First Night
Ross brought Emily inside and started showing her around the apartment, which she hadn't seen before.
'It's a bit short of furniture,' he said. She knew perfectly well why he was short of furniture, and he went on and said, 'I've got to get some of my old stuff here.' She had to know that he was not going to make any more changes for her. He was stuck with the apartment, having surrendered his old one, but apart from that, he'd be living life as before. He'd see who he wanted, when he wanted, live with whatever furniture he wanted and he wasn't going to tell Emily where he was and what he was doing unless he felt like it.
Emily sat down on one of the few chairs in the main room and said nothing, looking around the room. He looked closely at her for any sign of dissent, ready to crush it, but saw none. He breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't want to have to fight her and he was glad that she seemed so compliant.
'It'll be great once we get my old stuff here,' he enthused. He watched as Emily got up and walked into the second bedroom, which was completely empty. He followed her. 'I was going to turn this into a study,' Ross said. 'I need somewhere to keep my boxes.' He had boxes and boxes of things in the main room, which made it feel like a store room.
'I see,' Emily said. She wandered over to the window and traced her hand on the sill. Feeling generous, Ross said,
'We'll probably need some more furniture, even if I do get some of my old stuff back - Gunther bought it from me and he's being difficult about selling it back to me. I might not get all of it back - some of it wasn't very good furniture anyway. You can pick the new furniture, I don't mind. It's your home too.' She nodded slightly and walked to the main bedroom.
He followed her in and watched as she stood at the end of bed, studying it. It was new, used by no-one but him. That was one expense he'd incurred for her that he didn't mind. A nice new mattress was always a good thing. When he had been choosing it, he had been anxious that things would not work out, and his thoughts about the mattress had been merely prosaic, along the lines of back support and whether he would sleep on it well. Now he began to have other thoughts. Taking her hand, he said, 'We need to initiate this bed.' A change came over her. Up until then, she had been quiet and apparently unsure of herself. Now she took the lead, and there was no more talking from him, and no more uncertainty from her.
In the middle of the night he was woken by a growing awareness that someone was crying, which was totally at odds with the wonderful dream he'd been having. He frowned. That wasn't right at all. Sleep receded, and he realised that the crying was real and that it was Emily. Because she was crying into her pillow, the sound wasn't loud, but it was unmistakeable for anything else. How could she be crying?
Why are you crying sweetie?' he asked.
I'm sorry to wake you,' she said, making herself stop. 'It's nothing, go back to sleep.'
'I can't. I want to know why you're crying,' Ross insisted. It was inexplicable. They were back together again, and all their problems were solved. There was no reason for her to be unhappy or anxious about anything. He wished he could see her face properly but he didn't have any bedside lamp to illuminate her.
'I'm just homesick that's all, nothing to worry about,' she said.
This is your home Emily.'
'I know,' she said. He embraced her and said,
'You're not going anywhere. Let's go back to sleep. It's late.' Or early, or something.
'Oh you've got work tomorrow!' she said in hushed tones.
'Yeah.' Or today.
'I'd better get up and let you sleep then,' Emily said.
'No don't.'
'But I can't sleep,' she said. 'I'm jet lagged. If I stay in bed, I'll only keep you awake.' It was true that her sleep patterns had been disturbed before, especially just after she returned from trips to London. Well she wouldn't be going there for a while.
'I'll be fine,' Ross said, wanting her next to him. He'd spent enough nights without her.
'I'll disturb you,' she said, and he acquiesced. Before he knew it, he was asleep.