Sara worked at a small University on a team that planned and executed freshman orientation among many other big campus events. Her office had plenty of space and she regularly had students and other staff come in for coffee and a good conversation. This morning was the usual; an event planning committee meeting at 9, a conference call with some candidates for a new office secretary at 10:30, and some emails to catch up on. She hummed quietly to the music playing from her desktop computer as she typed out an email to some of her student leaders.
"Are you serious?!" Someone in the building yelled.
Alarmed, Sara jumped up and peeked out her door. Her boss was standing there, visibly enraged and yelling at two of her coworkers. Shelly, her boss, was a retired professor who started working in administration a few years before Sara. At 5'10, she towered over Sara's 5'2 and intimated everyone at the school.
"Why can none of you people do anything right?!" She yelled, flinging papers into the employees faces.
Sara ducked back into her office and closed the door behind her, sighing. "As long as I stay to myself and get some work done," she thought, "Maybe I can avoid getting yelled at like that."
Sara sank back down into her chair, saddened by what had become of what seemed like an amazing opportunity of a job. She saw her wedding picture on her desk. Her husband Travis had encouraged her to take it because she was so passionate about college students. She had met Travis here at this small school, and here they fell in love, graduated, were married, and left when he took a job teaching in Guatemala. After two years, they decided that their next move would be to come home, look for jobs, settle down, and start a family. If only her boss hadn't turned out to be such a jerk, she would love this job. The salary was great, her coworkers were kind, and the students were ever as precious as she could have imagined. Her boss was ruining everything she loved about working with students.
Sara pulled out her cell phone to text Travis.
Sara: Shelly's going off on someone again. Can't wait for this day to be over!!
After a moment, he replied.
Travis: My kids are crazy today, too. I'll make dinner tonight. :)
Sara sighed. Travis always knew how to make everything seem a little easier and a lot more simple. He made her feel safe and talked her down when she was worked up.
Sara: How are the kiddos?
Travis: It must be a full moon...
Sara: Ahh, I see...
Travis: They're still great even when they're whackos.
Sara: When we have kids, we'll send them off somewhere for the pre-teen years. Deal?
Travis: I think I'd rather send them away for potty training!
Sara: We'll cross that bridge when we get to it ;)
Travis: A discussion to be continued this evening. Love you babe!
Sara: Love you too!
Sara tucked her phone into her jacket pocket and returned to her work, mostly avoiding her boss the rest of the day.
When Sara finally opened the door to their home, the smell of dinner filled her senses. "I'm home, Trav! Oh, it smells like a dream!" She yelled into the house.
"In the kitchen waiting for you!" He yelled back.
Sara kicked off her shoes and threw her purse down as she moved towards his voice. Every step she took made a soft, delicate thump on the hardwood floor. Travis was leaning back against the counter and dinner was on the table. His tousled auburn hair just screamed "sexy" to Sara.
"What. A. Dayyy." She said, slipping her arms around his waist to squeeze him. "I'm so glad it's over."
He hugged her back. "I'm sorry, honey," he whispered into her ear and then gave her a peck on the cheek. He was grinning ear to ear.
"Why are you smiling so weirdly?" She asked him.
"You're so darn cute when you're all worked up," he replied, laughing.
"Am not, you weirdo," she said.
He squeezed her tightly and she started to giggle. She had an unmistakable laugh - and he loved the sound of that laugh more than anything in the world.
"You sure are," he laughed. "Let's eat."
He moved to the table and pulled out their chairs, showing off the dinner he'd made them. Before them was a spread of sautéed vegetables, baked chicken, and two glasses of white wine. They ate quickly and then sipped their wine, chatting about their workplace drama.
"And then this kid shoved his desk out of the classroom and into the hallway. Man, it was insane," Travis explained about his seventh graders.
He was slowly getting distracted as Sara gently brushed her foot along the back of his calf. She sat with her chin resting on her palm, studying his face intently.
"So, we were talking about kids earlier," he offered.
"We were," she replied quietly, smiling slightly and gazing down at the table.
"We should talk about this soon, right? We said we'd think about trying after three years."
"Yes," she said, closing her eyes and continuing to moving her foot over his calf.
"Okay..." he let his sentence trail off.
"Thank you for dinner, Trav. And thank you for how well you love me on my bad days," she said after a moment, both of them finishing their wine.