AMY

"What do you think people from modernized countries, like ours - learn from these traditional African tribal communities?"

Amy was at a small office in Manhattan sitting in front of her idol, Jane Shaw. She had followed her work very closely after she decided to pass on the opportunity to work with her almost a year ago. In hindsight she knew she made the right decision. Shaw's work had taken her team on a tour around multiple countries in several months. Despite the lost opportunity, the job just wasn't a good fit for her at this point in her life. Luckily she had gotten a job at the local newspaper. She was finally given her own weekly column not too long ago.

When she heard that Jane Shaw was back in New York, she immediately jumped at the opportunity to do a feature on her and her body of work for her next column. She got approval from her editor, made the phone call to Jane Shaw's office, who said that it would be a pleasure to do an interview with her, and 2 days later she was on the red eye to New York.

She had to admit that she was excited to be the one leaving for business this time, while Ricky was the one to stay home and deal with all the domestic responsibilities.

Now she was in New York sitting across this amazing journalist, as she recounted her research to Amy. Jane Shaw smiled at this before giving her response. You couldn't doubt how passionate Shaw was about her work. Amy recognized the feeling associated with that look. It brought her back to her own research travels, and felt a small feeling of envy.

"Well first of, I think learning about these tribes and what we would now call traditional communities forces people to understand a different perspective than the one they're use to. I think as a by product of being born in the 21st century, we often take so many things we have for granted. Knowing that there are still communities that exist solely on the land alone makes what the rest of society doing to the earth for the sake of 'progress' and 'economics' inexcusable really" Shaw replied

Amy nodded as she wrote down a few key notes. She was voice recording the interview so she didn't have to write everything down word for word, but took down a few key notes to help her remember some important details. Amy asked a few more questions before she finally got everything she needed for her article.

"Thank you again for doing this interview, I know what a busy schedule you must have so I really appreciate this" Amy said as she shook Ms. Shaw's hand.

"Oh really Amy, like I said it's not trouble at all. And I meant what I said on the phone, you can call me if you ever need help with anything".

"Yes, absolutely will do" Amy replied as Jane Shaw walked her out.

Once outside she took a minute to take in the scenery. She didn't realize how much she missed this place. It has been almost 2 years since she's been back here. She took her phone out of her bag and turned it on to call Ricky. Before she was able to do anything her phone immediately started beeping like crazy as she received an influx of delayed messages - all from Ricky.

BEEP

Did you tell John he couldn't have his ipad this week?

BEEP

John just told me he had hockey today, I thought that was Wednesdays?

BEEP

What time does he have to be there for practice?

BEEP

Never mind, called Bill – he confirmed practice was tonight – time confirmed also

BEEP

Your dad called bout taking John somewhere this wknd?

Amy let out a loud sigh. Leaving Ricky with John had been quite the eye opening experience. Like honestly? Honestly, who is this man? There is no way he had just gone completely clueless like this in a year. Ever since she got to New York it was none stop explaining to Ricky about basic house keeping things. Things like where are the things they bought for John's project that he had to finish, or what was he suppose to bring for John's potluck day at school. He couldn't even feed the kid. Are they still allowed tuna sandwiches for lunch? Or is it just peanut butter they can't bring? Like why wouldn't they be allowed tuna sandwiches? Basic, basic things and he couldn't handle it.

It was almost hard to believe that he had done this for four years while she was in school and now for some reason he couldn't handle it for 2 days?! Not even 2 days! As soon as she had left he was already non stop texting her with the most ridiculous and basic of questions.

What happened to the man who usually had everything under control especially when it came to John? Lately it seemed like if it didn't have to do with his work, or Advertising or whatever up and coming starter company was launching at the moment it might as well be rocket science for him, it either didn't make any sense or he had no time for it.

Sometimes, she felt bad about complaining how much time Ricky spent at work. She knew how much it meant to him, and she wants to be supportive. After all, even though they weren't together at the time, he supported her decision to go to Hudson for four years. And really it wouldn't bother her so much if he didn't miss so many important events when it came to John. It had gotten gradually worst in the past few months. First he would just be late for a practice or a school event. Then he would call a few hours before apologizing that he might not be able to make it but 'he's trying his best to get out of work in time', and now – lately - he's just forgotten things all together.

She clicked on the call button beside one of Ricky's text to call

MOM? John's voice came through the line

"Hi John how are you I miss…" Amy was cut off before she could even finish her sentence.

"MOM! Dad can't find my skates and we're going to be late for practice we were late for school yesterday and he practically forgot to pick me up I was waiting forever!" John wailed on the other end.

She opened her mouth to try and calm him down mid breath, but John spoke out again before she could say anything.

"…and we couldn't find my worksheet for my project and its due tomorrow! When are you coming home?"

Amy gave out a quiet sigh before replying

"I'll be back tomorrow afternoon. Where is your dad"

"He's looking for my skates…DAD? DAD! Mom is on the phone. Can't you come back earlier?"

"Sorry bud but my flight doesn't get out till tomorrow"

She heard a heavy footsteps from the other end before Ricky's voice came through the line

"Aimes thank God, I've been texting you all morning. Where are John's skates?"

"Hi babe, I miss you too" Amy said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"Sorry babe, it's just been crazy here without you. I can't really talk we're already running late for practice and I can't find John's skates"

"It should be in his hockey bag"

"We already looked there it's not in there" Ricky said almost impatiently.

"Well they were there last time" Amy replied also getting rather impatient.

"Well unless there's a secret compartment or they've suddenly gone invisible they're not here. There is a pair of baseball mitts though, like why are there mitts here?"

"oh my god Ricky, that's not the right bag. Those are from last season. The ones this year is black"

"What? Why on earth does he have two bags?" Ricky said, frustration now clearly evident in his voice.

"Because he switched to the minor team this year, it's a different team Ricky you knew this"

"Okay well where are those ones?"

"In the laundry closet, probably beside where you grabbed that one from" Amy said, now completely exasperated.

"Okay thanks babe, I gotta go we're really late" She heard a bunch of doors closing and shuffling "JOHN! John, I found them, come say by to mom"

"Mom?"

"Hi John, have a good practice okay, I'll see you tomorrow"

"K bye Mom"

Before she could say anything else the phone went dead.

Amy ran her hand through her hair, which had probably gone half grey in the last 5 minutes during that phone call and walked towards her hotel room. She had planned to do some sigh seeing after her interview but that phone call had just literally sucked all the energy out of her. Now all she wanted was to get into something comfortable and lie down, maybe with a tall glass of wine. She checked her watch. It was still pretty early. She figured she could grab some lunch to go, take it to the hotel and then go for a walk in the afternoon so that the trip wouldn't be completely ruined. She turned and headed to the direction of Broadway in search of one of her old time favourite cafe.

Ricky

Ricky was busy typing up a proposal for the latest ad campaign their team was working on. Amy had gotten back from her work trip in New York this morning and had the day off. Since it had been a crazy few days for him and John, Amy and him decided it would be a good idea to let John take the day off from school. Amy figured it would be nice to spend a mother, son day together. Ricky left home a lot earlier than usual. He wanted to get to work extra early to get a head start on the day. He was hoping the quiet time in the office before everyone else showed up would allow him to catch up on some paper work, before having to focus on the creative. He barely looked up the whole time he was at his desk and the next thing he knew the office was buzzing with people and it was time for to meet with the team to discuss their next project. He decided to skip lunch and use that hour to work on the proposal. He was so focused on his work that he barely heard the soft knock on his door.

"Ricky?"

Finally, Ricky looked up.

"Adrian hey" he said taking a break from his work, looking a little bit surprise "What are you doing here?"

Adrian stepped in towards the office so she was now leaning against the door frame.

"My firm hired you guys to do an ad for them. I'm here as the rep helping consult for our firm"

"'That's right, I think I heard that. You're working with Bruce right?"

Adrian flashed what she hoped was a pretty seductive looking smile. Yeah, they were no longer together, but this was Ricky. She knew who he was, and if there was anyone who could remind him of his past and lead him astray from this lame straight arrow life he was leading, she knew it was her. Since her manager mentioned trying to update the companies image, she knew exactly which company to recommend. She saw this as a perfect opportunity to try and get close to him again. And from there who knows what could happen.

"Yeah, fun guy that Bruce" Adrian said chuckling a little

Ricky let out a small chuckle in response. "He's a little old school, but he's great at what he does. He's been doing it a long time"

"You know, I heard there's another big shot here that's pretty much killing the whole company on accounts" Adrian winked and leaned slightly forward towards Ricky.

Again Ricky only let out a small chuckle

"We do alright" he said as he put his arms behind his head and leaned back into his leather work chair.

"Shame we couldn't team up on this one"

Again Ricky gave out a laugh.

"Yeah well, I don't know if we're the right team for your firm. Our clients usually cater to the millennials and millennials and finance don't exactly mix, that's all Bruce and his team"

Adrian was starting to feel a little disappointed that Ricky didn't seem to be biting on her flirtatious advances. He's been with Amy so long, that he must be loosing it. He doesn't seem to notice a girl trying to clearly flirt with him.

Adrian decided to back off a bit for now. After all, she was sure there would be plenty of time to try and get Ricky to bite. It was just a matter of working a bit more of her magic.

"Alright well I'll let you get back to work, but hopefully I see you around"

"Sure Adrian, take care"

She turned to leave. Before she stepped out of the office she placed one hand on the frame and turned her head back to give him a smile and say goodbye, but his focussed had already gone back to his computer screen, busy with what he was working on before she had interrupted him.

It may have been a while but she was sure that she could still turn Ricky's attention. It was just a matter of time. Luckily she had a good excuse to see him frequently and she planned to take full advantage of that.