Lucian met me at the door and pulled me backward, using both hands to make sure I didn't lose my balance. Then he stepped in front of me and searched our backyard.
On my tiptoes, I looked over his shoulder. "See anything?"
"Well, it's almost fully dark," he said dryly. "Are you sure about what you saw?"
"Yes! Luc, it was the size of a person, but maybe bigger. Remember when I thought that maybe an owl flew close past the window? I'm telling you; this was too big to be an owl."
He looked to the right, squinting, and I stepped out from behind him, peering to the left. "We need a big flashlight," I complained.
He huffed. As much as he loved me, sometimes he thought I was a lunatic. "Doesn't pregnancy cause stuff like brain fog? I think they call it baby brain?"
I elbowed him in the side as hard as I could. "Don't be a jerk. I'm not foggy." In my forties, about to have my first baby, and completely clueless, yes, but not foggy.
A large, dark shape darted behind the neighbor's barn, but it seemed to be on all fours. "There!" I whisper-yelled. "Behind the barn."
"I saw it," he muttered. "I'll go look."
"Lucian, no. What if it's a deer?" I plucked at his shirt as he walked away from me.
His shoulders slumped, then began to shake. I set my lips in a pout as he turned toward me, and the porch light illuminated his face.
He was barely holding back laughter, probably at the thought of him being scared of a deer. "I'll be okay."
"Lucian, you know damn well that white-tail deer are one of the most dangerous animals in Wisconsin." I put my hands on my hips. “They kill more people than most other animals.”
"Because they run out in front of cars, honey. I'll just go have a peek over Adam's fence and see if I see anything." He gave my lips a quick peck and pulled out his phone. "I'll use my flashlight."
I paced the porch, squinting in the waning light to see him step up on the fence and look over. "Just a deer or maybe a large dog," he called. "There's nothing there now."
"Well, come back in. Our dinner is burning."
I giggled as he raced back toward me, eager to save supper. Stepping to the side, I let him run into the house and straight to the stovetop, yanking on an oven mitt and grabbing the cast iron handle. "Just in time." He checked both sides with a spatula and realizing they were overdone, he put both steaks onto a plate to rest. "There."
While he stirred the side dish, a little crunchier than he intended, I climbed back onto the barstool.
"Now, do you feel better?" he asked. "I can't have my beautiful wife worried about a big, bad deer outside."
Oh, so he wanted to be like that. "Okay, Mister Macho." I puffed up my chest in mock anger. "Next time we see it, I bet you scream like a girl."
"Well, girls are good at screaming." He gave me a leer, which I returned, adding in a tongue wiggle.
"I bet I could get you to scream like a girl after dinner," I said in a low, sultry voice.
He froze in the act of stirring. "Again?”
"You game to see how it goes?"
He grinned and put down his spatula making his way over to me. "Always. Just say the word. But I didn’t want you to feel pressured," he whispered. Lowering his face to mine, capturing my lips in a soft kiss, but all of a sudden, I was in no mood for softness.
"Can dinner be put on hold?" I asked against his lips.
"Heavens, yes." He pulled away to turn off the stove, then pressed a few buttons on the oven, lowering the temperature. "We'll come back to it."
I turned toward the stairs and squealed when he swept me off my feet, lifting me like a new bride.
Giggling, I looked over his shoulder, about to move my face into his neck and kiss him under his hairline.
My eyes strayed towards the window. We'd left the back porch light on. "Lucian!" I exclaimed. "Stop!"
