He left his bag where he left his shoes and jacket, by the door. From his pocket, he pulled his iphone and turned on the flashlight, not wanting to turn on the lights throughout the house as he went up the stairs. It was quiet and he did not want to disturb anyone, not even an animal that would love some attention.
Once he reached the landing, he turned right instead of left first and headed down the hallway til he reached the door that had a big wooden white A glued to the door. Gently, he turned the knob on the door and peeked into the room to find what he had expected, sound asleep.
She hadn't said so but he got the idea she might come over if he was going to be home and he was glad she was.
She might not be as small as Daniel anymore but he would always think of how precious and vulnerable she was back then, he would always have that image of her in his mind.
With that thought, he pushed the door open and walked over to the bed and carefully sat down at the foot of the bed, gently he nudged her to wake her up.
"Ava?" He asked quietly but hoping for a reaction from her.
A few second later she woke up and looked at him. "Dad?" She asked confused and half asleep.
"Hi Princess."
Ava sat up in the bed and reached over to hug him. "It's the middle of the night, dad. I need my sleep."
He chuckled. Surely he had told her that often enough to know it wasn't true. "Yeah, right."
"I have school in the morning."
"Alright." He started to get up. "I'll let you go back to sleep then. I just figured you used to like me waking you up when I get home late." He knew for sure she rolled her eyes at that.
"Dad." She complained.
"I just guess you're not a little girl anymore that misses her daddy when he's on the road."
"I was kidding dad, geez." Ava sighed. "I missed you."
He smiled, although the dark hid it. "I missed you too. So are you going to tell me about your birthday party now or in the morning?"
That was Ava's go signal to tell him everything he needed to know about her sweet 16 birthday party, no matter how sleepy she actuay was.
Half an hour later, he noticed the clock on her side table. "You should get back to sleep." He said. "I love you." This time he didn't just pretend to get up to tease her.
"Love you too." Ava said as he headed out the door.
Across the hallway he noticed light coming from underneath Noah's bedroom door. He did the same as he had for Ava and carefully turned the knob to quietly push the door over. The light was on but Noah was laying still in his bed. Richie turned off the lights and headed down the hallway again, one more stop before his final stop.
Just like his other son, he found Daniel sound asleep in his crib. He reached in and gently tucked him in again, then stroked his soft brown hair from his closed eyes.
On the way out, he left the door ajar and opened the door across the hallway. His final stop before he could finally go to sleep.
Unlike he had expected once he reached the bed, Sarah turned around and watched him get ready for bed. "Hi." She said as he pulled his shirt off in the dark.
Instead of continuing, he leaned onto the bed until he could reach to kiss her. "I thought you were asleep." He said softly
"I heard you come in."
"Oh, I'm sorry." He said. "I tried being quiet coming in."
"I meant downstairs."
"Oh." He thought of how Sarah used to be lightest sleeper but how that had changed during their relationship. He sat down on the bed. "Are you okay? Are you worrying?"
Sarah moved closer and embraced him. "I'm alright now. I'm glad you're home."
He frowned but didn't want to press the matter, just be happy to hold her close.
He frowned but didn't want to press the matter, just be happy to hold her close.
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