Nick walked in the front door and placed the mail on the table. He got a soda out and sat at the kitchen table looking through the mail. He walked out of the kitchen when he heard the front door open. He smiled as his 8-year-old daughter, Jackie, walked in holding hands with her five year old brother, Jason. He smiled at the sight. “Hi Daddy.” Jason pulled away from Jackie and ran straight up to him
.
“Hey Buddy.” Jackie approached Nick for a hug. “Hi Princess.”
“Hi Daddy. Where’s Mommy?”
“You’re guess is as good as mine. I only got home right before you did. Go on. Go start your homework.”
“Do I have to Daddy?”
“Yes. Come on Jay, you too.”
I walked into the house, holding my sleeping two year old, Lauren. The house seemed quiet. Too quiet for our house, that’s for sure. I carried Lauren up to her room and lied her down. I walked back downstairs and into the kitchen. I just had to smile at the scene in front of me. Nick was sitting at the kitchen table helping our children with their homework. I continued into the kitchen, kissed my children on the cheek, then sat on Nick’s lap. “You know Lissa, I can’t leave the kitchen with you sitting on my lap.”
“And that’s a problem?”
“No, I guess not. Lauren asleep?”
“Has been for awhile now.”
“Which means she’ll be awake soon.”
“Nick, our kids are not known for sleeping for a long time.”
“Mommy, Daddy, I need help.” Jackie said.
“Nicky, you help her.”
“I’ve been helping her since they got home.”
“Ok. I’ll help her, you start dinner.”
“On second thought, what do you need Jackie?”
I made dinner and shortly after put my children to bed. I went downstairs, grabbed a soda and sat with Nick at the kitchen table. “Oh, Lissa, this came for you in the mail today.” Nick handed me the envelope. A look of shock developed on my face as I realized that the envelope in front of me had the familiar logo of my college. “What’s wrong Lissa?”
“I haven’t opened the letter yet. I’m still shocked that I’m receiving mail from my college.” I tore open the envelope and silently started reading it.
“What does it say?”
“It’s an invitation to my 10 year reunion.”
“Are you gonna go?”
“Probably not.”
“Why not?”
“I’m happy with my life the way it is. There’s no need to go back and reminisce about the past.”
“But wouldn’t it be fun to just see everyone and possible catch up with old friends.”
“Nicky, what about you and the kids?”
I started to take a sip of my soda. “We’ll go with you. I actually want to get a glimpse of the girl you wanted to suffocate with CheerBear.” I spit my soda out as I started laughing. I nearly soaked Nick in soda and he started laughing.
“Sorry.”
“That’s ok. So what do you say Lissa?”
“I say we are going to a 10 year reunion. This should be fun.”
2 weeks before we were scheduled to leave for the reunion, I walked into the living room to see Nick lying on the couch with Jason. “I don’t want to go.” I said dramatically as I walked through the living room into the kitchen. I heard shuffling in the living room and I heard the TV turn off. I heard two pairs of footsteps go upstairs and one pair of footsteps come downstairs.
I shrieked and quickly turned around while dropping the plate that was in my hand when I felt hands on my waist. My eyes focused to see Nick jumping back from the plate before it shattered and cut him. “Geez.. Are you trying to kill me? What’s got you so jumpy?”
“I don’t want to go to the reunion.”
“Why this time?” How many times are we going to have this same exact conversation, with different excuses that have absolutely nothing to do with the reunion? Nick zoned out and started to run on autopiliot.
“I’m pregnant.”
“That has nothing to do with the reunion.”
“It has everything to do with the reunion.”
“Ok. What are you so worried about? I think you are afraid that you are actually going to have fun. You should go. You have nothing to worry about.”
“But…”
“No buts, just go and have fun. Remember, the kids and I will be with you so we can always have our own fun if we have too.” Nick said with a smirk. “Alright baby?”
“You’re right Nicky.” I said as I started to clean the mess. “Nicky, can you get me a shovel so I can pick up this glass.
“Sure.” Nick walked out replaying the conversation in his head. He stopped short.
“Nicky?”
He turned around. “You’re pregnant?” Nick asked with an excited twinkle in his eye.
“I was wondering when that would hit you. Yes Nicky. I’m pregnant.”
Nick quickly returned to me avoiding the broken glass. He picked me up and placed me on the counter. He placed himself in between my legs and kissed me passionately. Nick pulled back. “I love you.”
“Mommy, Daddy.” Nick quickly turned toward the door and backed away from me.
“Jackie stay there. There’s broken glass in here.”
Jackie looked around the kitchen and saw the broken plate. “You two weren’t cleaning it. What were you doing?”
“Just talking. Did you need something Princess?”
“I wanted something to drink.”
“Ok. Just stay there and I’ll get it for you.” Nick walked to the refrigerator avoiding the glass. He got out the juice and a cup for his daughter. He poured the juice and gave it to her. “Take this into the living room.”
“Thanks Daddy.” Jackie went into the living room. Nick returned to me and kissed me.
Nick then left the kitchen. He returned with the shovel that I asked for before. He gave me the shovel and said, “You know baby. I was thinking. What if we leave the kids with my mother and we use your reunion as a second honeymoon?”
“I like that idea baby.” Nick grabbed the phone and called his mother and made the plans for the 2 weeks that we would be leaving the kids with her.
Before I knew it, two weeks had passed and Nick and I were getting ready to leave for my reunion. I was still dreading this but he kept insisting that I go. The only good that this reunion brought was when Nick mentioned that we should leave our children with his mother and use this as a second honeymoon. That will give me some quality time with my Nicky without the children. I love my children but I haven’t had much time with my husband since Jackie was born.
Nick walked in from outside. “You ready Lissa?”
I hugged my children bye and said. “You be good for Grandma. We’ll be back in two weeks.”
“Bye Mommy. Bye Daddy.” Nick walked over and hugged the kids bye.
We arrived at the hotel where my reunion was taking place. I was standing in the lobby while Nick checked us in. I looked around, surprised at how many faces I recognized. I groaned inwardly as I noticed Lisa approaching me. Now for those of you who didn’t get my memo about suffocating people with carebears, Lisa was my first room mate who inspired the idea of suffocating her with her carebear. Where is Nick when I need him? I turned toward the front desk to look for him. I groaned inwardly when I noticed he wasn’t by the desk. Where did he go?
“Oh my god. Is that you Lissa?”
I pasted a fake smile on my face and turned around. “Yeah Lisa.”
“Oh my god, it’s so good to see you.”
“Yeah you too.”
Nick returned and placed an arm around my shoulders. I felt him pull me close and then his arms gradually slid down my body and he rested his hand on my stomach. He leaned into my hair and whispered. “Is that your first room mate?” I nodded.
Lisa looked at Nick. I noticed her checking Nick out. “Are you Lissa’s boyfriend.”
“Husband.” Short and simple. That’s my Nicky.
“Well, do you have a name?” Considering how well I know my first room mate, I know she’s thinking something along the lines of how rude Nick is.
“Well, considering that you didn’t give me YOUR name before you started checking me out, I didn’t think it was necessary to give you MY name.” Nick said with complete seriousness. Lisa’s jaw dropped and Nick and I started laughing.
Unfortunately though, she recovered. “Well, you see, I figured Lissa probably told you about me, so I figured you would know.”
One of the many things I love about Nick is his ability to knock a person’s ego down a couple hundred notches. And that’s exactly what Nick did next. He looked into her eyes and said, “What makes you think that Lissa thought you were important enough to talk about?” Nick watched as Lisa’s jaw dropped again. “However you are right, she did talk about you.” We watched Lisa’s smug smile return. “Knock that smug smile off your face. When she did talk about you, it was usually making fun of either things you did or you.” Lisa gave Nick a death glare and stomped off.
I watched her walk straight to her group of friends from our first semester. “Nicky, how did you know that my first room mate.”
“I saw that you were ready to kill her and that is the only person who can get that kind of reaction out of you.”
“You’re right. That’s why I never really felt bad about locking her out of the room those few times.”
Nick looked at me. “Why did you lock her out of the room?”
“She was pissing me off.” I said casually.
“You mean to tell me that you couldn’t come up with a better plan to get back at her after your little suffocation fantasy.”
I gave Nick a sly smile. “Nicky, all I said, was that I locked her out of the room. I didn’t tell you when or how many times.”
He backed away from our embrace, “Something tells me I don’t wanna know.”
“Ok. That’s your choice Nicky. You know I’d tell you if you wanted to know.”
“Was that a conspiracy to get me curious?”
“Why did it work?”
“Yes it did.” I giggled. “That sounded slightly evil.”
“Oh but Nicky, don’t you know I am evil.”
“Ok, oh evil one. Explain.”
“Well, the idiot always went to the shower and left her key in the room.” I paused.
Nick looked at me purely shocked, “You didn’t.”
“I did.” I smiled at him brightly. Laughter shone in my eyes. “Several times. Locked out in her towel. But the best part is not that she was locked out in her towel, it was that she had to look for an RA in nothing but a towel. And the best part, I was in the room when she had to go get the RA, I just wasn’t answering. And then when she got the RA to let her in she would always say something like, why didn’t you answer the door. I was always like, I just got back. I had no idea that you were locked out. She’s such an idiot that my same excuse worked every time.”
Nick had an amused look on his face. “You are such a bitch…”
“But you love me.”
“You didn’t let me finish.”
“Sorry. Finish.”
“Like I was saying. You are such a bitch. I love you anyway because you are MY bitch.”
“Someone is getting possessive.”
“Who me?” Nick asked innocently
“I love you Nicky.”
“I love you too.” And on that note we went to mingle with my old classmates.
Nick and I were mingling for a couple hours. We passed Lisa and her death glare a few times. Every time we passed her, Nick would bury his head in my hair and try to suppress his laughter. He never could, but as long as Lisa didn’t hear him, it was ok. We didn’t want another confrontation with her, because Nick wouldn’t be able to survive them. He’d probably die laughing.
After our mingling session, Nick and I went up to our room. Nick and I collapsed on the bed. It had been a long day. “Nicky, I’m going to go shower. I’ll be back shortly.”
Nick mumbled something incoherently and I went to shower. After my shower, I returned to the bed. I snuggled into Nick’s arms for a few minutes before he said. “You know. I think I’m gonna go take a shower as well. Don’t fall asleep.”
“Ok Nicky.” Nick got off the bed and started to the bathroom. As he got to the bathroom door he stopped and started to look around the area as if he lost something. “Nicky what are you doing?”
“I’m just making sure that there is no way you can lock me out while I’m in my towel.”
I shook my head at him. “Oh Nicky, you are such a goof. Even if I could lock you out in the towel, I wouldn’t do it because then you’d be outside in a towel and I would be in here. If you are gonna be stuck in a towel, you’re gonna be where I can see you without looking through a peep hole. Now go take your shower.”
“Aye aye Captain.”
After Nick got out the shower, my eyes followed him around the room as he got dressed for bed. I watched him as he climbed back in to bed. He wrapped his arms around me and I snuggled into his chest. “I love you Nicky.”
“I love you too.” We feel asleep wrapped in each other’s arms.
