The first few days were easy. Having Sam in the house was novel for Julian and he’d played with her a lot. By Wednesday, he’d lost interest and went back to doing his own thing. As the weekend came around, he ignored Sam completely and lost his patience when Bobbi couldn’t play a game with him since Sam wasn’t old enough to participate. On Sunday, she needed a break and reluctantly called Sandy.

“How’s it going?” Sandy asked knowingly.

“It would be fine if Julian wasn’t so jealous,” she admitted.

“Bring her over for a few hours,” Sandy offered. “It’s no problem for me and it’ll give you a few hours to do something with Julian and maybe even get something done before you go back to work tomorrow.”

“It’s been eight days,” she blurted out. “Is it always this long?”

“Average is about five, but yeah, he’s been gone ten days before. Has Sam started crying at bedtime?”

“No.” Bobbi frowned thoughtfully. “She’s been great. The only issue has been Julian being a little jealous, but honestly, that just started yesterday afternoon. He’s not used to sharing me. Overall, she’s been an angel.”

“Would Julian rather come here and play with Dean? That might be better for both of you.”

“I’ll ask him. Either way, I’ll be at your house in an hour, ready to drop one of them off.”

“No problem at all. See you then.”

Bobbi had a relaxing afternoon without kids. When they arrived at Sandy’s, Julian had been excited to play with Dean and Sam had thrown a fit, demanding she get to stay too. Somehow, Sandy had calmed them all down and sent Bobbi on her way without either of them. She now had three glorious hours to herself. She had to stop at the grocery store, but that would go quickly without children in tow and she found herself finished in no time. After unloading everything and putting it away, she threw a load in the washing machine before sinking into the chair in the living room. She tucked her feet under her and reached into the coffee table drawer to pull out a romance novel she’d started months ago. She had an hour and she intended to enjoy it.

Her thoughts strayed, however, and she finally closed the book, letting it rest on her lap. Reading about romance made her think about Ron and how much she missed him. Taking care of Sam had been a little extra work, but in the grand scheme of things, she didn’t mind. They left the house in the morning and she dropped off Julian at school before driving to the preschool. Julian arrived by bus after school and stayed in the daycare center until it was time to go home. Usually his homework was done so they ate dinner, played or watched TV for a little while and then he and Sam went to bed. That gave Bobbi a little time to clean, fold laundry and get a shower before going to bed herself. It was tedious, but it hadn’t been that way when Ron was in town.

They’d gone to the park or the beach, and he’d suggested taking the kids ice skating one evening. Seeing him every day when he picked up Sam always made her smile and she’d felt his absence deeply. Part of her was beginning to have doubts again; not about them as a couple, but life as a military spouse. She hated it. Lots of guys traveled for work, but not many were completely incommunicado while they were gone. That was the part she struggled with. Wade had been terrible about calling and emailing when he’d been deployed, and while Ron would probably be much better about it in a similar situation, he didn’t have the option of making personal calls or sending emails while on a mission.

Sighing restlessly, she mixed the ingredients for a meatloaf and put it in the fridge so it could go in the oven as soon as she picked up the kids. She put the clean clothes in the dryer and added another load to the washing machine. Without Ron and the kids, she apparently had no life, and it occurred to her she needed to do something about that. Whether things worked out with Ron or not, it was time for her to get a life. In the beginning of her marriage, she’d been determined to be the best wife possible, so her life revolved around Wade.

After Julian was born, having an infant took all her time and energy so there’d been no time for herself. Then Wade deployed for 18 months and she’d been a single mom so her own needs hadn’t been a priority. Sixteen months as a widow, however, felt like an eternity and now that she’d met Ron, she was tired of her quiet, simple life. She didn’t need anything crazy, but a few girlfriends and maybe a hobby wasn’t asking too much, was it?

Or a sexy new boyfriend, she thought with a smile. She liked that idea best, though she wasn’t going to make the same mistakes this time around. With Wade, she’d made sure her life revolved around him and Julian; this time, they needed to be equals. Ron would be on board for that, she was positive, but the problem would be times like this when he was gone. Eight long days without so much as a text or email. He wasn’t allowed, and she understood, but that didn’t mean she had to like it.

The alternative was going back to her life the way it had been before they’d run into each other and that wasn’t truly an option. She needed to work harder on the friendships she had and even find moms to trade babysitting with so she would have a little time to herself, but nothing would make up for not having Ron. If she wanted him—and she did—she had to learn to live with unexpected departures and long silences while he was gone.

Reunions would be sweet, though, wouldn’t they? She pictured his face in her mind’s eye, his silver-gray eyes darkening with lust when he looked at her, and then they would kiss and everything would melt away. She’d known making love with him would be wonderful, but she hadn’t expected it to change her life. A pleasant coupling that ended with an orgasm had been all she’d been hoping for but she’d gotten so much more than that. In fact, what she’d gotten had been the stuff erotic romance novels were made of. That level of hot, sexy passion hadn’t been on her radar but now she lay awake at night thinking about it. And him.

Oh, Ronnie, she thought sadly, please hurry home.

As it reached the two-week mark, Bobbi’s resolve was slipping and she was starting to struggle. Not just with not seeing or hearing from him, but also with worry. Sandy said he’d only been gone this long once before and this many days without word had her wondering what she would truly do if something happened to him. Wade’s death had been shocking because he’d been home, and while training accidents happened, they were rare. Finding out he’d been killed due to a faulty parachute had been a real shock and she’d promised herself she would never date another military man. Ron had changed all that but now she was getting those weird butterflies in her stomach, the kind that warned something bad was going to happen.

By Monday, when Ron had been gone 16 days, she was frustrated both with herself and with him. She got Julian to school and started her preschool lesson, but she’d asked her paraprofessional helper to read to the class so she could clear her head for a little while. She’d had physical responses to stress like this when she was married to Wade, but this was the first time it had happened since his death and she refused to give in to it. Ron wasn’t Wade and she wasn’t going to let the past ruin her chance for happiness before it even started but it wasn’t easy.

“Mama Bobbi?” Sam’s voice startled her out of her reverie and she looked down in surprise.

“What’s the matter, honey?”

“Beanie?” Sam’s big blue eyes were a little watery and Bobbi reached down to lift her onto her lap.

“Beanie’s working.”

“Come home?”

“Soon, honey. He’ll be home soon. I promise.”

“’Kay.” She rested her head against Bobbi’s chest and Bobbi held her tightly. She’d never played favorites with her students before, but Sam was special. Not only did she remind her of Ron, she was the sweetest little girl and she’d called her mama a few times over the last week. She’d corrected her the other times, but today she hadn’t had the heart. She would talk to Ron about it when he got back, to see how he wanted to handle it, but until then, she didn’t want to upset her by making a big deal out of it. It was taking everything she had, but she wasn’t going to succumb to her inner insecurities and she definitely wasn’t going to drop the ball with Sam. Somehow, they’d get through this.

She was glad to see a friendly face when Jessyka came to pick up Sara. She was going to suggest getting together one night for dinner or a movie, but wasn’t sure how to go about it. It had been a long time since she’d had a girlfriend.

“Hey, how are you hanging in? This op’s been a long one, huh?” Jessyka gave her a sympathetic look.

“I’m having a tough time with it now,” Bobbi admitted, “but mostly I’m worried. Going more than two weeks without any contact at all is crazy. How do you do it?”

“You get used to it. It’s harder when you have kids, but you have to trust he knows what he’s doing and the unit will get home in one piece.”

“I can trust it but I sure as hell don’t have to like it,” she responded, ruffling Sara’s soft hair.

They chatted for a while as parents came and picked up their children. It was finally beginning to slow down and all but a handful of kids had been picked up when Jessyka asked her, “You want to hang out this weekend? I don’t think we have any plans and I’m sure you could use some time with adults instead of kids all the time.”

“I definitely could. What do you—” She cut off abruptly as a loud bang made them all jump.

“No one move!” A man of about 30 burst through the door, waving a gun wildly and shooting up at the ceiling. Their receptionist screamed and some of the children started to cry. Jessyka immediately set Sara on the ground behind her, shielding her with her body, and Bobbi looked around wildly for Sam and Julian. Julian had been packing up his things at a table in the library just minutes ago, but now he was nowhere to be seen. Sam was sitting on the floor, a frown creasing her features as her lower lip started to tremble.

The man had shut and locked the front doors, pulling another gun out of his pocket and pointing them in two different directions. “Who else is here?” he demanded of Bobbi.

“N-no one,” Bobbi said quietly. “There are just two of us that work here at the end of the day, one parent and a few kids. What do you want?”

“Where’s Vinnie?”

“Who?” Bobbi didn’t know anyone named Vinnie.

“Vinnie! Vincent Marinelli, my son.”

“I don’t know who that is.” She shrieked when he shot at the ceiling again.

“Don’t fucking lie to me! Where’s my kid?”

“I don’t know,” Bobbi whispered, tears springing to her eyes.

“Well, no one’s going anywhere until you figure it out. Get over there to that computer and tell me my son’s information.”

“I’m a-a t-teacher here,” Bobbi stammered. “I don’t know the system—” She yelped as he shot again and chips of paint and plaster rained down on her head.

“Then you better learn fast, blondie, ’cause I’m not leaving here without my son.”