Francesca sat in her car in the garage at work and closed her eyes. She was exhausted. Burned out.
She was changing. She had this feeling recently that she was just floating through life, not really experiencing it. She was all in her head. Shut off to life in so many ways. She was tired of her life. It had been the same for too long. There was something inside her dying to come out.
She pulled out of the garage and remembered last weekend. She had done some things in bed with Todd that were out of character for her. At least she had thought they were out of character, but it actually felt pretty damn good, felt very much in character. And they weren't actually in bed. A chair, a mirror, the floor, but no bed. She smiled remembering it. She was proud of herself. She had had the guts to go to a new place inside herself and she had enjoyed what she found there.
She pulled in the driveway. The garage door was open and his car was there! He had been out of town this week. She had not expected him until later that night. She hurried into the house but stopped quickly when she found him sitting on the sofa in the den, TV on, remote in hand, sound asleep.
She set her purse on the kitchen table as quietly as possible and went to the den. She just looked at him for a minute. God how she loved him. Just the sight of his face made her happy. She knew every curve, every line of that face. She loved how his eyes sparkled when he laughed and the love she saw in them when he held her. She loved how he pursed his lips together when he was deep in thought and how he mouthed the words "go, go, go" when he watched football and his team was running the ball.
She wanted to touch and kiss that face but he obviously was tired so she'd let him sleep. She kicked off her shoes and lay on the sofa, her feet next to his legs.
Sometime later she woke when he stroked the bottom of her foot lightly with his finger. She smiled and jerked it away as she looked at him.
"Hey you," she said.
"Hey yourself."
"How was the trip?"
"Eh. Not bad I guess." He stood and walked toward the end of the sofa where she lay her head. "Tell you more about it later." He offered his hand. "Let's go upstairs and lay down for a bit. I think we're both tired." She took his hand and he helped her up.
He turned his back to her, keeping hold of her hand and led her to the stairs. She watched him walk, noticed the gentle way he held her hand in his. They climbed the stairs, entered the bedroom and lay down on the bed.
He lay on his back and stretched his arm out, then waved his fingers. "Come here," he said to her. She scooted next to him and lay her head on his chest as his arm wrapped around her. The feeling of his chest rising and falling beneath her was soothing. That dissatisfaction she had felt sitting in her car earlier was gone. All was right with the world in this moment.
Her hand lay on his chest. The first three buttons of his shirt were unbuttoned. She stroked the part of his chest that was exposed. He rolled to face her and took her hand in his, then kissed her. "I missed you," he said.
"And I missed you," she responded.
