A Father's Love

Ch.6 - I'm sorry

Jake's POV

We arrived back home and I glanced behind me and saw that Louis was peacefully asleep whilst Poppy was smiling back at me. I left Lisa to unbuckle Louis and take him upstairs whilst me and Poppy unloaded the boxes and bags from the back of the car. There was only a few and most of it was just clothes.

"Here, I'll take that," I said, reaching for the last box off Poppy, I brushed against her hand and she pulled away again, a habit of hers it would seem. I adjusted my jacket sleeves, mentally scolding myself; I added it to the long list of things I had to be more careful about. We headed upstairs and placed the final boxes in their room, it was very modern but it lacked personality. This was the smaller room compared to the attic conversion and it made sense for Louis to be closer to our room, so his stuff was placed in the drawers whilst Poppy's remained for the most part in the boxes.

"We will get the other room cleared out soon so you don't have to share" I said placing a hand on Poppy's shoulder, she nodded and smiled back at me. I hated to be the downer but there were a few things I wanted to discuss with Poppy and Louis, just ground rules. Me and Lisa had agreed on them and were happy to compromise on a few things if needs be but I couldn't help be nervous though, it was all becoming real.

"Can we talk downstairs for a minute?" I asked, trying to phrase it better in my head.

"Sure," she replied, tuning to leave with us, leaving the unpacked boxes laying on the floor. We all trooped downstairs, taking a seat on the dining table.

"We just wanted to set some ground rules," I explained noticing Poppy's worried expression, she relaxed a little. I got up the quick list I had made on my phone, letting Lisa calm her a little more. It seemed like she was jumpy all the time, I understood why but it was like she was constantly expecting the worst.

"If you have any issues just tell us we can figure it out," Lisa said, smiling at Poppy.

"So, lights go out at half ten every night," I read off, "Don't mind a little light swearing but not in front of Louis,"

"That all ok?" Lisa asked, cutting me off a little.

"Yeah, fine,"

"We hate smoking, drugs and alcohol and we will not tolerate it," I said rather harshly, I was aware of the stereotypical 'weed smoking, alcohol reliant care kid' but there were stereotypes for a reason. She nodded along which I was rather surprised about but kept quiet expecting her to bend a few of the rules anyway, "Well... that's pretty much it,"

"Well, all of it is fine by me," she said, smiling a little.

The day flew by quite quickly after that, we got to know each other a little better just through talking. It wasn't awkward which I was pleasantly surprised at, it was easy to start conversations with them; it was like we had known them for years. We ordered takeout and the good vibes continued throughout the night by board games, TV shows and a bunch of snacks. Louis was fighting to stay awake and eventually crawled into Poppy's arms whilst we played a game of monopoly and sucked his thumb, closing his eyes contented. I felt my heart melt and my eyes softened, he really trusted her.

"Shall we go to bed?" Poppy asked him, in a hush voice, kissing his forehead. He nodded groggily and she stood and lifted him onto her hip. I backed up a little feeling isolated, I brushed it off again telling myself this was just their way and their routine. She started going up the stairs and both me and Lisa followed deciding to call it a night ourselves.

"I usually read Louis a story before bed, did one of you want to join me?" Poppy asked as we got to her and Louis's room. I could tell she asked through gritted teeth, like she wanted to but her body attacked the idea.