The Reunion

Chapter Thirty-One: Back to Normal

Once we got back to my house, we were both exhausted. We decided to just eat some sandwiches and ramen noodles for dinner and watch some tv. After that, we headed to bed.

"So, I have to work at 8, so I'll be leaving here around 7:45 tomorrow morning. I left the spare key and the garage code on the kitchen counter for you in case you need to go somewhere."

"Sounds good. I think I may try to go drive around the new neighborhood later to figure out what's close to the new house. That area of town isn't one I'm super familiar with. Aside from that, I may head into the office just to introduce myself to my supervisors here, but that's it. Anything I can do for you while you're gone?"

"Um... well if you wanted to figure out dinner for tomorrow night that would be helpful. There's a grocery store just around the corner."

"Will do."

We crawl into bed and kiss good night before dozing off to sleep. My alarm wakes me up at 6:30 and I groan. The break from reality and early mornings had been so nice. Nate stirs, but quickly falls back asleep.
I get ready for work and watch the news as I eat breakfast, then I head back into my room, kiss Nate goodbye, and leave for work. When I get there, I'm immediately bombarded with questions from one of my coworkers, Brittany.

"Sooo.. how was your long weekend?"

"It was great. I had a lot of fun and the time to relax was much-needed."

"Did you and Brody have a good time at the banquet Friday night?"

"Um.. yeah, I did. Not sure Brody did, but he had a hell of a time afterwards."

She tilts her head to the side, "What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that Brody and I are no longer together. It's a long story." When I see that she's not going to accept that answer, I continue. "Let's just say, Brody is a tool, and I'm already with someone else."

"Damn, you move on fast."

"It's not like that. This guy, well, he's different. I've known him for a really long time and we should've been together all along, we were just too young and immature to realize it before now."

"Fair enough. I can't wait to hear more about him."

We get to work. It's Tuesday, so I know it'll be fairly busy with appointments. Dozens of kids have appointments today, so I'm prepared for lots of typing and paperwork.
By noon, I'm ready for my lunch break. Between the scheduled appointments and a few walk-ins for illness, there had been nearly fifty kids in and out of the office. I decided to call and check on Nate. He had sent me a message at 9 saying good morning, so I knew he'd be up.

"Hello beautiful."

"Hey sweetie, just wanted to call and check on you. How's your day going?"

"Good, I ate breakfast and now I'm on my way to the office. About to pull in the parking lot now."

"Ok, well good luck with meeting everybody. See you around 4:30."

We say our goodbyes and I eat my lunch. Brittany asks me all about Nate and I explain our past and our weekend, although I leave out most of the dirty details. Then it was time to head back into work.
Four very long hours later, I left work and headed home. When I walked in, I could already smell an amazing aroma from the kitchen. Nate was cooking, that was a surprise.

"Hey baby, how was your day?"

"Very long and busy. You're cooking?"

"Well, attempting to cook is more accurate. It's nothing fancy, just some pasta and garlic bread."

"Well it sounds perfect. I appreciate you doing that."

We eat dinner and it's actually really delicious. I'm pleasantly surprised to learn he's not as bad at cooking as he said he was. Was there anything this man wasn't good at?

"Babe, I thought you couldn't cook, this is delicious."

"I'm glad you like it. I called my mom today and got her recipe or who knows what this would've turned out as."

"Well I'm pleasantly surprised. So tell me about your day."