speak to him until tomorrow she'd be able to bite back the catty remarks she wanted to make about him disappointing their daughter yet again.

So maybe it was for the best if she just went to sleep, she convinced herself as she climbed into bed by herself.

Maybe everything would feel a little less catastrophic in the morning.

As her head sunk back into the pillows in the cold bed, she got a waft of his cologne and it brought a fresh wave of tears. The sheets at home had been washed so many times since he'd last been there they'd lost all trace of his scent. She'd almost forgotten how much she loved the smell of his cologne.