This is my entry in the
Valentine's Day Story Contest 2024
.
Content Warning: Mild Watersports
Everyone talks about a white Christmas. No one ever talks about a white Valentine's Day. Which is odd because, in the UK at least, we get far more snow in February than in December.
Hannah and I wake up to a foot of it.
That's great. I'd seen the weekly forecast and booked the day off regardless, but I'd also made contingencies. Luckily, they won't be needed.
The other great advantage of Valentine's Day, at least most years, is that it's a school day.
So first the school run. There's black ice and I nearly get rear-ended by another parent who is obviously rushing to ditch their sprog and get to work. If they have Valentine's plans, no doubt, it's in the evening. An overpriced candle-lit meal in some local town restaurant that's working out how to maximize their February profits. Then a cuddle, some sentiment, and a three-glasses-of-white-wine shag. It's a mug's game.
No. We're going to do it properly. The last few years have been crazy. With two kids and Hannah's career as an artist taking off, we haven't had the same amount of time for each other that we used to. Moments have been furtive and snatched. Not today.
I pick up the flowers from the flustered florist. No matter how non-traditional we're going to be, there are some things a man's got to do. I've gone for a theme though, Winter Honeysuckle and Christmas Roses -- white and hardy.
When I get back to the house, I see I've got packages. Most of today will be improvised, or our old stuff dug out of hiding, but there were a few items I just had to have. I pick them up and drop them off in the garage. I don't open them yet as I don't want Hannah getting any early clues. On my way in, I check the depth of the snow in our front garden. There's tons.
"I'm back," I yell up.
"Great," replies Hannah. "I'll come down and we can get started."
"Nah," I say moving to the foot of the stairs to continue our conversation. "Stay in bed. I'm going to need about an hour to get things sorted."
"An hour?" she says. "Christ. You
have
got plans, haven't you? I'll shower then."
"Don't you dare," I say. "This is a shower afterwards rather than a shower before kind of experience."
"Oh, so you want me dirty then?"
I laugh.
"What's so funny?" she asks.
"You have no idea," I reply. "No coming downstairs until I give the word."
"Right you are," says Hannah.
And with that, I set about preparations. I know what I'm doing, roughly, but it's complicated and I take a good minute just standing in the kitchen getting my head straight.
I put the Champaign in the fridge. I open up the smaller of the packages. Six sheets of ice-cube trays. I have to move a chicken, a pizza, and a steak and kidney pie from freezer to fridge to get them all in. I'll have to remember to put them back when I'm done or I'll be in trouble. The item from the second package also goes in on top of the trays.
From the back of the cupboard, I get out our old baby milk warmer. Plugging in and playing with it, I see it goes up to forty-five degrees. I'd have preferred fifty-five, but the convenience is worth the trade-off. I fill it with something other than baby formula. I go back and grab the swimming goggles too.
There's a number of plastic basins under the sink. I get them out and wash the ones that haven't been used in a while. I dump the whole reel of black plastic garbage bags on the top. I fill up our kettle and set it boiling then find the biggest four saucepans we've got, fill them with water and put them on the stove.
Next, I go up to the kids's rooms and locate two water pistols and a Super Soaker. One of the pistols is cracked and I have to toss it.
I move the car from the garage onto the driveway. I check for our neighbours's cars. It looks like the immediate ones are all at work, but there are retirees across the street. I vaguely wonder about the postman. We hardly get anything these days anyways, but if it happens, no doubt he's stumbled across worse in his decades on the job.
Back in the garage, I take stock. We've never been the type to stockpile extra junk. I consider going through it one by one, but I decide it's just easier to dump it all round the back. I thank God that we decided against our eldest getting that giant playhouse last birthday.
I lay down the garbage bags so they cover more or less the whole floor. I grab the shovel and start to move the snow from the garden into the garage. It's hard work and I need to go in and check on the boiling water every so often, but eventually, I get a nice layer of snow all over the floor. I try and spread it around equally without compacting it down too much.
I start to unbox the next part of the delivery. Our previous paddling pool was busted and besides, Peppa Pig hardly sets the appropriate mood. This new one is a more neutral dark blue. More importantly, it's bigger and has a flat base. That's going to be important. Once it's inflated, I sit it in the middle of the garage and study it.
I grab a plant spray from the hall and fill it with water. I add some of the food dye into it and head back to the garage. I give the snow an experimental spray. It turns a weak pink. I double the dose of dye and I get a proper red. I'd hoped to spray the heart shape under the pool, but it doesn't look like it would be fully visible. I settle for spraying four smaller hearts around it, making a rough outline, and then chipping away at the unneeded snow. I set the white bouquet at the entrance to the garage.
I check the electrics. There are two sockets in various parts of the room. To be safe, I shut off the electricity at the fuse box. Then I wind in an extension cord from the hall. I sit it on an old amplified stand and make sure the wires are high off the floor.
I run the tap in our front garden. It's exactly one meter from the garage door. Mercifully it's not frozen. I connect up the hosepipe and pull it into the garage.
Finally, I stand enjoying my handiwork. It's a pity the garage door has to come down, there's a lovely icy breeze blowing in, but our house is just too exposed to the public to risk it. When it's closed, I check it's not trapping the hose. There's just enough space that it should be okay. I open the back windows.
I go and get the candles and light them. Unfortunately, I can't set them too close to the action, so I put a few of each in the four corners of the garage. There are two types. The first are for aromatherapy and are branded as Cold Night. The others burn at an especially low temperature.
Right, back to the house.
"Five minutes," I yell upstairs.
"Great," replied Hannah. "How do you want me?"
"Swimming costume," I reply. "Tops and bottoms."
"Any particular one?" she says.
"Surprise me," I reply.
"Turn the thermostat up in the house then," she cries.
"Will do," I reply, chuckling to myself.
In the house
.
I go into the living room and turn our electric fire on. I unbox the last of the packages and put some of the contents out a little way from the hearth. I head back into the kitchen and put the others into the freezer. Then I pour the hot water into basins. I leave the two kettles boiling anew.
Hannah comes down. She's looking good in her black and white polka-dot bikini. She's thirty-five and has had two children, so her weight has fluctuated over the years. She's looking great now though. She's gotten the flab she put on when she first started staying at home all day drawing under control. She'll never be eighteen again, but some of the gains are attractive in their own right. She gives me a twirl as she enters the kitchen. I give her a French kiss.
"So?" she says.
"Sit," I instruct indicating one of our wooden kitchen chairs.
I realize I've forgotten the rope, so I disappear upstairs and rummage around the special play corner of our wardrobe. I return with one of the older Shibari ropes. I won't need much today and it'd be a pity to damage any of the newer and longer ones. And, of course, I get the safety scissors as well.