Army Way of Life

Chapter Seven

I woke up late the next morning because Ryker let me sleep in. I grabbed my phone and saw that it was already 8:00. I usually never got to sleep past 6:30 at the latest.

I climbed out of bed and walked into Ryker's room, where he was sitting up and playing with the noise machine hanging on the side of his crib. "Good morning, Buddy," I cooed, walking over to his crib.

He stood up and reached out to me. "Momma!" I picked him up and he laid his head on my shoulder.

"You ready to go eat some breakfast?" I asked.

"Eat!" He said.

We went downstairs to a quiet house. It appeared that no one was home, though I knew my mom would be back soon. I sat Ryker in his high chair and put some cereal in front of him. I then got a banana and cut it up for him. I made myself a bowl of cereal and sat down at the table.

I was washing my bowl when there was a knock at the door. I checked to make sure Ryker would be okay while I went and answered the door. There was another knock. "Be there in a minute!" I yelled, seeing that Ryker was strapped in. He had food and was busy eating, so I went to the door.

I opened the door quickly without looking to see who it was. So when I suddenly looked up and saw Jeremy standing there, I was rendered speechless. He was mouthwateringly handsome. His skin was tanned and his muscles were a lot more pronounced than when he had left two years ago. His hair was shorter on the sides, but was quiffed in the front now that he was home. These were details I had failed to notice in all of my emotional mess this past weekend.

He shifted foot to foot nervously and put his hands in his pockets. "Hey," he said nervously.

"Uh, hi," I said.

"Sorry to just show up. I tried to call, but I hung up before it rang every time."

"It's okay..." I said awkwardly. "Um, come in," I added, moving out of the way. He stepped in the door and I closed it behind him. I walked into the kitchen with him following me. "We were just eating breakfast."

"I'm sorry I interrupted."

"Don't worry about it," I half smiled. I could cringe at how awkward this situation was. But I guessed that after all this time not talking to someone you cared about and having a huge secretmade it awkward.

"So, uh, I thought we could go somewhere and talk," he said.

"Yeah, okay. I'll have to take Ryker to day care though."

"Oh, you don't have to," he responded. I gave him a look and he said, "Yeah, that's probably a good idea."

"If you want to, you can sit down here and I'll go get us ready." By this time, Ryker had finished, so I cleaned his mess up and wiped him off. Jeremy nodded so I carried Ryker upstairs.

I changed his diaper then put him in a pair of navy and white striped knit shorts with a yellow waistband and yellow around the leg holes. The shirt was navy and had a grey elephant with a yellow ear to match the shorts. I put on Jean shorts and a loose white 3/4 length shirt that had navy stripes. I paired it with white sandals and ran a brush through my hair, not taking the time to do anything to it.

I put Ryker's navy converse and a light jacket on him before hurrying downstairs. "Okay, we're ready. Do you want to ride with me to drop him off? Then we can go to the park or something."

"Yeah, that sounds good," he said, standing up off of the couch.

"Ah, shoot," I said and ran upstairs. I ran into Ryker's room and grabbed his blanket because it went back and forth every day. He couldn't not have it. Nap time/bed time was an absolute nightmare without it.