Mary and Lou headed to the Silver Lake Lodge and so far things were going very well. They hadn't argued about anything on the drive up and they were hoping to recreate the last time they had been there. They checked in and decided to check out the town again, see if anything had changed. But immediately they were disappointed. The bar they had gone too had been turned into a hardware store and a lot of the businesses were boarded up. It seemed the town had fallen on some pretty hard times. In fact they got such a deal on the room at the lodge they almost decided to stay an extra night but they did have jobs to go back to. They decided to take a walk down by the lake since the town was a lost cause.

"I'm sorry things aren't turning out quite like we planned," Lou said taking her hand as they walked along

Mary smiled, "That's alright. It's the time we needed away, not the activities."

"Yeah, I remember the first time we came here. " Lou said, "Ted and Murray followed us because you wouldn't tell them who were going away with."

Mary laughed, "For as long as I live I'll never forget the looks on their faces."

He stopped and turned to her, "It's good to hear you laugh again."

"It feels good to laugh again." She told him and looked at him with uncertainty lingering in her eyes, "Are we going to be okay?"

He took both her hands in his, "I love you, Mary. I have no intention of giving up on us."

"I love you, Lou, probably more than you will ever know." She told him, "I'm not giving up on us either."

He pulled her in his arms and kissed her long and deep, like he hadn't kissed her in a long, long time

"Whoa." She muttered when their lips parted

"Hmmm." He said frowning

"What?" She asked still slightly stunned

"I think I need to practice my technique some more." He said kissing her again, "Oh yeah, that's better."

"Well, maybe we need to go back to the room and practice some more." She suggested, "I mean you'll never reach perfection if you don't practice."

"Well, I think we should eat something first," He told her, "I guess the dining room is it unless we want to fish for our meal in this lake."

They spent the rest of the afternoon in the room. They had ordered room service and took a hot bath together in the Jacuzzi tub. They were playful and affectionate with each other and made love like they hadn't in months. They lay in each other's arms tangled in the sheets. Lou could smell the jasmine from the lotion she used. He pulled her close drinking in the scent. He thought she still had about the sexiest body he'd ever seen. At forty-seven and after two kids, she didn't seem to have changed much. Her legs were still long and lean. Her once thin frame was now quite voluptuous and her skin was still soft and silky. He rubbed her back and kissed her on the forehead.

"What do you want to do about dinner?" He asked, "We could go downstairs and eat in the dining room."

Her eyelids were heavy, "Hmmm, why don't we order room service again?"

"We could," He agreed, "But they may start thinking we're fooling around in here."

She rolled over on top of him and kissed him, "And what's wrong with that?"

"Damned if I know." He said brushing her hair away from her face, "I just wish we could stay this way forever."

She smiled, "So do I, but we have a life to get back to and issues to deal with." She reminded him moving off of him and settling back in his arms

He sighed, "Let's just enjoy the time we have here, huh?"

"I want to." She assured him, "But one weekend away doesn't solve all of our problems. Part of the reason I wanted to do this was so we could talk, without all the distractions we have at home."

Lou was starting to get irritated, "We've been talking."

"I know we have." She agreed, "But I just don't want to go back home and have the same arguments we've been having. I really want this to be a new start for us."

He took his forefinger and lifted her chin so their eyes met, "We won't and it will." He assured her, "I promise." He kissed her softly on the lips

They spent the rest of the day and night in bed basically becoming reacquainted with each other, not just physically but emotionally. They drifted off to sleep in each other's arms.

TWO MONTHS LATER

Mary was on the phone with her mother while the kids were playing in their rooms after dinner and Lou was in the den watching a game. He had cooked for them and she had cleaned up. Things were finally starting to level out for them. She could hear the kids getting louder and starting to fight with each other as she talked to her mother.

"Yeah, Mom, things are really good." She assured her, "Better than they have been in a while…no he's relaxing in the den or maybe not, I think his team is losing." She heard the kids getting even louder…"Hold on Mom." She walked over to the hallway and called out, "Come on you two, knock it off. Your dad is trying to watch a game and his team is losing so I don't think you want him to come in there. Lights out in fifteen minutes, you hear me?" She heard them agree and got back on the phone, "Sorry, the kids have been fighting since I picked them up…oh the usual stuff, they did the whole 'I'm not touching you' thing on the way home…right, well I need to go. I'll see you tomorrow…okay, bye, Mom."

She hung up and fixed herself a brandy and Lou a fresh scotch then went into the den to join him. She found him tense and white knuckling it on the edge of the couch, "Here, have a drink." She handed him a scotch and sat next to him

"I can't believe this. The Twins should be kicking some serious butt…come on." He yelled at the tv, "What are you doing out there?" A commercial came on and he sat back on the couch, "Just my luck."

"You had the Twins in the pool at work didn't you?" She asked knowing every year they had a baseball pool at the paper

"Yeah, man I'm screwed." He took drink of scotch

She sat her drink down on the coffee table, "Come here, let me help you relax."

He turned his back to her and she began massaging his shoulders, "The only thing that will help me relax is not losing all that money."

She kept massaging, "I don't know why you do this to yourself. It can't be any fun." She had learned not to say much about his betting and he was never irresponsible with their money

He smiled, "Well, would you be giving me a massage if I weren't all tense?"

"Oh, so that's why you do this to play on my sympathies?" She asked pushing him away playfully

He laughed picking up his scotch and taking another drink, "Who were you talking to earlier?"

"Oh, that was Mom. After I left she said she got a call from Aunt Flo. She's in Marrakesh."

"That woman just doesn't quit, does she?" He marveled at Mary's sixty-five year old aunt

Mary smiled taking a drink of brandy, "Well, where do you think I get all my spunk?"

Lou turned to her, "Hmmm." He said moving closer to her, "You wanna know something?" He asked kissing her neck, "I hate spunk."

The End