"Hey, good morning baby girl!" Adam greeted from the computer screen as Avery climbed up into the chair.

"Hi daddy! What doing?"

"I'm just getting a few things ready to teach my class today. What are you doing?"

"Eat breakfast. Avery dressed."

"Aren't you doing something special today?"

"Yes! Avery go tumblin' class! Wear this!" she said, indicating her leotard.

"Oh wow. I wish I could be there to see you."

"I learn pepper-salt."

"You'll learn what honey?"

"Pepper-salt," she repeated with a sigh.

"Somersaults you mean?"

"Pepper-salt."

"Oh, alright. What else will you learn?"

"Uh, flips! An' Avery do tricks. Sarah say Avery um… uh… dunno."

"You forgot what Sarah said?"

"Uh-huh! I eat toast and sausage," she said, moving onto another subject. "Ben have candy. Mama mad. Ben in room."

"Uh-oh. Where did Ben get candy?"

"Dunno. I look."

"I'm sure you did look for it. Where's mama and Colton?"

"Mama talk to Ben. Coley readin' book. He say not for Avery. I little."

She hung her head down in disappointment and Adam chuckled.

"He just means it doesn't have pictures in it for you to look at."

"Oh! Okay. You have breakfast daddy?"

"Yeah, I had a little something."

"You come home 'morrow?"

"No I can't come home tomorrow. Remember we have to count lots of days."

"Yes daddy. Avery want snuggles and play," she said, ticking the items off on her fingers.

"I promise as soon as I get home I will snuggle you and play with you for as long as you want."

She laughed and clapped her hands happily while Lindsay carried Ben into the room. He had a red face from crying, but the second he saw Adam was on Skype he brightened up and slid down to the floor, running over to the computer.

"Hi daddy! It's me Ben! Can you see me? I am wearin' a blue shirt what's got a itchy tag in the back!"

"Yeah I can see you buddy. What have you been up to?"

"Well mama punished me already an' said we don't need to discuss what I done no more. But this morning Cole teached me to read some words! I can read seven words now what aren't no one's name! Isn't that awesome?"

"That is awesome buddy. I can't wait to see how many you'll be able to read when I get home."

"I will be workin' on it. Cole is a good teacher too. He teached me 'bout the sounds the letters make and he is patient when I go slow. Mama says I am lucky to have a nice brother like that. Next he is gonna teach Dunner some words so we will be the smartest in our class."

"That sounds like a good plan. Are you getting excited about kindergarten?"

"Yep I am! My tummy gets kinda nervous when I think 'bout it. But it will be okay for Dunner will be with me."

"That's right."

"Daddy are you bein' a teacher today?"

"Yeah I am."

"Well maybe you should make sure that the people you're teachin' aren't nervous, okay?"

"I will."

"You know what I said to mama? I said that I needed a picture what was of me an' you so I could keep it with me all the time, to remember the kind of man I is supposed to be!"

"Oh really?"

"Yes. Because me and Cole, we was havin' a hard time bein' good and I said that to mama for I wanted to 'member what we was strivin' for."

"I'm glad you want to be a good boy while I'm gone."

"We wanna make you proud. Speakin' of Cole, you wanna talk to him too? Hey Cole, daddy's on the 'puter!"

Colton slammed his book closed and ran into the room, out of breath.

"Daddy! Daddy! Know what? I am almost done with that book you left for me! I really like it a lot. And I learned a few new words that I have never heard before too."

"Good, I was hoping you'd like it."

"I do a lot. When I am done I will read it to Ben."

"You will?" Ben hollered almost jumping out of his shoes. "I'm so 'cited!"

"We've created literary nerds," Lindsay chuckled, fighting Avery's hair into a ponytail.

"I don't see a problem with this."

"Me too!" Avery agreed, wanting to be a part of the conversation.

"When do you have to leave honey?"

"About two minutes ago, but I'd rather just do this all day."

"You need to go. And we need to go too, we don't want Avery to be late for her first tumbling class."

"Yay tumblin'!"

"Take lots of pictures for me okay?"

"We will. Talk to you at dinner time?"

"Okay. I love you guys."

"Love you too daddy!"

The kids all blew him kisses before they signed off the messaging service.

"I like when daddy calls us in the mornin'. Starts the day off good," Ben said with a happy sigh. "But not when I eat candy what I shouldn't have."

"Yeah, except for that. Lets get our shoes on so we can get out of here."

The kids ran for the back door and Colton and Ben found their shoes and put them on in record time while Avery just stood there, holding hers and frowning.

"Here Aves, I will help you. Put your feet in and I will tie them."

She obeyed then stood there while Colton carefully tied her shoes.

"Hey mama! Sissy's diaper and her Leonardo are goin' up her crack!"

Avery whined and covered her backside while Colton snickered.

"I know, I forgot to put her shorts on over the top. And don't point out things like that so loud."

"Oh, I forgot. Sissy your butt isn't showin' at all!"

Avery wrinkled her nose as Lindsay helped her into her shorts, then ushered the kids out the door.

"This is borin' watchin' all these little kids roll around on the floor," Ben sighed, propping his chin up on his hands. "I wish Dunner was here. That would be more funner."

"Shh! I'm trying to read!" Colton whispered loudly from his spot by the window.

Ben rolled his eyes and looked back at the toddler girls who were flopping around the floor, apparently learning how to be graceful.

"Mama how much longer?"

"They just started honey."

"Is there anything I can do?"

"I asked you if you wanted to bring something and you said there would be too much to look at."

"But I was wrong mama! This is just like watchin' sissy run around the house on a normal day. I thought it would be like the circus."

"Our house is like a circus on a normal day," Lindsay muttered, leaning over to wipe his nose.

"Nu-uh, we don't gots lions!"

Lindsay chuckled and pulled Ben up into her lap, kissing his cheek.

"Here, you can play with my phone."

"Alright! Awesome!"

Within seconds he was engrossed in a game and had fallen silent with nothing to complain about. Avery seemed to be having fun in her class for the most part, but was definitely the most uncoordinated of the group, despite Sarah's previous attempts at coaching her. She was currently having trouble doing a somersault and by the look on her face she was getting upset that she couldn't do it. Her legs were too short to push her over well and she wasn't using her arms to help her either. One of the teachers came over and tried to help, but Avery had reached the point of frustration that she wouldn't return from. She stood up instead and crossed her arms over her chest, watching as the other girls tumbled expertly all over the floor. It wasn't a secret that she felt left out and she wished she could do it too, but her shoulders sunk in despair and she turned around, running to the edge of the mat and putting her hands on her hips.

"Mama I can't."

"Yes you can. Go try again."

"No I done."

"Averylin, you need to go out and try again. You can do it. Just take your time."

"I think her hiney is too big," Ben noted.

"Ben hush. Avery go try one more time for mama."

"Okay."

Avery ran back to the middle of the floor and took a deep breath, muttering something to herself before squatting down and executing a very crooked somersault.

"Mama! Mama! I do! Avery do pepper-salt!"

"Good job honey. Go out there and do some more."

Avery hopped up and down happily and ran off to join the rest of her class, who were lining up to try something else. Lindsay was trying so hard not to laugh at Avery because no matter how enthusiastic she was, she just couldn't improve her coordination. She was cute and determined about it though, which meant she was having fun.

"Mama, what are we doing after this?"

"I don't know yet Colton. Do you guys have to be entertained every second of the day?"

"Yep, we do," Ben said with a nod. "Don't you know that mama?"

"It would be nice if we could go home and you kids could entertain yourselves so I could get some housework done."

"Yeah, the inside of our house does look kinda sloppy."

"Ben!" Colton said, shocked. "That's not a nice thing to say to a lady!"

"Why not? It's the truth!"

"Okay I guess it's decided. We'll go home and you kids will clean your rooms and the bathroom while I clean the rest of the house."

"Aw man! Look what you did Ben!"

"That's okay! I like to clean. There's always the chance of findin' new stuffs."

Colton rolled his eyes and went back to his book.

"Mama look at sissy! She's swingin' on those things! I wanna do that!"

Lindsay laughed as she looked over at Avery who was holding onto the rings for dear life, her toes perfectly pointed and her face one of terror.

"I down!" she shrieked, starting to kick her legs, giving the instructor a tough time getting her down. "I go potty!"

"Oh great," Lindsay sighed, lifting Ben off of her lap and walking across the room to meet Avery at the edge of the mat.

"Mama," she sniffled. "I potty."

"You need to go or you already did?"

"I stink."

"Oh Averylin."

They made their way into the bathroom while Colton buried his nose in his book and Ben laughed.

"Oh man. That sissy of ours is sure good for a laugh huh?"

"Are the kids in bed?"

His voice was rough and tired on the other end of the phone and she shivered as she slid into bed.

"Yeah. Avery fell asleep right after you called earlier and I let the boys make a fort and sleep in it, so they're sawing logs pretty good down there."

"What are you wearing?"

"A big sweatshirt that has paint stains all over it and a pair of your sweats that have holes and grass stains all over them and I have goop on my face."

"Way to kill the mood."

"You know, years ago the thought of me in your clothes would have turned you on."

"Yeah, that was back when I was adventurous."

"Adventurous? You just asked what I was wearing. I think you're still adventurous."

"Just a little lonely."

"Okay you're making me blush. Change of subject."

"You wound me."

"Hey, we're almost one week down. You're a trooper."

"You owe me."

"You owe me too."

"Come visit me."

"I want to but I'd never leave."

"Absence makes the heart grow fonder."

"Whoever said that was a quack. It just makes me grow grim about the mouth."

"Time to take to the sea babe."

She chuckled and pushed the pillows around until they were just how she wanted them, then settled back and yawned.

"I booked the yurt," he said after a moment. She burst into laughter so loud that he had to hold the phone away from his ear.

"What is so funny?"

"You sounded just like Ben and yurt is the funniest word ever."

"You seem a lot happier than you have been the last few days."

"I am. I still miss you but the kids are doing better so that helps a lot. Anyway, back to the yurt?"

"I booked it for the Tuesday through Thursday after I get back. That way I can help you pack on Monday. I booked an hour of horseback riding on Wednesday morning. I thought you could take the boys and Avery and I can go fishing."

"I wanna go fishing too!"

"Well then we'll all go riding and then we'll go fishing. How's that?"

"Good."

"I can't wait. It's gonna be nice to be back together."

"I know. Is your class still going okay?"

"Yeah. I keep thinking of things to add. Definitely not running out of material, it's just hard to make it all fit."

"Are you having fun with it though?"

"For the most part. Definitely wouldn't want to do this all the time though. It's fun to geek out about this stuff but I'd rather be in the lab actually doing it."

"I know what you mean."

They fell into a comfortable silence and she traced her finger over the stitching in the comforter.

"I wish you were here right now. I don't feel like I'm home without you."

"I know."

"Can we stay on the phone all night?"

"Sure. Want to listen to me brush my teeth?"

"Of course."

He chuckled and the hotel bed creaked as he stood up and walked into the small bathroom.

"So how was the Chinese take out for dinner?" he asked.

"Okay, here is something you need to know about that stinkin' restaurant. Their food sucks, okay? Their General's Chicken was made with ketchup and Tabasco sauce. I am not joking. It was so gross. So I figured I would just eat the rice but no, there was a hair in it. I decided to take it from the kids too but they didn't even mind because it was so gross. Austin came over to drop something off and even she wouldn't take a bite. It was disgusting okay? I couldn't even throw it away in the house, I had to take it straight out to the outside can. So don't even talk to me about dinner."

"There you go trying to make things a little easier and finding out the hard way that the easy way is the hard way," he laughed picturing the face she always made when she was ranting about something.

"Bite me, Chuckles."

"I'd love to."

"Oh my gosh I started it again."

He laughed and climbed into bed, shutting the lamp off and adjusting the pillows and scratchy blankets, wishing for the millionth time that he was home.

"Can I tell you something?"

"Hmm?"

"I keep waking up in the middle of the night. Like every hour or so, I wake up looking for you."

"Even your subconscious misses me," Lindsay crooned with a smile. "I don't blame it, I'm pretty awesome."

"Among other things. What are you guys doing tomorrow?"

"I'm working in the morning and Faye is coming over to watch the kids. Ben spent an hour making her a card today. He says he couldn't draw the flowers quite right so he made them into aliens "what got stems for thems bodies and leaves for thems arms." I asked him if Faye likes aliens and he told me that she has to now."

"That kid is so strange."

"How we ended up with him, I'll never know, but I'm not complaining."

"He is the strangest bits of both of us."

"He's like our combo platter."

Adam laughed and yawned, realizing that his Saturday morning lecture class was going to come pretty early. He needed to sleep but there was no way he could tell her that.

"Hey honey?"

"Yes?"

"I love you."

"I love you too babe."

"Earlier today I was thinking about how different things were years ago before we started dating. I kind of miss that sometimes."

"What part of it?"

"I don't know really. We never had hard times back then, you know? Everything was easy. I wouldn't trade now for anything, but sometimes I miss those simpler days."

"They may have been easy for you, but not for me."

"Why?"

"I had to make sure I didn't overstep my boundaries. That wasn't easy. I was pretty sweet on you."

"You should have just gone for it."

"Woulda freaked you out."

"Maybe, but not enough to tell you no."

"I think it's better that we had that time. Our communication skills would have ended us if we didn't have that foundation from the beginning."

"Maybe. It's interesting to think about different ways it could have gone but I'm happy with what actually happened."

"Me too."

"We should probably sleep. Morning's coming."

"We're staying on the phone right?"

"Yes please."

"Okay. Goodnight honey. I love you."

"Love you too."

She settled the phone next to her and closed her eyes, feeling not quite so far apart anymore.