"Not yet."
"Daryl, it's six. We have to get up."
Daryl only grunted and pulled her closer to him. Beth didn't even try to resist. Her husband was warm and solid and the air outside their bed was cold. The sun had not yet risen, but the morning was the soft grey of early dawn. Not for the first time, Beth cursed having the opening shift at the diner. But she wouldn't trade it. She enjoyed spending her nights at home with him.
"Come on. I'll make the coffee."
Daryl allowed her to pull him out of bed and followed her to the kitchen. Beth knew Daryl was naturally an early riser so when he resisted getting out of bed in the morning it was because he wanted to keep holding her. She flicked the lights on in the kitchen and turned the coffeepot on. Daryl came up behind her and wrapped her in his arms. She turned to face him and felt his work-hardened hands slide up her thighs underneath the old t-shirt of his she had been wearing as pajamas.
"Daryl, I'm going to be late," she whispered, smiling as he kissed her throat, right over her pulse.
"Don't care," Daryl muttered and picked her up in his arms to carry her back into the bedroom. Beth laughed and kissed him and they made love, slow and sweet, staying in bed until the last possible moment, until she actually was late and had to scramble into her uniform and boots and yank her hair into a ponytail. Daryl handed her a travel mug of coffee and kissed her goodbye as she climbed into his old blue truck to drive the twenty minutes into town and her job at the diner. In the rearview mirror she could see him standing on their front porch, watching her go, and she knew that when she drove off their long driveway and onto the dirt road that led to the highway, he would turn back inside the house and get himself dressed to get to his own job at his garage. She smiled and turned her attention back on the road ahead.
She had been driving for about ten minutes when she called him.
"Miss me already?" he said, and she could almost hear the smirk in his voice.
"I forgot I wanted to ask if you wanted to meet for lunch today," Beth said, glancing at the clock. 7:25. She was so late it would be a wonder if Sasha even gave her a lunch break. "They're selling apple pie today, I was thinking I could bring you-"
Beth gasped as a deer suddenly ran onto the road. She swerved, dropping her phone and screaming as she drove off the road and into a ditch. The car jerked forward sharply, she couldn't seem to find the breaks, and the last thing she was aware of was the huge tree she was just about to crash into and the sound of Daryl shouting her name through the phone. Then everything went black.