She felt like waiting for something that would never actually happen. 

As usual, Yuriko dropped the kids off at daycare in the early mornings and picked them up in the afternoon after finishing her shift at the hospital, took care of Chief and the household. Luckily, their neighbours agreed to look after the Aussie when she was working.

Yuriko tried her best to stick to their routines as a family, but it was hard for her to do two people’s jobs at once. Even though it was not the first time that Vian was away for some weeks, and even though they both usually worked during the day anyway, the situation was harder on her this time. 

Maybe it was the uncertainty about how long this deployment would take, maybe it was something else. And even though she usually trusted Chief to be a good guard dog, he also seemed different and was distracted more easily.

She shook her head to get rid of these thoughts. Right now, she was on her way to the supermarket to get some ingredients for dinner before picking up the kids. 

She found a parking spot not too far from the entrance and got out of the car. As it was windy today, her hair was blown all around her head and she put it back behind her ears with a swift motion of her hands before taking her bag from the trunk of the car. 

For a moment, Yuriko felt as if someone was watching her and she looked around, without noticing anyone who was particularly interested in her though. She turned around, locked the car and walked over to the entrance.

She picked up a few things here and there while strolling through the aisles and still felt as if she was being watched, but whenever she looked around to check, there was nobody there. However, Yuriko decided to finish her shopping as quickly as possible. 

Speeding things up a little she was about to grab a yoghurt when someone put a hand on her shoulder. Horrified, she dropped her shopping basket to the floor, spilling everything she had put in it already.

“Oh, I'm so sorry, Yuriko, I didn't want to scare you!”, a voice behind her said and Yuriko turned around, relieved to see a familiar face.

The woman behind her had a son who was just as old as Aiden and went to the same daycare. Without realising why exactly she had reacted this way, Yuriko shook her head: “No problem, Sarah, I was just too wrapped up in my own thoughts and didn’t notice you.”

She smiled at Sarah and kneeled down to pick up the groceries. As she got up she smiled, seeing Sarah’s pregnant belly. “I bet Kilian is looking forward to being a big brother.”

Smiling brightly, the other woman pushed back a strand of her own strawberry red hair while putting her other hand on top of her belly. “It’s a little girl. I’m hoping she and Joié will be great friends in the future.”

Yuriko nodded with a friendly smile. “I’m very sure they will be! You only have a couple weeks left, right?”

The two women decided to finish their shopping together and Yuriko offered to help Sarah to her car. After declining that offer halfheartedly, Sarah was actually thankful and let Yuriko push the cart towards her car.

“Thank you, Yuriko. It would’ve taken me a little longer, but it’s so nice of you to help.”

Yuriko shook her head with another smile while putting the bag of groceries into the boot of the car. “No worries, Sarah. It’s really no big deal. But I have to run now, I guess the little munchkins are waiting for me to pick them up already. It was really nice to meet you! See you and the little one soon! And don’t hesitate to call whenever you need help, okay?”

Waving, she took the cart and hurried to her own car to drive to daycare.

When she arrived at the colourful house, she opened the gate and entered the playground area. Moments later, Yuriko was surrounded by small children. Many of them knew her because she had come here every now and then for reading stories when Joié was still very young and of course some of the kids were friends with Aiden or Joié as well.

Yuriko waved to the nursery school teacher and squatted down to look at that child’s new shoes and listen to this child’s story about their day. One of the small girls smiled shyly and handed her a small mayflower. Yuriko smiled back and gently took it from her. 

“That is so kind of you, Amy, thank you very much! Say, do you know where Joié and Aiden are?” She hadn’t spotted her children anywhere yet.

Amy nodded making her soft, curly hair bounce up and down: “Aiden hit John and had to stay inside. Jo is in the sandbox.”

The first part of Amy’s comment had Yuriko wondering but she thanked the little girl and got up before slowly walking towards the sand box. Joié was sitting on the wooden edge, accompanied by some other children.

With a loving grin, Yuriko gently poked her daughter, who turned around, flung her arms around her mother’s neck and screamed happily. “Mommy!”

“Hey, sweetie, did you have fun today?” 

Joié graciously let her mother kiss her on the cheek before nodding. “Yes, Amy and I built a fort with Luka and then Luka’s mom picked her up because they went to the beach with her dad and her little brother! Mommy, can we go to the beach, too? With daddy?”

Yuriko laughed and lifted her up to carry her inside and look for Aiden. “Sure we can go to the beach with daddy. We’ll ask him as soon as he’s back, okay? But I guess he wants to start building Aiden’s tree house first.”

When she entered the room, Yuriko immediately spotted Aiden sitting on the carpet in the play area, building a tower with wooden blocks. She sat Joié down and quietly asked her to go and get their backpacks and shoes. Then, Yuriko turned around and looked at the second teacher who was sitting at a table next to another little boy called John. She had been looking at the boy’s drawing until noticing Yuriko, but got up now to join her at the door. Knowing it could not only have been Aiden’s fault, Yuriko crossed her arms but waited for the teacher to join her patiently.

The young woman looked at her apologetically: “Hello Mrs Tate! I am so very sorry about this. I called but it only happened twenty minutes ago and I couldn’t reach your home number. I guess the two of them aren’t the best of friends at the moment.”

Yuriko nodded and lowered her voice as well: “What happened?” Until now, none of the two boys had noticed her arrival.

“Well, it was about the tree house, again. John said something that was quite tactless, unfortunately. I think I really have to talk to his parents about it as well.” She glanced at John for a moment before turning back to Yuriko. 

“He said that Aiden’s dad might not actually come home and he would not get a tree house after all. And I guess Aiden just didn’t know how to handle this situation… I know it wasn’t Aiden’s fault but he also knows that he cannot hit other kids… But I think he’s really worried about his dad. Have you heard from your husband yet? Do you know when he’ll be back?”

Horrified by what she had just heard, Yuriko shook her head. A moment later, she heard a small cry from the play area and bent down just in time to catch her son who wrapped his arms around her neck tightly. She could feel his body shaking against hers and felt tears falling from his face onto her skin. 

“It’s okay, Aiden. It’s okay. I’m here now.” She just glanced at her children’s teacher once more to say goodbye and carried her son to the door where Joié was waiting, both their backpacks and Aiden’s shoes in her tiny hands. She had put on her own shoes but the wrong way around.

“What’s wrong with Aiden? Why is he so sad?” Yuriko could tell that Joié was worried but she just wanted to take them both home.

“He’s sad because he misses Daddy so much, sweetie. Come on, let’s go home, okay?” She took the backpacks from Joié’s hands, threw them over her free shoulder and took her daughter’s free hand.

Yuriko guided her daughter through the building to avoid meeting the other children again. Aiden was still shaking on her arm even though no more tears were running down his cheeks. 

She carried him to the car and asked Joié to wait next to it while she sat Aiden down in his seat. He wiped the tears off his cheeks but couldn’t suppress the sobs. Seeing him like this broke Yuriko’s heart and she gently kissed his forehead while fastening his seatbelt which he could usually do himself.

John had unconsciously voiced what Aiden was most afraid of. The little boy couldn’t bear the thought that his dad might not actually come back home. Yuriko knew that. And even though she also knew that it was actually possible, she didn’t want her son to suffer like this. 

“Don’t worry, Aiden. I’m sure, dad will be back soon.”

Before closing the door, she ran her finger through his dark hair and looked at him. It hurt that he avoided looking at her but she understood that he didn’t want to start crying again.

Yuriko lifted her daughter up and carried her around the car. The little girl looked at her curiously. “But Mummy, why is Aiden so sad right now?”

“Well, his friend John said something that made him sad, sweetie. Maybe we could try to cheer him up a little, what d’you think?” She kissed her daughter on the cheek before opening the door on the other side of the car to put Joié in her seat as well. She looked at Aiden again but he kept his eyes on the window now and was on the brink of crying again. Yuriko sighed and walked around the car to drive home.

Both kids were really quiet during the car ride home even though they normally argued who would get to share details about their day first. Yuriko let them be without commenting on this unusual behaviour.

She understood Aiden and his worries. She actually had to admit that she was just as worried by now. Vian had been away for six days but hadn’t called since the first evening. Aiden, who didn’t have the chance to speak to his Dad that night, felt betrayed, left out and overall disappointed.

“What d’you think, should we try to call Dad after dinner tonight? I bet he misses us like crazy.”

Yuriko looked at her kids’ reflections in the rear-view mirror. Joié was delighted and threw her hands in the air with a loud scream: “Let’s call him right now!” Aiden merely shrugged and continued to look out the window.

With another silent sigh, Yuriko turned her attention back onto the road that slowly led to a more rural area.

The small neighbourhood they lived in was made up of five houses with big gardens. One of the houses belonged to Merick and Sophia, a retired married couple.

When Sophia found out about Yuriko’s pregnancy with Aiden, she had offered to look after the little one whenever she and Vian wanted to go out. That’s why the kids used to spend the evening at Nana Sophia’s house every now and then. Sophia and her husband adored the two children as they didn’t have kids of their own and they even treated Yuriko as if she were their own daughter.

The rest of the day was another struggle for Yuriko. After unpacking the groceries and starting to prepare dinner with the kids, they spent some time outside and took Chief for a walk in the woods just a couple hundred metres from their house. Aiden remained quiet for the rest of the day though.