5:52 PM, Saturday, October 14th
Morelville, Ohio
“I don’t know what you’re making but it smells so good, I could smell it out in the driveway,” I told Dana as I trooped into the house, finally at the end of the longest week in my life.
The table was set with the good china someone had given us as a wedding present that we’d never taken out of the box and there were candles waiting to be lit. Dana was barefoot but back in the blue dress she’d worn what seemed like ages ago for the dinner that never was at Adornetto’s.
“These are for you. Best I could do so late in the day. I’m sorry baby.” A little embarrassed, I offered up the bouquet of red and pink carnations I’d been able to come up with in my last minute attempt to do something romantic for her.
“Don’t you be sorry. I love them and I love that you got them for me.” She stood on her toes and bussed my lips with a kiss. “Go get out of that uniform and into something comfortable but don’t take too long. Dinner’s ready.”
“Everything’s all wrapped up,” I told Dana as we ate. “All of the main players are now in holding somewhere and will be there until at least Monday before they’re arraigned.”
“So no more work for you this weekend?”
“No more work for me and, I don’t want to talk about work anymore this weekend but we do need to talk about your future; writing or security and investigations? Both? What do you need to get set up if you decide to go into business for yourself after all?”
Dana put up a hand to stop the thoughts spilling from me. “Babe, there’ll be time for lots of talk about all of that later. I don’t really want to talk about work right now either.”
“Okay. I love you, you know.”
She smiled brightly. “I love you too.”
When we were nearly finished, I asked in my best hopeful sounding voice, “Is there dessert?”
“Of course there’s dessert,” she said. “Why don’t you take our wine, go into the family room and lay in a fire? I’ll just do a quick clean-up out here while dessert warms up just a little and I’ll be in.”
“Deal!” I got up, picked up our glasses and the wine bottle and sauntered off to the family room to make fire. Boo, who’d sat patiently waiting for any sort of scrap from the table at all, started to follow me but, when she realized her mama was staying in the kitchen, she did an energetic about face and went right back in there.
After I got the fire going, I contemplated setting us up comfortably on the floor but I knew Boo wouldn’t let us relax as long as we had food and there was, after all, dessert to think about. I poured us each a little more wine and set them on the end table by the couch instead and then took a poker to my little blaze to adjust things just a bit.
The terrier bolted into the room and over to me. I turned to see Dana standing just inside the doorway with two plates of the best looking little cakes I’d ever seen on a plate. She hand one to me when she reached me and then we took seats.
I marveled at what I had in my hand. “This looks too good to eat. Is it red velvet?”
“Well if you don’t eat it, I will!” she said as she nodded in answer to my question.
I quickly cut into it with my fork. The liquid center oozed out. The taste was beyond amazing. “Babe,” I started, “this is unreal. How did you make these?”
“It wasn’t hard but, I admit, I had a little help. It was actually Hannah’s idea. She came down and we made them together.”
“Well, my compliments to both chefs.”
Boo cooperated and let us have a little peace once we moved to snuggle on the floor after dessert. She went to her own pillow closer to the flames.
Dana got down carefully in her dress. As I lay down beside her, I took a deep breath and relaxed into her.
The fire was hot and so was my wife. The combination was working to finally melt my stress away. I just held her for several long minutes and tried to blank my mind of anything but her. I stretched as she kneaded a shoulder and the base of my neck with strong fingers. I rubbed her lower back in return but soon was lost in the taste of her lips as she caught mine with a kiss.
We spent several long minutes kissing, lost in each other until I felt her shiver against me.
“Cold? The fire’s died down a lot.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“Sure you will...in the bedroom where I can get you out of that beautiful dress and get you all warmed up in other ways.” I raised an eyebrow at her.
We took our little celebration to our room. For good measure, I moved Boo’s bed she rarely used, outside the bedroom door. I didn’t want her crawling in with us just yet...
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