Loose Ends

Chapter 30: Delightful Dinner

The day was like any other Wednesday for Amy and Ricky and they both spent it looking forward to their weekly dinner that evening. Ricky was putting the finishing touches on their dinner when he heard a knock at the door. He opened it and smiled when he saw his two favorite people in the whole world. They felt the same because they both greeted him with a smile.

"Hey."

"Hey," Amy responded, setting John down to let him walk over to his toy bin. Ricky finished getting their dinner ready while Amy set the table, keeping an eye on John.

"So how was your day?" Ricky asked.

"Pretty typical. You?"

"Same," he said before slicing the meatloaf and cutting a piece into bite sized chucks for John. Amy walked over to the counter and picked up the serving platter with the meatloaf on it and carried it to the table. "What's new with your family?" he asked, spooning a serving of mixed vegetables onto John's plate before putting the rest into a serving bowl.

"Robbie and John have been bickering lately."

"Oh?" Amy chuckled.

"Yeah. Robbie's new favorite word is 'mine' and John's new favorite phrase is 'uh uh'." Ricky chuckled. "We've just been making sure to only have one of them out of their playpen at a time when they're in the same room so they don't bicker over toys." Ricky carried over the mixed vegetable bowl and John's plate as Amy put him into his high chair. They silently sat down and served themselves.

"So anything else going on besides the battling tots?" he asked, taking a bite of his meatloaf.

"My parents have been getting along a lot better. In fact, they've started having date night once a week while Ash and I keep an eye on Robbie." Amy took a bite of mixed vegetables and washed it down with some grape juice.

"Are you guys still having family dinners though?" Amy nodded.

"We're all getting along so much better now and we've gotten closer so mom and dad decided to basically let us have weekends off. She and dad have their date night on Saturdays but she always fixes dinner for us anyway and we just heat it up come dinner time." Amy chuckled and Ricky gave her a questioning look. "It's turned out that we have family dinners during the week and a 'siblings only' dinner on Saturdays. It's kinda nice." Amy took a bite of her meatloaf and glanced over at John to make sure he was eating his dinner and not just playing with it. "So what's new with your family?" Ricky took a drink of water to wash down his meatloaf before answering.

"Mom's decided to repaint the living room so she and dad are gonna be working on that the rest of this week. Don't worry. She said it'll be done and dried before I drop John off on Saturday." Amy had food in her mouth so she just nodded to say 'okay'. They continued eating quietly for several minutes, the only sounds coming from their silverware. Ricky kept glancing at Amy though. He was thinking about his latest dream about her and what he'd discussed with Dr. Fields. He'd spent the rest of that day and all day today thinking about their discussion and he was ready to commit to a relationship with Amy. He hadn't slept with anyone since Amy got back from New York because he hadn't wanted to; he just wanted to spend time with her. Ricky put another slice of meatloaf on his plate as he prayed Amy would say yes to his next question.

"Amy?" She looked up from her plate just as she was swallowing a bite of food.

"Hmmm?"

"Would you have dinner with me this Saturday night?" Amy gave him a quizzical look, not sure if she'd heard him correctly.

"I guess. I'd just have to let Ash know I won't be eating with her. What's the occasion?" she asked, genuinely curious. Ricky smiled, happy she'd said yes but not ready to come out and tell her the real reason he wanted to have dinner with her. He'd already talked to his mom and she agreed to watch John so Ricky could take Amy out to dinner.