Loose Ends

Chapter 22: Parties and Plans

John woke up bright and early at 6:15 AM. Amy got him dressed and ready for the day and placed him back in his crib with a toy to play while she got dressed and packed their pajamas in their respective bags. She carried John and their bags into the living room and quietly placed their bags by the front door before setting him down near his toys to play. Ricky was still sound asleep. She walked over to him and gently shook his shoulder to wake him. He slowly opened his eyes and smiled, inwardly happy that Amy was the first thing he'd seen upon waking up.

"Morning," he said. She smiled back.

"Morning." The sounds of John playing drew Ricky's attention as he sat up and stretched. "Let me grab a shower real quick and then I'll make us some breakfast."

"You don't have to," Amy assured him. "Cereal would be fine."

"I want to, Amy. Can you set the table while I'm getting ready?" She nodded and he went to shower. As he showered Ricky couldn't help but think about their conversation from last night. I wonder what else I missed he wondered. He realized he needed to have a few conversations of his own with people the rest of this week. He couldn't shake the feeling that there was still a lot left for him and Amy to talk about. I'll ask her about it at breakfast. Maybe we'll have another sleep over later this week he thought with a smile. Amy had the table set and had folded the blankets on the couch neatly by the time Ricky finished getting dressed. He found her sitting on the couch watching John play and smiled. "How does scrambled eggs, toast and fruit sound?"

"Sounds good. Need any help?"

"Sure." Amy scooped up John and placed him in his high chair while she and Ricky fixed breakfast. She sliced up a grapefruit and some strawberries while Ricky worked on the eggs and toast.

"So what should we do as our first family outing on Saturday?"

"Well, I took John to the aquarium yesterday so why don't we take him to the zoo?" Amy suggested.

"Sounds good." They decided it would be best if they went after John's nap so Amy planned to arrive at Ricky's around 2:30 and they would carpool to the zoo. They sat down at the table to enjoy their breakfast before Ricky asked Amy about his suspicions. "Amy?"

"Yeah?"

"I feel like even though we talked about a lot of things last night, there's still a lot left for us to talk about."

"Such as?"

"I can't put my finger on it but I just have this feeling it's important and somehow it didn't come up last night." Amy pondered his statement as she chewed a bite of her toast.

"I can't think of anything off the top of my head right now. Maybe some other issues will come up after I've finished talking to the other people I need to talk to." Ricky wanted to ask her who else she was gonna talk to but figured she'd let him know if they ended up having another discussion sleepover.

"So do you think we'll need to have another sleepover to talk about it?"

"Maybe," she answered honestly and then smiled. "You know, your mother offered to keep John for a whole weekend if we needed time to talk but I'm sure we can just have another sleepover or two like we had last night if we need to. We covered a lot last night" She what? Ricky hid his surprise well, and the wheels in his head also started turning. I didn't find out what Amy thinks is romantic so I can properly apologize but maybe I'll take mom up on that offer one of these weekends so I can. But first I really need to talk to some people too; I've got apologies of my own to make. Amy was thinking of what order she wanted to have her next few conversations in. Sooner than Ricky would've liked, it was time for them to head to work. He walked Amy to her car and kissed John on the forehead before saying goodbye and heading to work.