Louise has now been back in Alabama for a week. Darren has moved out of Katie's and is renting a house close by.
"I don't know what to do, she wouldn't even talk about it when I brought it up last week. I don't want to bring it up again, we've been getting on so well, but I can't stand it knowing I was so close to getting her back," said Darren to Katie, she had come to see how he and Jack were, and they had ended up talking about Louise.
"Last time, she was in a state, alright you broke her heart again. She doesn't want that to happen again, she never really got over it, she seems strong as if she's handling everything fine, but she's not," said Katie
"But what do I do?"
"Nothing, give her some time, she'll see."
"I hope so. I just miss her all the time, knowing she's in town but I…"
"She might have mentioned earlier that she was taking Kyle and Ellie swimming this afternoon," said Katie.
"Did she?" said Darren, "Jack wanna go swimming?"
"Are we going swimming?" said Jack excitedly
"Yeah, come on we'll go and get your stuff. Thanks sis you're the best"
"I don't know what the hell I'm going to do with you two," said Katie.
"Who?" inquired Jack.
"Your Daddy and Louise, you remember her," said Katie.
"Yeah, she's fun," said Jack, "Did you see what she taught me?"
"Yeah I did, it's great," said Katie, "anyway I better go, bye"
"Bye Auntie Katie"
"Bye"
------------------------
LATER
The first person Darren noticed when he took Jack out to the pool was Louise. She was sitting on the edge of the children's pool. Ellie was chasing Kyle round the pool.
"Daddy can I go and play with Kyle?" Jack asked him.
"Yeah of course you can," said Darren and Jack took off, "Don't run, you'll fall"
"Fancy seeing you here," said Darren as he sat down next to Louise.
"Hi, I was wondering who Jack was with," said Louise.
"Yeah, I had the day off and he wanted to go swimming"
"Yeah, Daddy said I don't bond enough with my younger siblings, and it of course had nothing to do with the fact that Momma due back from New York this afternoon," said Louise, "Ellie let go of their feet" she shouted to Ellie who had decided that Jack and Kyle weren't swimming anywhere and had grabbed a foot each.
"So how are you?" she said to Darren after Ellie had let go.
"I'm good, you?"
"Yeah I'm fine. Have you spoken to Cindi?"
"Yeah, she came round shouting when she was served"
"You filed for divorce"
"Yeah"
"And she didn't take it well"
"No"
"Are you sure? Don't you think you should…"
"No, I know what I want now and it's not to get back with her"
"Oh okay"
"Lou I've been…"
"Lou I need to go to the bathroom," said Kyle as he swam up to them interrupting what Darren was going to say.
"Would you mind?" Louise asked him.
"Not at all, come on little guy I'll take you," said Darren lifting Kyle out of the pool.
"Thanks," said Louise gratefully
When Darren brought Kyle back, Louise was still sitting at the side of the pool, but Jack was in her lap crying, she was cuddling him.
"Shhh, it's alright, it'll be okay," she said saying to him as he cried.
"What's the matter?" Kyle asked innocently
"He stubbed his toe on the steps," said Louise.
"Are you okay?" asked Darren kneeling down to talk to his son.
"Uh huh I'm better now," sniffed Jack.
"You sure?" asked Louise.
"Uh huh, can I go back in the water?"
"Alright, just be careful okay?" said Darren.
"I will," said Jack rolling his eyes and then jumping back into the water with Kyle.
"He's so cute," said Louise
"He is. Thanks for looking after him"
"It's fine, all he needed was a cuddle"
It was then Darren realised that he had to stop playing around and get serious if he wanted Louise back. He didn't have long, she could go back to San Francisco and he wouldn't see her. He could go after her, but he wouldn't have a clue where to look for her. He had to make her see that nothing could come between them now.
"So any plans to go back to the big city?" Darren asked her.
"Uh no, the house is going to take 6 weeks to finish so I'm staying til it's finished and probably a while after that"
"Good," said Darren. 'At least I've got some time then'