I spent the rest of the day watching cartoons on the couch, something I used to do all the time when I was a kid. I watched cartoons with Zoë on Saturday mornings but her cartoons weren’t the same as my cartoons. I wanted to watch "He-Man", she wanted to watch "Rugrats". Don’t get me wrong, "Rugrats" is a great show, but come on! "He-Man" is much better, more my type. My generation I guess you could say.
When Clare got home I jumped up to help her with the groceries but when she saw me cringe in pain she sent me straight back to the couch. “How did your doctor’s
appointment go?” I called to her from the living room.
“Good!” She shouted back from the kitchen. She emerged a few minutes later with a glass in each hand. She handed one to me and sunk down into the armchair.
“Where’s Zoë and Anya?”
“Zoë’s at a friend’s house and Anya’s at the Johnson’s.”
“Still?” I asked.
“Yeah, I dropped her off there until five tonight.” She smiled at me.
I took a sip of the orange juice Clare had given me. “What?” I asked her after a few seconds of silence. I looked at the TV. “You don’t like 'He-man'?”
“Taylor, turn off the television.”
I looked at her. “Huh?”
“Turn off the television,” she repeated.
I didn’t trust her the way she was smiling but I did it anyway. “You’re hiding something, aren’t you.” I narrowed my eyes at her. “Yes, yes you are.”
Clare stood up and curled up next to me on the couch. She started twirling my hair around her finger gently. She kissed me hard on the lips. “Yes I am.” She got up and
turned to me. “But, I can’t tell you.” She reached out and grabbed my hands. “I have to show you.” She tried to pull me up off the couch.
“Noooo,” I whined giving in and standing up. “I wanna watch 'He-Man'. Please Mommy let me watch 'He-Man'!” I joked as she pulled me out of the room. She lead me into our bedroom and closed the door tightly behind us, locking it. She turned and smiled at me mischievously. “What do you have up your sleeve Mrs. Hanson?” I asked her returning the smile.
“Nothing,” she said playfully. She walked slowly towards me and placed one finger on my shoulder and then her whole hand. She made a face, “Taylor you’re so tight!”
I moved my shoulders up and down, forward and back. “Yeah, it’s all that sleeping.”
Clare massaged my shoulders gently and said, “I can fix that.” Without warning she pushed me back onto the bed.
“Whoa,” I said as I bounced an inch in the air off the mattress. Clare sat next to me and forced me to sit up on the bed. She started to give me one of her famous back rubs. “This is husband abuse you know,” I joked. “Forcing me to sit here while you-- ahh,” I moaned, “that’s it, right there!”
Clare laughed and stopped massaging my back. She put her head on my shoulder and sighed. “I left Anya at the Johnson’s until 5 for a reason.”
“And what would that reason be?” I asked.
“Me and you need some catching up to do.”
“How so?”
“You’ll see.” She pushed me onto my back.
“Who’s the animal now?” I accused as my wife got into her playful mood. She kissed me on the lips and continued down my neck. “Clare do me a favor...”
“Mmm?” She said not removing her lips from my body.
“Tell the Johnson’s to keep Anya for another eighteen hours!”