How to respond when he only texts back at certain times

Inconsistent timing is almost never random. If he responds every day between 9pm and 11pm, or only on weekends, that's deliberate. It means those are the only hours he's checking his phone or the only hours he's willing to engage. The pattern matters more than any single delayed text.

This doesn't automatically mean he's not interested. It can mean he's protecting his attention during work, managing his battery life, or honestly just a slow texter. But it does mean you're not in his immediate circle of people he checks for constantly. That's the real information to work with. Once you accept that, you can reply accordingly instead of sending texts into a void and waiting.

A good reply here does a few things. It avoids questions that need an immediate answer or a long explanation, because he's probably not in answer mode. It's short enough that he can respond quickly even if he's between meetings. And it gives him something easy to work with, not something that requires thought or emotional energy.

The move is to stay in the conversation without making demands on his time. A simple observation, a light joke, or a quick follow-up to what he said works better than opening a new topic. You're keeping the door open, not waiting by it.

Timing your reply to land when he's actually online is underrated. If you know he responds between 10pm and midnight, don't send something at 2pm expecting an answer. Send it at 10:15pm so he sees it fresh when he's checking his phone anyway. You'll get a real response instead of a six hour gap.

If you don't know his pattern yet, stick to sending one text during normal evening hours and see when he replies. Then adjust. After two or three exchanges, you'll have the real picture. Working with his schedule instead of against it means fewer unanswered messages sitting there. It also means you're not sitting around refreshing.