Getaway

They have been together for over 15 years, together as a couple for a little bit over a year, and married for 9 months when a global pandemic forced them to be stuck at home. They might have been living together since the day she took three steps back and he pinned her against her hall wall, but with their busy jobs, much quieter in a smaller firm, they have never actually spent a lot of time in the same set of rooms before. As if either of them would ever complain or have regrets about being forced to spend time together for a second.

On quarantine day number seven, or maybe it was five, but it felt like twelve. Well there was definitely a possibility of indeed being quarantine day number twelve. They had lost count but Donna decided that it was a great day to finish the unpacking they had left to do. Their current apartment definitely wasn't their permanent home, it was their home for now, and apparently, the house search wasn't going to be solved any time soon. So Donna decided enough was enough and that for their own mental sanity they had to start to transform it into their home, what for today meant finishing unpacking and bringing an end to the life among labeled boxes.

She woke up early, made herself a cup of coffee and went straight to their spare room, or what they liked to call the boxes room. She successfully unpacked a few boxes of old clothes when Harvey joined her. A few hours and roughly eight boxes later, Harvey went to make them some food while she continued unpacking. She opened one of the boxes they had brought from Lily's house the last time they went to Boston. It had "Harvey 4-14 years old" written on top of it in Lily's handwriting. It was the first time Donna had seen her handwriting and while she enjoyed discovering things about her, feeling that it deepened her understanding of Lily, it was also a bittersweet reminder of the fact that she never got to meet her in person. It had just been phone calls for the two of them. Bittersweetness aside, the intrigue was stronger and she decided to take a break to look through the enormous collection of cute little Harvey.

That was how her husband found her when he walked into the room to call her and let her know dinner was ready. Black yoga outfit, sat in the lotus pose surrounded by a lot of photo albums but staring at a specific one, with a tear running down her cheek and the sunset shining through the window making her hair appear brighter, sparking that orange bliss he loved so much. He quietly came closer, sat down next to her kissing her temple on his way to the floor.

"Penny for your thoughts?" he whispered.

"I didn't know you used to travel so much as a kid," she answered.

"For a few years we did, sometimes we joined my dad on his tours during summer holidays, or on winter getaways mostly," he explained to her while looking at the picture that had caught her attention. "I remember that trip, I was around twelve, it was a great one. Mom was sick of missing dad and one Friday once we got home from school, she looked at us and said, 'Okay, empty those backpacks and grab some fresh underwear, we are leaving for Vermont in an hour,' and we did. It wasn't Christmas but during the Christmas season, that's why it's so snowy and the Christmas lights were already up. Marcus and mom always teamed up, so it was dad and me against them. Most of the time those snowballs fights ended up with Dad tackling mom and kissing her while Marcus and I ran away."

Donna listened to his story patiently, looking at him with big caring eyes, mesmerized. Once he finished they both silently stared at the picture for a few more minutes. Then, she broke the silence. "I wish I had travelled more. I almost never did as a kid and later it got complicated. I wish I had gone on a family getaway," she said while dropping her head against his comfortable shoulder.

"We should definitely fix that," he said looking at her hazel eyes.

"Harvey, we are stuck at home in the middle of a global pandemic, we can't go further than the front door."

"Well, maybe not right now but we can figure something out. Now come on, let's go grab some dinner while we search for some hotels wherever you want to go," he said while getting up and offering her a hand to help her up.

"Fine. But it's not a real getaway if we plan it."

"What? Who said that? A getaway is any chance to get away from our routines, it doesn't matter if we take a plane to Rome from one second to another or just drive without a clear destiny after a long week."

"The second one would be nice," she said arriving at the set table.

"With you, everything it's nice," he assured her.

"You're an idiot," she said in between a chuckle.

"And yet you still married me."

*6 months later*

The firm was getting back on track, they had just finished what felt like the longest week of the year.

"Want to grab some Thai and go straight home? " She asked on the way to the parking lot of the firm.

"I've a better idea," he told her while grabbing her hand and leading her into their car.

"Harvey what are you doing? Where are you taking us to?

"I don't know exactly, that's up to you. But I just got an idea and you are going to love it."

They got into the car, no gentleman parts today, he was as excited as a kid on Christmas Eve. He started the engine and took the faster way out, off to the closest 24hr shop.

"Harvey, stop what are you doing? Where are we going, that's not our usual way home!"

He ignored her, too busy making plans in his head. "Here comes the first stop. We need a map and something to eat".

Once he was back in the car, Donna asked him again what the hell was he doing because she couldn't deal with the mystery anymore.

"Remember a few months ago when you said you had never gone on a getaway trip? Well the wait it's over because we're getting one."

"Wait. What are you saying?" She said, in the exact same tone she did when he proposed at Louis's wedding.

"I'm saying I love you, and whether I knew it half an hour ago or not, you have wanted to go on a getaway for years, and we can do it right now. Donna, would you like to go on a getaway trip right now?"

"Harvey of course I want to go on a trip with you, but right now we are tired and we don't have fresh clothes and we don't know where to go."

"Donna stop, we are perfectly fine and we can decide it on the way there, " he said, grabbing her hands and kissing her wedding band.

"But," she was attempting to add more complications when he interrupted her.

"Stop. I've told you this before, but if there is one thing I learned from my Mom, and I'm confirming it with 2020, is that I lost too much time. We can do it now and I don't want to waste another second. Please would you go on a trip right now?"

"What about clothes Harvey, we don't have any clothes?"

"We can buy something to sleep at a Walmart or any tourist shop on the road. And on our first stop in a city I will buy you whatever you like. That's what I was planning, what do you say?"

"I say yes Harvey."

He kissed her softly and so they started their first family getaway of many. He was driving, she was in charge of the music, the map and picking the places where they were staying. It was her first getaway after all. Not so unexpectedly, their final destination ended up being that crowded bar from over a decade ago, the place where they met each other for the very first time. As in life, in their getaway car they felt like flying and, as usual for them, in their own times and terms they got pretty far.

The end.