We both cleaned, cooked, did the grocery shopping, laundry, and took care of the kids.
The only thing I wasn’t “allowed” to do was the lawn. For obvious reasons. And Perish wasn’t allowed to pick out the kids’ outfits because, well, the man once put our girl in a polka dot shirt and floral pants and had insisted that “it’s the same color, though” when I’d asked about the choice.
I knew that by the time I got out of the shower, the living room would be free of toys, the blankets would be folded, and the old coffee and drink cups would be in the dishwasher with it running.
Would the kids come through like bulldozers and ruin it all in a few hours? Sure. But we accepted that our life would be mostly chaotic with occasional moments of tidiness.
“Still fucking love that scent,” Perish said, coming up behind me to lean in and sniff my neck.
I leaned my head to the side when his lips pressed into my skin, feeling a familiar fluttering in my belly.
Sensing the immediate change in me, Perish’s hands slid down, working the tie of my belt free, then lowering my robe to the ground.
Then, well, we made the house not so quiet for a while.
Perish - 20 years
“Does he really think he’s sneaking in?” Gracie whispered, her head on my shoulder as we heard our second son outside in the driveway, his phone dinging, giving him away.
“Kids are dumb,” I said, smiling as I heard him creeping around the house toward the back door.
“He probably thinks we’re too old to be up this late,” Gracie said.
“To be fair, we woke up early,” I reminded her, glancing at the clock that was flashing five in the morning.
“Shh. He doesn’t need to know that. Should we go out there and scare him by flicking on the light like they do in the movies?”
“Got a better idea,” I said, hearing him creeping down the hallway toward his bedroom. “Hey, bud, that you?” I called.
We both tried not to laugh at the quiet ‘fuck’ that escaped him.
“Yeah.”
“Glad you’re up early,” I called, trying to keep my tone serious even as Gracie laughed. “Got a big day planned. Make sure you grab some electrolytes. Gonna be busting our asses.”
There was a little groan at that.
“Okay,” he called back, likely still thinking he wasn’t caught.
“Get the coffee going. We’ll get to work in thirty.”
There was a whimper at that, but he turned and made his way back to the kitchen.
“That’s evil. I like it,” Gracie said, smiling up at me. “Where do you think he was this late?”
“Friday night? Party for sure. And looks like he walked home,” I added, glancing out the slats in the blinds at the driveway.
“You think he’s drunk?”
“Probably. And he’s gonna be real upset about it in another half an hour. Ever do manual labor while wasted? That shit sucks. It’s gonna be sunny and hot as fuck today too.”
“You sound delighted by that.”
“I am.”
“That’s evil,” she declared. “I like it.”
As a whole, the kids were good.
