My Yearning Heart

Chapter 22

A Peaceful Return

We quickly left the airport and headed home as fast as we could. On the drive home, Blake couldn't stop talking about how fun it was to be with her grandparents again. I didn't mind this at all. Hearing her voice was such a soothing sound that I wanted it to go on forever. She talked about the food, the summer festival at the city where they lived, and how she was able to hang out with some of her friends from the neighborhood. I was glad she had a good time. It was definitely better than what I had to deal with.

"So what did you during my time away?" My face went white and couldn't find the words to her question. "You've been really quiet." That's when I quickly retreated to my thoughts. Should I tell her about everything? I don't know if I should. I'm not even sure of what happened myself. No, let's leave things alone for a bit. She just came back. I took a deep breath and smiled.

"Are you kidding me? I can't do anything by myself. You always take the fun wherever you go." At that moment, a huge smile emerged on Blake's face and it gave such a sign of relief. I don't know why, but this girl always made me feel good about myself. Not matter what I do in this world, she makes me feel like I'm never wrong.

When we got home, I gladly grabbed her stuff for her as she ran into the house to breathe in the familiar smell. I struggled to get everything in one trip, but it didn't really matter. I went up to her room and dropped her luggage inside of her room. She followed close behind me, taking in all that she missed for the past few weeks. I couldn't help but speak up about her behavior.

"What are you doing? It's not like you've been away one military service."

"Hey, don't judge me. I love this place. Any time away makes me miss it. I can't help you. I raised me well." Out of nowhere, she jumped into my body and hugged me as tight as she could. "I missed you. I'm sorry for saying that when I first saw you." Her words are like something out of a tear jerking romance movie. I don't know why I felt so vulnerable around her. I mean, I was her mother and all, but it just felt more than just blood relations. I sighed and rested my head on hers.

"I missed you too."

With her home, it gave us about a month and a half to spend time together. There was no need to rush, but we did everything we could. We went out and ate nearly every day. I was definitely spoiling her a little too much since my wallet got lighter and lighter by the day. If we weren't out, we were messing around at home doing some pretty stupid stuff that I won't go into detail. It didn't even feel like she was becoming a junior in high school. She still acted like my little girl, but with normal signs of growing older. Also, I didn't even feel like I was getting older. I know it was just a month or so, but I felt good. It was almost as if I complete marathon or something.

Near the end of summer, I got mail from the school going the procedures that needed to be taken before the next school started. Once I got that piece of mail, out times together slowly got shorted, but Blake did everything she could to spend time with me. I had to go back to school a lot, but she was willing to follow as I forced to do work. Since I was the nurse, there wasn't a lot that I actually needed to do. I just had to make sure that all of the supplies were up to date, but other than that, I just had to stand around and hear the other teachers argue at each about grading and other lame teacher stuff.

For some reason, this was definitely the worst time of the year. It wasn't even the actual school that was bad. Preparing and doing all of this stuff was just bad. Occasionally, I ran into a problem where I needed to update some things, but if everything was good, I was paranoid about it not being good. Teachers and their OCD… No one can do anything about it.

The days slowly wound down until it was the day before the next school started. Of course, Blake was not happy, but I reassured her that her junior year would be a good year. For me, my junior year was definitely one of the best years in high school so I was sure she could have a similar experience.

When day turned to night, we both got ready for bed when the strangest thing happened. Blake ran into my room with her pajamas on and everything as she jumped onto my bed. I was confused because usually this behavior means I triggered something, but I don't recall doing anything like that.

"Um, what are you doing?"

"Sleep with you."

"And why are you doing that?"

"Are you saying I can't?"

"I'm not saying that. I'm just curious as to why you'd want to."

"What? I can't sleep with my own mom."

"Well, usually it's because something happened that is making you do this."

"Don't be ridiculous I'm not that simpleminded. Come on." She patted the other side of the bed where I usually slept and sighed. I was so hopeless. I turned off the lights and crawled in next to Blake as we enjoyed our last night of summer together.

"Good night Blake."

"Good night. I love you." She rarely spoke those words so I took full advantage of it. I grabbed her body and pulled it towards mine and squeezed tight.

"I love you too."

"Please don't ever leave me." Out of nowhere, my eyes shot wide open. What the hell did that mean? What brought her to say that? Does she know? There's no way she could know. I kissed her on the cheek and tried to fall asleep, but that last comment remained in my head for most of the night.

Please don't ever leave me. What did she mean by that?

End of Chapter 22

Ending Note: Sorry for the short chapter, but school just ended for me so I'll be able to focus on my writing once again.