Susan woke up with the sun pouring through her windows-yet-to-get-curtains. Knowing the packing was almost finished she smiled and stretched and yawned, luxuriously sinking into the pillows under her head. She was awake, just like that, and eager to get up and enjoy her newly-arranged apartment.
Wrapping her robe around her she stepped into the living room. Mark was still sleeping on the sofa. He pulled up the haphazardly strewn blanket while he slept but it failed to cover him, most of it bundled on the floor.
Susan smiled and crossed the room. She pulled up the blanket then considered making coffee. Then he could wake up to that near-divine scent.
But her cupboards were bare, and her fridge only held a pizza box, two slices left, probably fated to become dinner at some point, hopefully not in the too distant future, if at all. So she showered and washed her hair, wrapping the robe around her, the towel over her head and returned to her room to find some less-wrinkled clothes, hoping she wouldn't need to utilize her recently-discovered (under the entire works of jane austen… how'd they end up in the same box?) iron. She'd ironed enough for several lifetimes thanks to several summer jobs. One of the top perks of a doctor's salary was most definitely the luxury of a drycleaner. Unfortunately her freshly dry cleaned clothes had been through quite and ordeal since she'd packed them – or you'd think so to look at them.
A clingy crinkle sating shirt fit the bill – it was meant to be creased! – and a well-worn woolen skirt that swung around her knees as she went for a glass of water. She didn't really want to wake him but, forced to silence by his sleep, her morning burst of energy was quietly maddening.
Tap water bounced out of her glass, spattering all over the bench top and her shirt. She laughed and swallowed the lot in one breath. She listened for movement in the almost-tidy lounge behind her. She forced herself not to look, opening the window, then wiping down the bench and the windowsills… she was about to start on that pizza when Mark appeared at the kitchen door.
"Morning." He smiled, sleepy, his throat clammy.
"Morning." She grinned. "Did it murder your back?"
"What? Oh, the couch, no it's fine. A step up from the staff lounge."
"High standards I see. You want breakfast?"
he rubbed his face and yawned, "Yeah, what's the time?"
"eight. Oh, are you working today?"
he shook his head. "You?"
"Tonight. Breakfast's on me. You're fee for helping me unpack."
"You really don't need to…"
"I insist. It's a huge load off – trust me. You can even pick where. I'm sure the best eats in Chicago have changed in the past five years. Well, at least I hope so."
Mark grinned, "don't hold your breath. I'll just use your bathroom."
"Go for it." she followed him out of the kitchen and tidied the lounge. She couldn't stand still. Maybe it was the relief of getting the packing finished. Moving was always a bit of a beast. Or maybe it was the company. She never thought they could fall back into what they used to be quite so simply. But they had. And she couldn't be happier.
Well that wasn't entirely correct. She couldn't have hoped for more but there was one thing that might make her happier. That might erase all her regret. Almost all of her realizations, from staring death in the face, were in her power to fix. Her relationship with Mark… well, it takes two to tango. And anything more than a tango might be more than he was willing to give. Fresh from divorce court the timing was hardly perfect but then they'd never been great on that score. She'd always wished he'd timed his confession just a few days or weeks earlier – she might have never left. But she couldn't blame him for that one. She didn't even want to. She could happily take the responsibility for that but she only wished it were in her power to remedy the situation.
He exited the bathroom, eyes wide and tired. His collar was tidied and open at top, drawing too much of her attention to the rough skin of his unshaved jaw line. "There's a nice place down by the pier."
"Lead the way." She opened the door and followed him out.