“I thought I was until you started pressing things on my body, places I didn’t even know existed.” He leans in close as we lie on a blanket at camp, under a large oak tree. “How did you even know about that…spot?”
I smirk and take a bite of a pepperoni. “I read it in a book. I tried doing it to Matt once, and he swatted my hand away.”
“That man is a fucking fool. Hell, I’m tempted to bend over and pull my pants down right now so you can play with me some more.” He wiggles his eyebrows, and I push at his forehead.
“You’re so horny.”
“You made me this way. I was fine living a life of celibacy, the occasional hookup here and there just to feed the beast, until you came along and awoke something I don’t think is ever going to go away. Seriously, if I bend over, will you do it again?”
“Oh my God, Wilder.” I shake my head in mirth, causing him to laugh.
“I’m going to take that as a maybe.”
“What you need to do is keep your voice down, because you and I both know if Sanders gets wind of the fact that we”—I look around and whisper—“fornicated, then he very well might separate us for the rest of the camp.”
“First of all, way to use the word ‘fornicate.’ I approve. Second, he can try to keep me away, but I’d sniff you out so fast, I’d undo you from whatever chains he has you tied up in.” He pauses for a moment and then says, “And then maybe take the chains back to our sex cabin so I could use them on you properly.”
“You’re ridiculous.”
He grins. “You like it.”
“I kind of do.” I wince. “What does that say about me?”
“It’s all right. You can have mixed feelings about it. It takes a second to get used to the idea that you could possibly like someone like me after being with such a bore for several years.”
“He was a bore, that’s for sure.”
“Sad, especially when he had someone like you he could play with.” I roll my eyes, but he places his hand on my thigh and says, “I’m not just speaking sex. I mean in general. One of the reasons you’re in a marriage is to have a partner in life that you can do things with, that you can experience things with, you know? And if you don’t take the time to have those experiences, then what’s the goddamn point?”
I nod, thinking back to all the things that I wish Matt had done with me.
“I can see you thinking of those things. You know what? We should make a bucket list of things you want to do now that you’re no longer with an actual ball and chain.” He reaches into the bag of activities that we were given for our picnic, and he pulls out a pad of paper and a pen.
“Was that really in there?”
“Yup,” he says and then flips open to a blank page and writesScottie’s Ball and Chain–Free Bucket Listat the top.
“Quite the title,” I say.
“A necessary one.” He poises the pen. “Okay, what are we putting on here?”
I glance at his hand, the bracelet I made him still fastened around his wrist. “Um, I mean, I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do,” he encourages. “Don’t be shy about it. Tell me what’s on that list.”
I lean back on my hand and look up toward the sky. “Umm, well, he never wanted to do anything outside the house, said it was a waste of money. There was a cooking class I wanted to go to, and he would never go.”
“Great. Cooking class.” He writes it on the paper.
“And he never took me to the movies because he said we should just wait until it was on a streaming service, but I always thought that seeing a movie in the theaters was so much better.”
“I could not agree more. See a movie in the theaters.” He jots it down.
“With popcorn and the movie theater candy. Like go all out. No sneaking anything in.”
“Spend fifty dollars at concessions, noted.”
I think about it some more. “You know, we were once on a kiss cam, and he drank his beer rather than kiss me. So I want to be on a kiss cam and kiss someone, even if it’s myself.”
