The master bedroom

(Author's note: I suck at coming up with titles, ask me how long it took to come up with the name for this damn blog, so to keep things simple I'm going with locations for titles at the moment.)

After turning off the lights and tip-toeing through the mine field that is our unfolded sock pile I finally slide into bed. Ricky's on his phone - probably reading reddit or something like that. A few chuckles escape him every now and then, but I've learned to not bother asking what's so funny. As a non-redditor chances are high I won't really "get it" anyway.

I can tell he's decided he's done for the night when the room goes pitch black. This is my sign it's time to say "good night."

I roll over and fumble in the dark for his face. When I find it I turn it toward me, leave a quick peck on the lips and then roll back to welcome slumber. He snuggles up beside me.

"Night. Love you."

A pause.

"Ricky?"

"Love you too," he mumbles. The dude falls asleep quickly, but this hesitation isn't that. He's always had a bit of issue with the L word. He willingly admits this.

A few moments pass, and then apparently he's got something on his mind that can't wait til the morning.

"Why do you always insist on doing that before bed? It's not like I'm going anywhere."

"You always say 'bye' and 'I love you' when leaving someone, even if it's just going to sleep," I protest. "You never know what could happen."

He's dubious. "In bed. What could happen?"

Oh boy. He should've known where I'd end up going with this. Especially since I've been in marketing for a hospital for almost a year now.

"Stroke, heart attack, aneurysm, any number of things really. You never know when your time is up."

Silence.

I shrug. He's probably fallen asleep by now. Not kidding when I said he does it in the blink of an eye.

"My mom always used to say that."

Now I pause. Ricky's mom passed when he was a senior in high school. So I'm assuming this is a good thing, but since I never met her I can't be sure. His relationship with her memory is a bit... rough at times.

"Well, it's probably the smartest thing your mom said then."

With that I roll over, kiss him a second time and snuggle down again. It's probably safe to say we both fall asleep within five minutes.

P.S. - apparently what I said last night struck a cord. This morning as we were packing C up for day care I was able to successfully get two goodbyes and love yous, without any hesitation. Though the second one did merit an eye roll. Whatever, I call it a win.