"Did you make coffee? Tell me you made coffee."
"I made coffee."
"Now did you actually make it or did you just tell me you did because I asked you to?"
"Both."
Lindsay chuckled and rolled over, finding Adam kneeling next to her, somehow very chipper despite how late they'd stayed up the night before.
"What's up?"
"Nothing."
"I thought we were going to sleep in today," she sighed, blinking a few times.
"It's ten."
"Sleeping in is relative to the time you went to sleep, not how close it is to lunch. Seeing as how you kept me awake until three, this is not sleeping in."
"I beg to differ, dear. Sleeping in is merely a phrase used to describe when one sleeps later into the day than normal. For example, if I normally wake up around six, then getting up at seven would be sleeping in, even if I went to bed at midnight."
"Ah, but sleeping in is meant to be a luxury, and therefore can really only occur when one sleeps for more hours than normal, no matter what time of day the sleeping takes place."
"You are basing your argument on the connotation of the phrase, rather than the denotation, which, as we all know is the proper use of the phrase in this discussion."
"Good sir, I believe you are mistaken."
"A pox upon thee!" he declared, rolling out of the bed and walking across the room. She giggled as she watched him, wondering just how determined he was about this.
"I'm going to use the newfangled internet contraption to once and for all silence your argument!"
She smiled and stretched, listening to the sound of the ocean in the distance and the rain right outside the window. She couldn't think of a better way to wake up.
"Forsooth, I am correct dear woman!"
"Well dang," she drawled, rolling over onto her stomach and dangling her arm over the side of the bed.
"That was the most anti-climactic argument we've ever had."
"My mental faculties are suffering because you didn't allow me to sleep in."
"But I did and we've established that!" he said, jumping back in bed next to her and valiantly taking the pillow to the face.
"Why did you wake up anyway?" she asked as his hands went to work tickling her gently. "You didn't sleep any more than I did."
"Yeah but I wanted to spend the entire day with you, so I woke up early. But you were sleeping and you looked so cute with your nose all crinkled up that I couldn't wake you."
"I'm adorable."
"Totally agree."
"I'll be more adorable once I get a shower. So up you go, get off of me."
"I haven't even kissed you good morning yet."
She cracked a small smile and he kissed her a few times before letting her go.
"You go shower. I'm going to call Jo and check on the kids and then we can go for a walk."
"Okay. Are you going to feed me too?"
"Yeah, we'll find something."
She went into the bathroom and he stood from the bed, going into the other room to find his phone, then heading out to the deck. The rain had slowed to a drizzle and he sat down in one of the chairs, propping his feet up on the railing while he placed the call.
"Hey Adam. Avery and I were just getting ready to call you guys."
"Oh really? And how is Miss Avery this morning?"
"Better than she was last night."
He grimaced and let out a sigh.
"What happened?"
"After you guys called to say goodnight she started crying and couldn't stop. She wouldn't let us hold her, she kept escaping when we tried to put her to bed and when we tried to calm her down she just cried harder."
"Oh man, I'm so sorry. Did she ever go to sleep?"
"Colton ended up grabbing her and holding her until she stopped crying and then the kids all talked for a few minutes and she seemed to be better. We were going to let her sleep in the other room but she insisted that she wanted her brothers, so they all slept in one room together. I think she'll be better tonight, she was just overly tired."
"I hope she didn't put you out too much."
"No, it was okay. We figured at least one of the kids would have some separation anxiety. She's okay now, I promise."
"Can I talk to her?"
"Sure. Avery, someone's on the phone for you."
"Um, hello?"
"Hey Tink!"
"Daddy! Oh daddy!" Avery said, starting to cry. "Miss you so most!"
"I miss you too baby. Don't cry, it's okay."
"I cry an' cry daddy. Want you an' mama."
"I know. We've been thinking about you this whole time. Did you do anything fun?"
"Um, go to the park. I ride Mac's shoulders."
"That sounds like a lot of fun."
"The boys go school. Coley gived me kisses and Ben gived hugs. Me and Jo-Jo play today."
"Are you going to take a nap soon?"
"No. Mac gotted Ben. They back soon. Me an' Ben play in yard."
"Okay. But if Jo tells you it's naptime, I want you to listen to her."
"Okay daddy. Oh! I go in the potty! Like big girl!"
"You did?"
"Yes! Jo-Jo an' Mac clap for me! I do good job!"
"Avery, I am so proud of you! What a big girl!"
"Mama be proud?"
"Yes she will. I'll tell her all about it."
"Daddy come home?"
"Six more sleeps honey. We'll be back on Sunday afternoon."
"Okay. Love you daddy."
"I love you too Averylin. Be a good girl."
"I be good. Bye bye."
They hung up and he looked down at the picture of the kids on the screen of his phone. He was glad that he and Lindsay could get away like this, but he did miss the kids a lot. There was no place he would rather be than with them, even if it was nice to have a little break occasionally.
"Hey. How are the kids?" Lindsay asked, shutting the screen door behind her and forgoing the other chair in favor of sitting in his lap.
"Seems like they're doing fine," he answered. "Avery said she went in the potty like a big girl."
"Finally."
"She's very proud of herself so hopefully it lasts."
"Yeah, that would be good."
"You ready to get going?"
"Can we just sit here for a bit? It's cozy."
He tightened his grip on her and kissed her forehead in response and she smiled and closed her eyes.
"We should come back here with the kids someday. They'd like it."
"Yeah."
"Especially that arcade down there."
"And the bumper cars."
"The rain smells good."
"So do you."
"So do you."
He chuckled as she stood up and held her hand out for him, apparently ready to go.
"Come on, I want to go exploring."
"Okay. Did you want to drive up to the Goonies house today or tomorrow?"
"Let's go tomorrow. I don't feel like driving today."
"As you wish," he said, grabbing his wallet off the counter. "Where to first?"
"I want to check out that toy store."
"What for?"
"To buy a pony?"
"I thought we said we weren't getting a bunch of presents for the kids."
"We're not. I just want to see if I can find them each something special."
"Wanna hit that Chinese restaurant for lunch?"
"Sure. And then maybe we should go grocery shopping because eating out all week isn't prudent."
"Hey, there's no sales tax here. I forgot about that."
"Let us celebrate with a ridiculous purchase, just for the receipt."
"Yeah, that's prudent."
"I don't think we really needed all this pop," Adam commented with a chuckle as they left the little shop each carrying two six-packs of mix and match pop bottles.
"We don't need it? Adam, this one is called Leninade. Don't tell me we don't need it."
"And it's true, I haven't had birch beer in a really long time. I'm just wondering how we're going to get this all home."
"I'll figure it out. I'm excited about the Lime Rickey Soda. And the Sarsaparilla."
"I can't believe they had a brand called Avery's Gross."
"I know, what could be more perfect?"
"Let's go put all this stuff back in our room and then we'll go to dinner."
By they time they put everything away and made it back downstairs, the sun was starting to set over the ocean. They stood at the end of the boardwalk for a while, watching the sun sink further and further down in the sky until the light from it skimmed across the water.
"I wish we could see that every day."
"Me too. Come on, I'm hungry and I want surf and turf."
She smiled and followed him down the street to a seafood restaurant where they were seated quickly and given ample time to look over their menus.
"I want everything," Lindsay decided finally.
"So I'm ordering for you?"
"Yes please."
She put her menu down and checked her phone finding no messages about the kids or otherwise. There was a little ping of disappointment, but she reminded herself that no news was good news and as long as the kids were getting along okay, then she could enjoy the vacation.
"Want to rent a movie tonight? I feel like staying in and not doing much," Adam suggested once their order had been placed.
"I was actually thinking the same thing. Stretch out on that big couch and watch something stupid. Have popcorn that's not burnt because we had burnt last time."
"Okay. But I pick the movie."
"Fair trade."
"I like this relationship we've worked out."
"Me too."
He reached across the table for her hand and they stared out at the darkening ocean, being in silence together because it was comfortable and safe.
"Ten years," she said softly after a while. "I can't believe it's been that long."
"Feels like five minutes."
"Yeah. And I don't feel nearly that old."
"That's because we haven't chased the kids for two days."
She smiled and propped her chin up on her free hand and sighed a little.
"You're beautiful."
"You made me that way."
"Do you believe me when I say that?"
"I believe that you believe it, and that's good enough for me."
"That's my well-adjusted wife."
"I love you a lot you know. Really a lot. In a way that's probably not scientifically possible."
"Defying the laws of science just to love me? I'm in shock."
"No, that's love too."
"And that weird feeling in my stomach?"
"Love."
"Wow. I love you a lot."
"I always suspected."
He stood up from the table and came around to her side, wrapping his arms around her despite her questioning look.
"What are you doing?"
"I just needed to do this for a minute."
"You don't care that people are looking?"
"Nope."
"Okay."
He hugged her for a minute more then went back to his side of the table with a little grin.
"Adam, you're so odd."
"Yes, yes I am."
"I like that."
"When I pictured us laying out on the beach, I didn't really think there would be three layers of clothing involved," Adam chuckled, laying back against a log on the beach and crossing his legs at the ankle.
"I like it better this way. Cozy."
"It's forty degrees out."
"I'm warm," she argued, nuzzling a little closer to him. "It's not so bad."
"This is coming from the girl who used to play outside in the snow until her eyelashes froze together."
"Fresh air is good for you."
He rolled his eyes and kissed the end of her frigid nose, wondering why he always let her talk him into things that he regretted later.
"Besides," she continued with a little sniffle borne of the colder temperature. "We said our life is an adventure right?"
"Yeah, but so is climbing Mt. Everest without a guide and we don't do that, do we?"
"No, but only because you don't like heights."
"You're lucky I love you so much."
"Yeah, I know."
He found her hand and brought it to his lips, kissing each fingertip separately before pressing it to his chest to warm it up.
"If I fall asleep out here…"
"I'm blaming it on hypothermia."
"Babe, stop being such a whiner. Look, the moon is out and it's bright, the sky is clear, we can hear the waves, there's no one else out here and you've got me laying here with you. What do you have to complain about?"
"Lack of feeling in my toes."
"Okay that's it," she sighed, standing up and brushing herself off. "You need to move."
He grumbled and stood up too, watching her wander over to the set of swings that were set back further from the water. She picked the one in the middle and sat down, kicking off from the ground and giving him a little smile.
"You gonna join me or are you just going to stand there?"
He gave her a grin and walked over to the swings, moving behind so he could push.
"Thought you were going to swing with me."
"Nah, this way I can check out your butt. And maybe touch it."
"I'm gonna barf into the sand."
He laughed and gave her another gentle push, watching as the wind blew her hair back and forth, tangling the curls all over each other and creating a headache for her in more ways than one. She didn't seem to mind, and he was handy enough with a comb that he could probably work most of the knots out for her later. She'd be happy with the gesture and he'd be happy that she was happy so there really was no reason to fret about tangles right now anyway.
After a while he sat down on the other swing and kicked off, matching her height until they were swinging in sync.
"Look, we're married!" she giggled, glancing over at him.
"What?"
"You never did that? When I was a kid if you were swinging exactly at the same time, you were married, if it was opposite you hated each other and if you were facing different directions but swinging at the same time you were divorced."
"Not much to do up in Montana is there?"
"Shut up."
He laughed and jumped off of his swing, into the sand, being reminded halfway down that he wasn't eight anymore.
"Oof!"
"Hey! You cheated on me!" she exclaimed, jumping off after him, then letting out a grunt of pain as she came to rest on the ground. "That hurt."
"We are not so spry."
"No we're not. But you're not deathly cold anymore are you?"
"Nope."
He rolled onto his side and brushed her hair away from her face then pressed his nose gently to hers.
"I'd rather be here with you than anywhere else in the world, no matter how cold it is."
"I'd rather you be here with me no matter how much you complain."
"Good. Now, how about that movie?"
She gave him a nod and they made their way back to their room where Adam immediately shed his several of his layers, then exclaimed that it was too hot.
"Honey, you've got to be kidding me," Lindsay chuckled as he whipped his shirt off.
"What? I'm hot."
"No comment."
He slid his pants off and left them in a heap on the floor, then found the movie they'd rented and put it into the player. She just stared at him while he stretched out on the couch and reached up to turn the lamp off.
"You gonna join me or just stand there?"
She hesitated, slowly taking off her shoes, then her socks, then deciding to just go for it, and shedding the rest of her clothes and grabbing an extra blanket because she knew they would be cold in a little while.
"Why are we watching a movie in our underwear?" she asked after a moment.
"Because you succumbed to peer pressure. If you didn't do it then it would just be me sitting around in my boxers."
Smirking because he was right, she laid down on the couch with him and sighed when his hands ran over her skin.
"Better be careful what you're doing or we'll never make it through this movie."
"I'll be good."
"Thank you. You can be bad later."
"Don't say that or this movie is going to feel a lot longer than two hours."
"Maybe we'll have to break for intermission."
"I really, really love you. I might rescind that statement if you tell anyone about this."
"Anyone?"
"Austin."
"What, you don't want her to know that we spent the week eating way too much food, sitting around in our underwear and participating in the maritals every chance we got?"
"Hey, we went shopping too."
She just rolled her eyes and dropped the conversation. It was no use trying to convince him that she didn't tell Austin everything all the time, he would never believe that.
"Hey so why did we get this movie?"
"Because you said you wanted to see it."
"I did? Why are we suddenly trusting my taste in movies?"
"Because it was the only thing we could rent."
"Oh. We didn't think about finding something on TV?"
"You really don't like this movie do you Linds?"
"No, not really."
"Okay then. What are we going to do instead?"
"Make pancakes."
"Is that code for something or-"
"I'm hungry and we're making pancakes okay?"
"Yes ma'am. But you're going to have to get up in order for this to happen."
She hesitated for a moment, then sighed and shook her head.
"I guess this movie isn't too bad."
He laughed and held her closer for a moment, then kissed her head.
"I'm really glad I married you, you know that?"
"Right back at you."