He took a deep breath, let it flow out of him. His thoughts turned to the more pleasant and his wife Beth. That helped pass the time and finally Mike pulled into the driveway, home at last.
The snow had made a thirteen-minute trip take upwards of over a half-hour. So much for convenience; the city designers had done their work well--but there were some things you just couldn't prepare for.
With the car parked and turned off, Mike could relax. It was a tense drive home, fighting the weather and the road conditions.
Wonder what that surprise could be Beth mentioned. Mike gathered up his stuff and trudged up to the house, getting inside and shutting the door as fast as he could. "Honey, I'm home!" Mike loved saying that.
Once he'd shut the door behind himself, Mike thought he could hear some kind of motor running upstairs, to his mild surprise. "I'm up here!" he heard Beth shout back, her voice echoing to his ears through the long halls within the house.
Mike heard the sound of her voice and smiled. He listened the noise from upstairs, trying to figure out what it was.
Mike strained his ears to hear what issued forth from above him as he slowly ascended the stairwell. The notion of a motor...that had been right, as he listened closer, he was sure of it, now. But he also began to hear what sounded like a low murmur of bubbling, too. Not really very rapid...something hushed. Slow and lazy.
The sounds didn't match with the first things he thought might be going on up there. He did love a mystery.
Upstairs, over the ridge of the stairwell, he could see the corner of the piano, placed up in the livingroom, the edge of what looked like their entertainment center.
The Hines Ward Jersey, discarded at the top of the stairs.
The first bread crumb. He would follow all of them, right into her web. Mike got his heavy coat and boots off, and headed upstairs.
He saw that the movers had put their little coat rack in the foyer-landing, facing the door, when you opened it up. It seemed to fit perfectly, to his mild surprise. Beth had already gotten all of their coats and hats out of the boxes, arranged them neatly along the little hooks atop it. There was a single space open for the stuff that he wore. As usual, she'd thought of everything.
His best friend had been very busy today.
It was true. After passing the piano, the couch and television up in the living room, he passed the kitchen. Just a glance inside was enough for Mike to see that all the pots and pans were hung up, the small series of Beatrix Potter magnets Beth treasured arranged all over the front of the refrigerator. She'd even laid down the throw carpet in the middle of the floor, tucked a bit of it under their nook, in the corner of the room, next to their tall, matching bar stools.
Once at the top, he looked for which room Beth was in. He didn't even remember that their belongings had only arrived today, and it felt like everything was right where it belonged. He followed the noise, wondering what Beth had set herself to doing now. "Beth? What are you doing?"
He followed the noise all the way to the bathroom, attached to their bedroom.
Pushed the door, halfway open, slowly on its hinges.
And saw that, within, the light was out. But still, he could see easily within. The room had been arranged with about thirty small votives, their little lights flickering gently and inconsistently, giving the whole of the bathroom a shadowy, eerie sort of look to it. In the corner of the room, Mike saw that Beth was relaxing in the bathtub. He'd yet to really have much of a look at it, other than just hitting the shower first thing in the morning, half-asleep and out of it. Even then, he'd noticed it had been the biggest bath he'd ever seen in his life before, the edges of it, sleek contoured plastic.
His mind returned to this afternoon when she was lounging in bed. The tub was the next logical place. Somewhere he would be very happy to join her.
Beth had slouched under the water, up to her neck in it. He could see light steam rising off the surface of it, like mist off of a springtime mountain. In the shivering dimness, he could see that she'd sprinkled rosepetals all across the top of it, noticed it bubbling gently from around the edges of it. The air was thick with the heat from the water, the scent of flowers and gentle oils. Beth smiled gently at him, half in shadow, making her look like one of his dreams, like some piece of exotic, Bauhaus artwork.
The heat felt good after such cold outside. The smells served to start the relaxation process. His boss did say get some relaxation.
"Hey, sweetie..." she said, her voice barely a husky hush over the sound of the bubbling.
Mike noticed he hadn't breathed in quite some time.
It took a second for Mike to find his voice. "Hey baby." They didn't need anymore words. Mike just began undressing, tossing his clothes back into the bedroom. His body was warming up quickly.
Beth craned up out of the water, stretching her pale neck to meet him as he bent down to take off a sock. In the half-light, Mike saw how the action revealed her full, heavy breasts, the flesh like vanilla ice cream topped with gentle pink. Marveled at the flat of her belly as she kissed him. It was a soft thing, really little more than the grazing of her lips across his.
It sent electric shivers up his spine.
After all the years they had been together, the last five in marriage, the sight of her body still hit him full force, like the first time he ever saw her fully naked. He felt the physical excitement touching her again come over him.
He moved to the bath tub. "I think you found the perfect thing for us to do after a long, busy day."
She kicked up her tiny foot, making a little splash in the water with a flick of her toes, moving her legs apart so that he'd have ample place to sit. "I thought you might wanna relax," she smiled. "I wanted to go out and buy a bottle of wine," she confided, "but there was no way I was walking out in that mess, out there."
"Yeah, it got bad out there today."
"That the understatement of the year," she sighed. "It makes me sad to think of those animals out there--like we were talking about last night," she made a face. "I was a little worried about you driving home."
Mike knelt beside the tub, leaned over to give Beth a soft, but longing kiss on the lips. With a happy face Mike said, "Looks like there's room in there for me."
While he kissed her, he felt her take his hand, stroke the skin of her stomach with it. "Here, too," she said, when their lips had only parted but millimeters, rubbing just above the sparse hair between her legs with his fingertips.
Mike didn't have the breath to say anything. He savored the touch of her lips, the feel of her skin. The look in her eyes. He had the same look.
He stepped into the hot water, wincing for a second. Another burst of heat as eased down into the water beside Beth. It began to work on taking the tension and stress right out of his body. Mike slid an arm behind his wife and kissed her again.
She sighed, leaning her head back against the thickness of his arm. "So how was the first day at work for Dow's number-one genius?" she asked him, taking the time to turn her neck just so, sliding the weight of her head into the crook between his shoulder and ear. The nearness of her made him sigh, himself. He felt her soft golden hair sweep across his cheek. He smelled the hint of vanilla and almond.
