Chapter 14

Margaret was awake reading a magazine and saw the look on his face. "It’s for the conference."

His face immediately softened. "Oh. Thank you."

"Uh huh."

"Why did you do that?"

"I wanted to make sure you had everything that you needed."

"Oh."

"I set your alarm for four." She placed her magazine on the table and shut off her lamp. Hawkeye got into bed and got as comfortable as he could on his side of the bed. She was lying as far away as she could, telling him she didn't want to be touched.

"Goodnight," he mumbled.

"Goodnight."

**********

That morning Hawkeye rolled out of bed when his alarm went off. He cursed it, but got out of bed and jumped into the shower. He let the water wake him up for a while before he got out. He hadn't noticed the night before that Margaret had also laid out his clothes for the day too. He stepped into them and then went to make himself some coffee. He checked in on both of the boys and whispered goodbye to them. He wouldn't get to see them until Friday. He took a moment and watched each of them sleep and then went back to get his coffee. Noticing that there was still a mess in the living room, he picked up the trash and the dishes and brought them to the kitchen.

It was time for him to go and catch his flight, so he downed his coffee as quickly as he could and then went back into the bedroom to get his suitcase. Margaret was lying on her side hugging a pillow. He sighed; he really hated fight with her. He bent down and gave her a kiss on the head. "I love you."

"Love you," she mumbled back. "Call me when you get there."

"I will. Bye." At least he knew she still loved him. Maybe she was over it now.

"Bye." She drifted back to sleep.

**&*&*&*&*&*&*&**

Less than an hour later, Margaret’s alarm clock went off. Normally Hawkeye would have nudged her to shut it off and then go back to sleep, but he wasn’t there. She rolled out of bed reluctantly and shut the alarm off. This morning she had to get herself ready and then the boys too. Most mornings all she had to worry about was herself, but not this week. 8 x@ˆÍÕY”8VeùN