Passion's Instinct

Forty Eight

Hayden

Mornings later as I got ready to leave for hockey and was getting my breakfast together, Sawyer got up the same time as I did and followed me around.

After I washed an apple and started to eat it for breakfast, Sawyer came up from downstairs.

"Hey, buddy, what were you doing down there?" I asked, taking another bite of my apple.

He didn't say anything, just held up the Revenge of the Sith DVD case in front of me and smiled.

"Please?" he begged. He'd been bothering us about watching it for the past couple weeks.

"Oh, no. Definitely not." I took it from him and set it on the tabletop. "What did we tell you?"

He crumpled on the ground and whined. "Daddy! I'm almost seven!"

"Not for another three months you won't be."

He whined some more and stayed there, lying on the ground below me.

"Sawyer, if you're going to pout, do it somewhere else. You need to respect the rules Mommy and I give you. Look, buddy, I know how much you want to see the movie, and I get that. But you're not allowed to see it for a few more years. Okay?"

He just stood up, frowned at me, and ran off down the stairs.

"Sawyer, wait!" I shook my head and got up from the table, throwing the core of the apple in the trash and brushing off my hands. I looked at the clock, which told me I had to be on the bus in ten minutes.

I gotta get ready.

I ran upstairs and got my duffel and suitcase from my room, throwing them downstairs. They both hit the wall by the front door with a loud pound, and I cringed. But no noise from Natalie or Temple.

I brushed my teeth quickly and made sure my hair dried the right way after my shower earlier, then slipped on my shoes and started out our bedroom door. Natalie called my name before I could walk out.

I turned to see her sitting up in bed, staring back at me. "Leaving so soon?"

I walked back to kiss her. "Bye. I'll see you sometime tomorrow night."

"Okay. Good luck at the game. Kick Boston's butt."

"We'll try." I smiled and leaned down to kiss her stomach. "Bye, baby."

I stood up, running my hand through Natalie's hair. "I love you."

"I love you too, Hayden. See you tomorrow."

"Yup."

"Don't forget to say goodbye to Temple. She should be getting up now."

"Got it." I walked out and went into Temple's room, where she was surprisingly still sleeping. I kissed her forehead and pushed back sweaty hair, folding her blanket back. "Bye, Temple. I love you." I leaned down by her ear, whispering, "I'll be back tomorrow."

I pulled away to look at her, and her mouth quirked up into a small smile. I stood up and walked out, cracking her door again.

Walking downstairs, I called Sawyer. "Hey, Sawyer, I gotta go! I love you, buddy! Be good for Mommy!" I waited for a minutes, but he didn't show up. Looking out the window, I saw that the bus was here. "Hey, the bus is here! I'm leaving!"

I was about to go find him, but I just didn't have the time. The Vancouver Canucks bus was waiting, and so were my teammates, and the Boston Bruins home stadium.

I pulled on my coat and walks outside, closing and locking the front door behind me. He'll turn up for Natalie. He's fine.

***********************************

Natalie

"Sawyer!" I called. "Where could he be?" I asked myself quietly.

I turned to Temple, who was behind me. "I'm going to go downstairs for a second. You stay here, okay baby?"

She nodded and ran off to the living room to play with her toys. I walked over to the basement door, and sure enough, I could see light shining under the doorway, and it was cracked like someone was down there. The door was never open, except for when Hayden opened it just to walk down there. I was barely down there, and neither were the kids. It was Hayden's 'man cave.'

I opened the door and as I made my way down the steps, there was writing on the wall. First, Sawyer's name was written in Hebrew, the letters a foot long each. Then, a few steps later, the word 'stupid' was scribbled in letters varying in size. Farther, 'and.' 'Mean.' All in child's writing. And as I reached the last step, Sawyer was just finishing writing 'Mommy and Daddy' with a red crayon in his hand.

"Sawyer!"

He looked up at me guiltily with puppy dog eyes.

"Why would you write on the wall? And you're calling Mommy and Daddy 'stupid?'"

"Sorry..."

"You'd better be, young man. Come on. Come upstairs for timeout. And you get to sit in the chair for seven minutes this time."

"But..."

"Sawyer, you earned seven minutes on the clock for timeout this time. Maybe if you didn't write on the wall that Mommy and Daddy are stupid and mean, you wouldn't be in timeout at all."

He pouted his lips and walked up the stairs, with me following him. It was going to be a rough day and a half without Hayden here. I could tell already.

And I had to get that crayon off the wall before Hayden saw it.