Reaching Danny | Romantic Fiction

Chapter 3

I had laid in bed for what felt like hours. I couldn't turn my mind off so that I could sleep. I wanted to cry but the tears wouldn't form. I wanted to be mad at myself. I wanted to feel sorry for myself. I felt like this whole situation was my fault. That's why I'm here because I let this happen. I had talked to God. I had prayed, trying to let myself feel peace. I tossed and turned all night. It was times like this that nothing made me feel better. It was times like this when I was by myself that every negative thought crept into my mind and made me feel less of myself.

Even though I had people in my life who loved me, I still felt like I was alone. My mother had sat up with me plenty of nights, talking to me and sharing her stories. I wanted so badly to believe that she understood what I was going through. I wanted to believe that everything was going to get better. I wanted to believe that change was coming. I wanted to be happy. I just couldn't feel it. I laid in bed, feeling utterly alone.

The next thing I could hear was Alex playing with her toys in the crib. I wasn't sure when I had fallen asleep but I was lucky that a new day had arrived. I went to pick her up and she gave me the biggest smile. She quickly pulled the cover over her head and I peeked through the bars of her crib.

"What are you doing?" I asked, waiting for her to raise the covers.

She peeked at me before pulling the covers up. I gently threw the covers off which sent her into a fit of giggles. I picked her up and sat her down on my bed. Before I could come back with her pull up, she had jumped across the bed. I never understood where children contained all of this energy. I spent some time playing with her before putting on a fresh pull up. Once I had her down on the floor, she ran out of my room.

"Peter." I could hear her cute little voice calling for her brother. I was always content with how close their bond was. It was a beautiful thing to see. He ran out of his room to greet her and they were hand in hand walking down the stairs to get breakfast.

My morning started the same as it always did. I would wake up, changed Alex's pull up and headed downstairs to feed them breakfast. While they were eating, I would spend some time reading the Bible and taking a few moments for prayer. By the time I was done, they were finished eating. I would clean up their mess in the living room, wash the dishes and we would head back upstairs. Peter and Alex usually spent their time watching cartoons or playing while I worked.

I wouldn't log online until around eleven when the calls started coming in. Since I was getting better at handling calls with customers, I was starting to receive more of them. One thing I had liked about the job was that I could work around the hours I needed to. Plus, it saved me money for a babysitter. After about three hours, I would log off to take a break. Even while I was taking calls, I couldn't get him off of my mind. It had been three days since I had seen or heard from him, which made me feel even worse about myself.

I wasn't looking for a relationship but it did feel nice to have someone around. To have someone who seemed interested in me and didn't mind that I had children. When I checked my phone, I noticed that I had texts from the friends I made in the hospital. They were such a trip. I was smiling as I scrolled through our group chat to catch up on how everyone was doing. That's when I noticed a text from him.

"Hey. How's your ankle doing?" The time showed I had received his text an hour ago. I took a moment to update my friends on how I was feeling that day before responding to him.

"It's better. It's still sore." I shot him a quick text, only to hear my phone chime once again. He had responded.

"How are Peter and Alex"? I stared at the screen, reading his question over and over. I had worked for my boss for three months and she could only remember Peter's name. He knew both and I wasn't sure why that shocked me.