One step at a time

Ryan smiled down at Ashby. "I bet you're mommy is the bestest mommy. She really looks like she loves you," Ryan nodded. He opened the door that lead out side of the building and walked along a sidewalk path to the decent sized play ground.

Ashby nodded and continued to follow Ryan as they walked to the playground. When they got there, he stayed with Ryan. He liked his teacher and plus he was starting to miss him mommy. He frowned a little as he looked up at Ryan.

"Is everything okay Ashby?" he asked. Ryan got down on his knees in front of Ashby and looked into his eyes. He wanted to bring the boy into a hug but he wasn't sure how Ashby would react. He kept his arms to himself and waited for an answer.

Ashby instantly held onto Ryan when he hugged her. "I miss my mommy!" He said, trying not to cry. He looked at Ryan, and wiped his eyes. "I want to see mommy again." He said. "I don't like school anymore. I want mommy!" He hugged Ryan.

Trish sat her desk, doing some work. As she did her work, she glanced at the clock. She felt like time was going slow today on purpose. Knowing that her son was at school for the first time ever, for eight whole hours, it just made her upset. That meant her little man was growing up.

Ryan hushed Ashby and rubbed his back soothingly. "It's okay Ashby. Mommy is at work right now. She'll be back before you know it," he said lightly. Ryan picked Ashby up carefully and carried him to a bench so that they could sit down and he wouldn't get leg cramps from being bent to Ashby's height. "How bought when we get back to the class for snack time you can call your mommy and tell her hi, and then we can play some fun games." He suggested, hoping Ashby would by it.

Ashby smiled brightly at Ryan when he told him that he could talk to his mommy when they got back in class. "Oh i would love to talk to mommy." He said with excitement. He stood next to Ryan, waiting to go back inside.

Ryan smiled and nodded. "You wanna go play?" He offered, holding his hand out to Ashby and taking a few steps toward the playground. "It would make time go by faster," he added.

Ashby stood there for a moment then looked at Ryan. "Only if you're playing with me." He said as he grabbed his teacher's hand.

Ryan nodded again. "I would love to play with you," he said leading Ashby over to the slides. "These are my favorite," he said dropping Ashby's hand and climbing up the steps to the top of one of the slides.

Ashby gasped with a smile. "Really? I love the slides too. They're so much fun." He said as he climbed to the top. He looked at the Ryan, hugged him, then away he went, down the slide.

Ryan smiled and sat at the top of the slide for a moment before he eagerly followed after Ashby down. Once at the bottom he moved to go up again. "I'll race you to the top," he cheered letting Ashby get the head start.

Ashby laughed and slid down, giggling the whole time. He cheered when he beat Ryan. "I won!" He said cheerfully. He looked at Ryan and smiled.

"Darn. You did win. You are supper fast Ashby," he said getting off the slide and smiling down at the boy.

Ashby smiled and said "It's because I eat my veggies like mommy tells me too....some times." He grinned a little before walking back up to Ryan. "I'm ready to go inside now." He said. "I want to call mommy."

Ryan let out a little laugh and smiled. "Lets see if everyone else is ready to go inside, okay?" He said lightly. He knew they could always come back outside later if that was needed. "Come on kids! Lets go inside!" he called walking over to stand on the side walk that lead back to the building.

Ashby couldn't help but smile as everyone lined up to go inside. He was so excited about this. He was going to call his mommy. When they got inside, he sat down in his chair at his desk, waiting for Ryan to call him over to his desk. He watched as the other kids around him started playing with some toys. He looked at Ryan and just smiled, getting anxious.

Trish was sitting at her desk, looking through some files for one of the top lawyers in the firm. She looked at the clock and sighed, kind of ready to go home. She wanted to go home already, or at least see her son, but knew he had to be having fun at school. She sighed.

Ryan looked around his desk for the number of Trish. Once he found it he dialed the number and waited for someone to answer. "Hello. Is this Trish Parker?" he asked trying not to make it sound like something horrible had happened.

Ashby continued to sit at his desk, waiting to be called over to his desk.

When Trish's phone rang, she quickly answered it, hearing the person on the other end of the phone ask for her. "Yes this is." She said, trying to figure out who called her. She looked at the Caller I.D. seeing it was the school. "Oh my goodness, is Ashby okay?" She then asked.

"Yes, yeah. He is totally fine. This is Ryan Sumer. Ashby just wanted to say hi. He's starting to kind of miss you so I figured since you gave me your number you could give him like a pep talk or something." He spoke quietly so that Ashby wouldn't hear every single word that was said.

"Oh of course." She said softly with a small smile. She thought about it for a minute, looking at the time. "Actually, I'll be there soon. I'll have lunch with him...and if you need some help. I'll stay and be a volunteer." She said, not thinking about what all she said. "What do you think?" She then asked, kind of nervous to see what he was going to say now.