Chapter 98
Alex pulled up to the day care center to get her daughter. Phoebe was playing on the floor with three other girls about the same age when Alex entered the room. Alex smiled at the sight of her daughter interacting with other kids as they had a conversation only they could understand.
"Hello Phoebe." Alex greeted and the little girl looked up, with her hair in short curly pigtails on either side of her head, and crawled towards her mother. Alex bent down to pick her up off the floor, as Marci gathered her stuff.
"Say bye to your friends." Her mother told her as she looked over her back at her friends, but their minds drifted back to the blocks they were playing with. Alex thanked Marci and walked out with her daughter in her arms, fastening her in the car seat before heading back. On the way she decided to drop by the grocery store since she wasn't really in the mood for cooking grabbing a few things. In her mind she was going to buy some ready-made meals for the night but ended up buying some more groceries in her mind that she could think of and some things for Phoebe, before they headed back home.
She pulled up in the driveway, taking Phoebe in first spotting her husband at the table behind his laptop and some pages laying on the table. Her face lit up when she saw her father and Alex handed her to him, turning around to get the rest of the stuff from the car. Alex wasn't sure if it was her imagination but something didn't seem right with her husband tonight. He took off his jacket and loosened his tie and the first button of his shirt, not something unusual but something was still not right.
"I bought food, I wasn't in the mood to cook today." Alex said as she packed the things away glancing over at him.
"It's fine." He mumbled turning his attention back to the computer, when Phoebe became bored of sitting on his arm and tried to wriggle her way back to floor. Once he set her down she was looking for something mischievous to do, crawling around until she could find something to occupy herself with.
"Is everything really fine, Ryan?" She looked up at him from the kitchen.
"Why wouldn't it be?" Ryan asked without making eye contact with her, typing away on his laptop.
"I don't know. Maybe because you're acting as if I'm not in the room right now. That you're deliberately trying to avoid me, or having to have a conversation with me. Maybe because you've been acting like this since we spoke at work earlier." Alex rambled on her husband still not saying a word, he stopped typing though.
"You know how I feel about what you've done today. We spoke about it there's no need for me to repeat it." He stated simply.
"Then why does it still feel like there's unresolved issues between us?" She asked not leaving it at the answer he gave her.
Ryan got up and walked over to the kitchen where his wife was standing, Phoebe stuffing the TV remote in her mouth, seemingly occupied and unaware of the tension going on between her parents.
"This is not just about you anymore, Alex. You have a family now, responsibilities. Every decision you make is going to impact all of us. What if you got killed today, have you ever thought about that?"
She opened her mouth to try and say something but was cut off by Ryan continuing.
"Phoebe growing up without a mother. Me not having my wife by my side anymore. Your mother losing her only child?"
"Ryan, don't use Phoebe against me trying to guilt trip me tha…."
"If that's the only way I can get you to see reason in all of this then that's what I'll do!" He raised his voice and Phoebe's attention shifted to the corner of the room where the two adults were arguing. Her bottom lip poking out as she started crying.
Ryan sighed deeply placing his palms flat on the kitchen counter in front of him when his daughter started crying, Alex walking over to where she played and picked her up. "Hey, it's okay bub." The mother soothed her daughter, picking her up and carrying her to the bedroom.
"It's okay. I'm sorry." Alex tried walking around the bedroom with her to try and calm her. Once she settled down she decided to bath her and then feed her. Down in the kitchen Ryan was at war with himself. For raising his voice at his wife making his daughter cry in the process and not sure if he managed to get through to Alex.
He retreated back to the paperwork he abandoned a few minutes ago when he heard silence in the bedroom and assumed Phoebe was asleep, Alex came downstairs a bit later grabbing one of Phoebe's food containers from the cupboard and going back upstairs, without acknowledging that he was in the room.
She fed her daughter and after some playing, put her in the crib taking a shower herself before getting into her side of the bed. Still no sign of her husband on his way to bed and the tension there was in the house earlier now seemed to double.
Alex heard his footsteps when he came up the stairs She was busy reading a book when he entered, neither of them saying anything nor looking at each other. He walked over to the bathroom, and she heard the shower running. If she was honest with herself she had no idea what she was reading. She's been stuck on the same page for the past fifteen minutes. She gave up and put the book down ready to turn off her night light on her side of the bed when her husband emerged from the bathroom.
"Is Phoebe gonna be okay?" He asked softly still feeling guilty whenever he looked over at the crib and at his sleeping daughter. She had the worst styles of sleeping, no matter how straight you tried to lay her she'd find a way to sleep in some awkward position.
"She'll be fine." Alex nodded turning down her light getting under the covers.
"Alex can we talk this through before you go to sleep?" He asked but she didn't move. She laid in the same position refusing to give in to his request even though he knew she wasn't asleep. He turned down the light on his side and they both laid there in the dark. A big space between the two of them.
Alex knew he wasn't asleep either because he wasn't snoring. A long time passed before she finally said something.
"I'm impulsive sometimes. And I don't consider consequences until after I did something." She started not sure if he heard her because Ryan didn't say anything.
"I'm sorry for doing that. I know I've done similar things in the past but I'll try my best to think things through from now on." She admitted turning towards him although the two of them couldn't see each other in the dark.
"I'm sorry for raising my voice at you earlier. And Pheebs crying just made me feel worse about it." Ryan searched around for her hand, locating it lacing their fingers together, scooting closer to her kissing the top of her head, before falling asleep.
I'm trying my best not to write notes at the end of every chapter but I can't help myself. Almost at the 100th chapter. I'm really happy we've come this far. If you guys have any request form making the big 100 special let me know. Thanks for reading.
Here's some drama for the *guest* who requested it. Hope you guys enjoy
Lovies-S
