Chapter 4:
"These wines just keep getting better and better, hon!" Tami swiveled the wine in her glass and took such a long, drawn-in sniff that Eric thought she would have to faint from lack of breath, and then drained the glass. "Don't they, hon?" she asked him, looking at him with excessively wide eyes.
His tongue snaked out between his curving lips before he pulled it back in. "More likely you just keep getting drunker and drunker." This was their sixth and last winery. They'd had an early dinner after the fourth winery, but the food hadn't appeared to absorb too much of the alcohol Tami had consumed. Of course, it probably hadn't helped that she'd also had a glass of wine with dinner.
He wasn't tasting at all unless she particularly liked a wine and wanted to buy a few bottles. Then he'd take a little taste of that specific wine just to make sure her judgment was sound. If he didn't think it was, he'd draw her aside away from the bar and the other tasters and whisper something like, "Listen, you think you love this right now, but you'll regret it later. This is an $18 bottle. There's a California chardonnay you like that's only $12 a bottle, and I know you really like it a lot better than this. Trust me on this one."
And she'd do something like smile really broadly and put a hand on both his cheeks and lean in and rub his nose with her nose and say, "I trust you, hon, I trust you, sugar, I really do. I trust you soooo much." And he'd chuckle, low and happy, and put an arm around her waist and lead her back to the tasting bar. And if she said she really liked a wine and he tasted it and thought it was one she really, truly, would like sober, he bought half a case. After the third winery, whenever they'd get back in the SUV, she'd turn to him and kiss him madly and deeply for a couple of minutes, running her hands all through his hair and over his shoulders and across his chest, before saying, "Drive on, chaufer!" And he'd answer, "As you wish, madam," and kick the SUV into gear and hit the road with a huge grin on his face.
When they left this, their sixth and last winery, driving past the grapevines growing up against the supporting wires, it was getting dark, and there wasn't much lighting out on the country road. He drove for a while with the high beams on and, before getting back onto the paved road, he decided to pull into a secluded field and put the SUV in park. He turned off the headlights and turned on the overhead light. "You have fun, babe?" he asked.
"I had so much fun, Eric. I haven't had this much fun – " she put an arm .across his shoulders. "I don't know when I've had this much fun. Thanks for driving, sugar."
"Well, madam," he said, "I think maybe your chauffer deserves a tip."
"You want a tip?" She smiled, unbuckled her seatbelt, and said in a suggestive tone, "I'll give you a tip."
Her lips were warm and eager against his. He'd hope for this - a few grateful kisses. He knew he wasn't getting any sex tonight when they got home to Phili. She'd be dead asleep. And he wasn't getting any in the morning either. She'd be hung over. But tomorrow night, he hoped they'd make love. Until then, the kisses would have to hold him. At the moment, he wasn't expecting anything beyond that. So when she put a hand on his knee, he expected it to stay on his knee. He didn't expect her to slide it up to the top of his jeans, undo his snap, and yank down his zipper. He didn't expect her to slide it into his pants and start stroking him. And he most certainly didn't expect the lips that were on his lips to trail down, down, down…
"Oh, God, Tami! Oh, sweetheart." He threw his head back against the headrest. The fingers of one hand dug into her hair. The fingers of the other hand clenched the steering wheel. "Yes, Tami…please…mhmmm….that's so very, very…Tami? Tami, hon? Tami?" He bent his head down to look at her. The sound of a soft snore rose from his lap.
He grunted and clenched his teeth and sighed. He lifted her up slowly from his lap and lay her head back against the headrest of her seat. He tucked himself in and zipped himself up and buttoned his pants and winced. He reclined her seat, and she turned on her side and pulled her knees up and curled herself on the seat. He stretched the buckle around her and clicked it in. He shifted in his seat and winced again. "A'ight," he muttered to his sleeping wife. "I got a tip for you. Finish what you start. That's just a little tip. Because if you don't…a man can't drive comfortably. That's all." He put the SUV into reverse, backed out of the field onto the dirt road, and began the drive home.
About an hour beyond wine country, he got stuck in some serious traffic caused by some night construction, and he was glad Tami was sleeping soundly so she wouldn't be able to comment on his frustration and the subsequent language it inspired. At this rate, the drive was going to take five hours, not the three and half he had originally planned. Things eased up considerably when he reached a more rural area of Maryland, where he decided to pull off the highway to a motel. The land was flat around the clustered, low-rise, commercial center of the small town, which was littered by gas stations and fast food joints and car repair places and two chain motels, but in the distance, dark, wood-crested hills, coated with hickory and oak and maple trees, marked the landscape. He followed the neon glow of the motel sign.
He left Tami sleeping in the locked car for a minute, checked in, got their key, carried her to the room, turned down the blankets, lay her on the bed, took off her shoes, and tucked her in. He went back and got their suitcase. He stripped down to his boxers and crawled into bed next to her, pressed his stomach against her back, draped an arm around her, and murmured, "I love you," even though she couldn't hear him. "I love you, Tami Taylor. Welcome to your dream vacation at the Econo Lodge in Godknowswhere, Maryland."
It wasn't a minute before he was asleep himself.
/-*-/
"Hon, are you okay?" Eric stood leaning against the sink that lined the wall immediately outside the motel bathroom. The door was mostly closed and a thin ray of light escaped beneath it. "You want me to come in? Hold your hair or something?"
"Just go away, Eric. Please, just go away."
He didn't. He stood by the door. He heard her vomit and flush and then heard the shower turn on. That was when he went back to the bed, turned on the light to his left, and sat and waited for her.
She came out wrapped in only a towel, her hair wet and matted. She put a smaller hand towel on her pillow so it wouldn't get soaked by her hair and sat on the bed and groaned.
"Sorry, hon," he said. "You'll feel better in the morning." He reached over to the nightstand and handed her a glass of water. "Drink some so you don't get dehydrated and make your headache worse. Small sips. So it doesn't make you throw up."
She obeyed. Then she lay down on top of the sheets but did not pull the blanket up. She draped a hand across her forehead and closed her eyes.
Eric rubbed his cheek. He was already starting to get a little bit of stubble. He wished he didn't have to shave every single morning to keep it under control, but Tami liked a smooth cheek. Given all the time she spent on her hair and her makeup and picking out just the right clothes, he supposed he could manage to do that much for her without complaining. He'd grown a beard once. She'd hinted and hinted until he finally shaved it all off. A few years later, he'd attempted a goatee. She nixed that one as well. Two years after that, he'd gone for the half-growth look. Finally she'd just been frank with him. "It's not just that I like the way you look better when you're clean shaven, hon" she'd said, "it's that I like the way you feel when we kiss and when you...you know...do that." After that, he'd never gone more than two days without shaving.
He looked down at her on the bed and watched her breathing level. She was back asleep already. He was reaching for the light when she shifted and her towel fell open. His hand hesitated on the lamp as he took a moment to admire her beauty. He clicked the light off, pulled the wet towel out from under her, and pulled the blanket up to tuck it around her.
He lay down and tried to go back to sleep. Fifteen minutes later, he gave up and went to the bathroom where he took an excessively cold shower before returning to bed.
