Life

Lacy Backman was sitting alone in the office, working on a story for the newspaper she worked for. She sat back after leaning over the legal pad she was writing on and stretched her legs out under her desk. She rubbed her eyes and decided she needed to get home. She had been at work since 8 am and her husband had called her twice in the last hour she noticed when she looked at her cell phone. She decided to call him when she was on her way out of the building. With a few clicks of the mouse on her computer, she had the story she was working on saved and she slid the legal pad into the drawer and locked it. She grabbed her purse and made sure she had her keys then slipped out the door, locking it behind her. On her way to the elevator, she noticed she was the only one left except the night cleaning crew on the 27th floor.
She reached the ground level and pulled her cell phone from her purse and pushed the speed dial button that would call her husband, John. John Backman. Her high school sweetheart, love of her life, the father of her son, Kyle. As it was ringing, she thought about how much time away from her family she’d spent lately. She worked 10 or 11 hour days 6 days a week. She knew she needed to spend time with them but they needed her at the paper. She was their top reporter. Their go to gal. John answered on the third ring, “Hey Lace. Just leaving?” “Yeah. Sorry about not answering earlier. I had the phone on silent. I was working on a story.” She replied. “Did you finish?” He asked. “No, it’s almost done though. Should be able to finish it on Monday. How’d your day go?” “Okay. I had a hard time with a guy on the crew, but I handled it.” John said. There was a pause. Then John said, “Kyle was asking about you before he went to sleep. He misses you.” “I know, I’m sorry. I will spend time with him tomorrow. I have the whole day. Were you able to get it off?” Lacy was almost to her car. When she reached it, she unlocked the door and got in. John answered “Yeah. But only half the day, we’re shorthanded so I told them I would come in for a few hours.” “Okay. Hey, I’m in the car, I’ll see you when I get home. K?” “Okay, see you.” He said then hung up the phone.
When Lacy got home the light was on in the bedroom she shared with John. He was lying on the bed watching television when she walked in. “Hey there.” He said in his deep voice. She set her purse on the chair by the door and walked over to the bed and sat down. Kicking off her shoes she slid toward John and he sat up straighter and started rubbing her neck, planting kisses along her neck.
The next morning Lacy opened her eyes only to be greeted by her messy haired 5 year old with a mischievous grin on his face. “Good you’re awake.” He stated. Then proceeded to turn around, only to come running back to the bed and jump over her then crawl back over to her and start tickling her. Lacy loved this part of the day. She laughed at his antics and started tickling him back. “Hey little man, who said you could tickle me?” She asked in mock seriousness. Laughing hysterically, he answered “Daddy! But he said I couldn’t wake you.” “Is that right? Well, we’ll just have to go find daddy and give him a taste of his own medicine.” She said. She threw back the covers and started to get up when Kyle jumped on her back. She laughed again and was walking out of the room when John came up the stairs in his work clothes. “Hey, what’s all the noise about? Can’t a guy eat his breakfast without being interrupted by a couple of laughing hyenas?” He asked, trying not to smile. “A little hyena told me, that a certain bigger hyena told him he should wake up the momma hyena by tickling her.” She said. That brought laughter from the big hyena and the little hyena. She laughed too, then turned around so John could get Kyle from her back where he had been hanging on through the whole exchange. When he set Kyle down, he looked up at Lacy and smiled. His smile nearly brought her to her knees. Oh how she loved that man! She had been in love with him since her junior year of high school.
She had just moved to town and she didn’t know anyone. When she saw him that first day, he had been with another girl, Vanessa Pierce. The most popular girl in school. Of course, Lacy thought the two were dating. But later that week, she found out other wise. Soon, she got up the courage to talk to him. They married after she graduated college. He went to school to become an architect. Now, he worked for a big construction company, mostly designing, but he oversees crews once in a while.
“I’ll see you later. I should be home around three.” He said, breaking into her thoughts. “Okay. We’ll see you later. I love you.” She told him. “Love you too. Bye squirt.” He said after he kissed Lacy. He tussled Kyle’s hair and turned to head down the stairs. When he was gone, Lacy turned to Kyle, “hey buddy, want to get some breakfast?” “Sure! Can we have sugar pancakes?” he asked excitedly. “Yup. We can have those and we can have bacon and eggs and O.J.” She told him.