“I’m
always tired. Lately, just going home makes me more tired. There was one trip
where I purposely extended the trip just so I wouldn’t have to go home, right
away. I needed the extra day in a hotel just to rest because I knew when I went
home we would get in a fight.
“I
just—I just wish things would go back to the way they were, you know? We had
plans in college. But then I got this job, and it was amazing, at first, but
when they laid people off, I had to do more, and it just. . . . Why can’t it go
back to being simple? We would go to the beach and take road trips or just curl
up to a movie, and even when things were tense, we were together. I don’t feel
like we’ve been together, recently.
“We
stopped making love. It’s been months since—”
“What’s with that look?” I asked.
“You have traditionally been
uncomfortable when the conversation has turned to matters of lovemaking.” Nikki
smiled into her cocoa.
“What? No. Not uncomfortable. It’s
just not something that needs to come up in everyday conversation, I guess.”
“On more than one occasion, I have
broached the subject, and—”
“Whoa, now. Okay, that is entirely
different. You deliberately ambush and try to shock me, so, yeah, I’m gonna get
squirmy about that.”
“Do you know, Matthew, now that you
have your new hat, it’s a perfect excuse for me to dress up as Mrs. Claus.”
I frowned, trying to see where she
was going with this as I pictured a grandmotherly woman with little round
glasses, dressed all in red and white. But I couldn’t picture Nikki like that,
then the history of her Halloween costumes came to mind.
I dove into my cocoa to try and
mask the flush to my cheeks.
“Yes, I shall definitely have to
dress appropriately for the holidays, from now on.”
“So, um, the story, where was I?”
“Sex.”
“Crap.”