Army Way of Life

Chapter Sixteen

The weeks following our little get-away were pretty much the same. Jeremy would sleep over, we'd get up. He'd head to post for his internship and either I'd take Ryker to daycare so I could run some errands without having to haul him around, or I'd spend the day doing various activities with him. Then Jeremy would get off and come back over. We'd have dinner, hang out as a little family, then when Ryker went to bed, we'd hang out as a couple. It was nice for those few hours before bedtime that we could "pretend" like we were a normal couple, like we were back in high school. Because Ryker was almost 1 ½, he was sleeping through the night. We typically didn't have to worry about him waking up.

We had been living in some kind of dream world, where we ignored the thought of school starting up again, even though Jeremy had to leave in 3 weeks' time. We hadn't really talked about what would happen anymore, trusting that it'd all be okay.

When I had woken up this morning, Ryker was in my bed and Jeremy wasn't.

I left Ryker, sleeping, where he was and went to make some coffee.

Attached to the Keurig was a note from Jeremy saying that he had to leave a bit earlier this morning for a meeting, but that he should be home earlier.

After I drank my coffee, I went and got myself ready while Ryker was still asleep.

I changed out of my pajamas and into a pair of jean shorts and a bright pink v-neck. I even had time to straighten my hair, something I didn't get to do often when I was by myself with Ryker. I couldn't help but think that Jeremy had been up with Ryker for a while because he NEVER slept past 8 am, and it was currently 9:15.

After I was ready, I went to wake him up, knowing that if he slept any longer, the day would go downhill fast. He was just starting to stir when I walked in the room. I went over to rub his back to wake him up.

His eyes fluttered open and he gave me a tired smile before crawling to sit up. I sat on the bed and he climbed in my lap, laying his head on my shoulder. It was moments like these that made everything worth it.

I had decided to make a nice meal for Jeremy to come home to, so when I got Ryker ready, we headed to Target to pick up the ingredients for lasagna and garlic bread, his favorite meal.

As I was putting Ryker in the cart, my phone rang. I dug it out of the diaper bag and answered it. "Hello?"

"Hey," my sister sighed.

"What's going on?" I asked, able to tell something was bothering her.

"Dad's insufferable."

"What's new there?"

She chuckled but said, "I met this really cute guy at the pool."

"How old is he?"

"18. He just graduated high school. He seems to be into me and asked me to hang out but Dad said no."

"It's because of me."

"That's insane, Q."

"Is it, though? Look at my life. I met Jeremy at school. He was going to go to West Point and have a future as an officer and I nearly ruined that."

"Makai isn't even in the Army. I met him off post."

"That could be why too. You know how much Dad loves the Army."

"He can't do this to me. So what if I don't want an Army life? No offense."

"None taken. I get it. It's hard and it sucks most of the time. Sometimes I wish Jeremy had decided to do something else."