Together Or Apart

22. Red

Harry sits down beside me with a bowl of popcorn that he just cooked for us. We are about to watch the movie Dog with Channing Tatum as the lead role. I reach into the bowl and grab a handful of popcorn. Just as I take the first bite, the baby monitor glows yellow and the sound of Sydney's cries erupt from the speakers. 

"I only just put her down 2 minutes ago. Why is she being so difficult today?" 

"Maybe she is unsettled because of London not being here."

"No, they've been apart before while one has been at my parents house or vice verse. I hope it's not sleep regression."

Harry stands up and says that he will go check on her. I grab his hand to stop him.

"Sydney will put herself back to sleep. If we keep checking on her then she will rely on us to put her to sleep. She has learned and still knows that she can put herself to sleep."

Harry looks to the door, then back to me. "I just want to check and-"

I place my hand on his chest. "Harry, just wait one minute."

Sydney's cries can still be heard bad it pains me to hear her upset as well. When she was first born and wasn't sleeping, I got a sleep trainer. The sleep trainer told me that I can't give in to her as much as I want to, it's not good for her to be dependent on me to put her to sleep.

Eventually her cries grow softer but she's still sobbing.

"She's still crying, I'm going up." Harry steps past me and walks to the door. When he places his hand on the doorknob and twists it, and I expected him to open the door and go to Sydney but he doesn't. Harry removes his hand from the doorknob and turns around to face me.

"Do you hear that?"

"No, I hear nothing."

He looks at me with astonishment in his eyes. "Exactly. You were right. She stopped crying."

He runs back over to me and jumps onto the lounge. 

"Careful!" I say warningly as I hold up the bowl of popcorn. He leans into me and plants kisses along my jaw. 

"I'm proud of us."

"Why?"

"We haven't had a fight in two days. No little arguments or anything."

I laugh at him. "Is that something we should be proud of? Harry, that means we fight a lot and it means we are toxic."

He shakes his head in disagreement. "No, I say that we are making an improvement." 

"Do you think we will fight over the phone when you are gone for 2 weeks?"

"No because you will be missing me too much to want to fight."

"Missing you? Mate, I will be having you back here permanently soon. I am used to you being away here and there. I am going to enjoy these two weeks."

Even though he catches onto my sarcasm, he still pretends to take offence to it. "Excuse me."

"You're excused."

Harry digs his hand into my side and I laugh while pushing his hand away. He tries to tickle me again and I hold up my hand defensively, but instead of touching my side, he digs his hand into the bowl of popcorn. 

As we are watching the movie, each time I look over at him, his eyes are on me. 

"Are you even paying attention to the movie?"

"Nope."

"Well you should, it actually has a good storyline."

"You are so beautiful and only continue to get more beautiful each day Hailey Hayes."