"Defining Togetherness"
(Clarisse and Joseph)
They lie in semi-darkness, tangled up in soft cotton sheets and each other. He's the first to speak after their breathing returns to normal, pushing up on one elbow.
"I would ask you to marry me, but you would say no."
Her eyes fly open, but he's smiling down at her and her panic dissipates.
"So I was thinking, maybe we should move in together."
She laughs quietly. "Technically, we have been living together for the past twenty-five years."
"But 'in sin' for far too few of them," he adds ruefully.
Smiling wickedly, she pulls him back down to her.