Chapter 2

Her yoga mat spread out on the living room floor, Laura was struggling to find her happy place. Two months had passed, two very long months. It turned out living with someone you also happened to love wasn't as easy as it looked.

All of that lovely togetherness eventually became confining. Robbie wasn't terribly neat although she had to admit he tried. Well perhaps she was too neat. Exhaling, she nodded, yes that was it; she was too neat. She could live with the odd dish in the sink. After all, he did take out the garbage.

He couldn't cook. Well he thought he could. But each meal consumed sent her running for the antacids later in the evening. She seemed to remember an agreement about him having supper on the table each night when he retired. Still, his bad meals did guarantee she didn't gain weight so there was a silver lining.

Changing positions, she had a view of the garden. For her it had been the selling point of the house. She'd imagined the parties they could have, people mingling happily on a summer's evening. Now there was a partially finished canoe on her beautiful patio. There were days when she came home and realized there had been no progress where she thought about striking a match and burning the damned thing to ash.

The mere thought of it always brought a smile of delight to her face. Several times Robbie had seen her smile and mistaken it for joy at the thought of lovely canoe rides down the Cherwell. Fortunately it had never happened when she was truly angry with him. If it did, she couldn't guarantee she wouldn't snap and tell him exactly what she thought of the damned thing.

Shaking her head, she tried to put all of these contentious thoughts out of her mind. The point of coming home early was to have a few minutes to herself. Thirty minutes with no one talking to her, asking her questions or just generally being around. She hadn't realized what a luxury it was to have time alone until she didn't have it.

The front door opened and she fought not to curse aloud. Closing her eyes, she tried to find her center, breath through her frustration.

"You're home early, love."

Dropping to the ground, she knew it was a lost cause. "Yes, it was a light day. Decided to take advantage. Where've you been?"

Holding up the bag in his hand, "Hardware store. Needed more glue."

She exhaled, trying to not think about the canoe. "What do you want to do for supper?"

"It's my night to cook. But I was thinking we might walk into town, grab a takeaway. Or if you want we could get some fish and chips, take a stroll."

She smiled up at him, "That sounds good, let me change."

He watched her as she rolled up her yoga mat and carefully put it away. One of the many things he loved about her was her everything in its place mentality. He was trying to do it but he often fell short. He knew it frustrated her but she hid it well, most days.

As she walked past him, he stopped her, pulled her close. "I missed you today."

All of her aggravation dissipated. It was in these quiet moments, when he did the unexpected, she remembered why she loved him so desperately. All of the little things, even the single big thing simply didn't matter.

Pushing up, she kissed him. "If you're a good boy, you can show me just how much you missed me later."

"I look forward to it."