A special thanks to LadyNina13 for the light editing. Much appreciated.
*****
Chapter 1
The kitchen was filled with the aroma of fresh brewed coffee. The brewer sputtered and hissed as it finished squirting a stream of dark liquid into his mug. He took it from the tray and walked back to the dining nook where his laptop was set up. Sitting, he took a small sip and winced as he swallowed, then placed it down next to a thick pile of neatly stacked papers.
The curtains billowed gently as a faint breeze blew in through the open window. It carried the smells of spring into the room, trying to outdo the coffee scent with cool fresh air. It was his favorite time of year, full of new life and energy.
"Brad? Hon? It's going to be a beautiful day. What do you say we head into town and check out the new exhibit at the museum?" a woman said.
He looked up from his laptop to see her standing in front of the kitchen island, absently stirring eggs in a fry pan with a spatula in one hand, while holding a magazine open on the countertop with the other. He smiled.
She wore blue cotton pajama pants with snowflakes of varying sizes printed on them. The matching top fit her slim frame snugly, enough so that the small perfect buds of her nipples poked through. Even across the kitchen their shape against the fabric could not be mistaken.
He sighed appreciatively. This woman was gorgeous and sexy. He wasn't sure how he had gotten so lucky to land this beauty; but somehow he had. She was his best friend, his confidant, his lover, and the mother of their two kids. Their fifteen years together through so many life adventures had shaped them as individuals and solidified them as a couple.
"I'd love to Val," he replied. "But I need to grade these papers. School break is the time for me to catch up and I really want to push through all of these before classes pick up again."
He gestured to the stack of papers and sat back in his chair.
"I've got about 30 essays here and 20 more waiting in my inbox. Plus I told Steve that I'd evaluate the new course material Kev got from the publisher."
The toaster popped. She turned off the cook top, put the toast slices on a plate and began to spread butter on them.
"How long will that take you?" she asked as she slid the eggs onto the plate next to her toast.
"Well, I should be able to finish these papers today. The electronic ones I think I'll do later in the week. There's only so much I can read on this stuff before my head explodes. The evaluation stuff for Kev, shouldn't take too long. A few hours, maybe, to give it an initial eval. It's all in my office though, so I'll have to head in for that."
"Oh, no. It's nothing you can bring home?" she asked as she walked over and sat across the table from him.
"Nah, it'll be easier to do it there," he said, taking a sip of his coffee. "Then I won't have to lug it home and back. I think I'll do that tomorrow night. After that I can dump it all on his desk and be done with it. Don't worry. We'll have plenty of time. Let's plan some day trips."
She glanced over and said, "We had better have some fun on this break. The kids will be back before we know it."
"You think they're having a good time?" Brad asked.
"I talked with Aunt Mindy and Uncle Sam last night. They're taking all the kids to the aquarium tomorrow, and on the fishing boat out of Harwich on Thursday."
"All the kids?" Brad raised his eyebrows speculatively. "The four of them? I can barely keep up with ours, I can't imagine throwing their two into the mix. They are awesome for offering to take them for a few days."
"Cousins being cousins, they love to play together. It's great they're reasonably close. You know they're doing this because we'll have to repay the favor at some point," she said, looking at Brad. "I don't know what they're planning, but I'm sure we'll find out soon."
"Do we have to?" he asked, a pleading expression on his face.
"Yup!" she smiled. "And Uncle Brad had better be extra fun when they're here."
Brad's expression slowly turned from an exaggerated hopeful look to a sad dejected frown.
"Oh stop," she said shaking her head. "You love the attention."
He sighed and turned back to his papers.
She got up and put her dirty plate into the sink then returned to the magazine. She scanned the pages, occasionally taking an interest and reading a passage before turning the page.
"Are you and Steph doing that 5k next weekend?" Brad asked as he absently scanned the paper in front of him.
"Yup, we're registered and she's got some friends joining the team," she said, not looking up. "She's team captain this year, and has raised over $1200 dollars so far. Way more than me..." she trailed off.
"It's great you guys are into that," he said. "I get tired just watching you. What is it called that you do? Jogging?" He said the last word as if it were new to him.
She harrumphed.
"Hey, I'll be exercising again as soon as the room is set up," he said defensively.
"I know you will. When are the guys going to finish that little project?" she asked.
"Mmm," he started and then paused. "Al is down the Cape this week with his girlfriend and his daughter. He promised it should only take a couple more days to finish up. Peter is probably spending time with his new girlfriend. His folks have a place in Maine."
Her eyebrows raised and she gave a grimace, but said nothing.
Brad knew that as far as she was concerned they were taking too long to fix the water damage. What they thought was a leaking pipe in the kitchen, and a two day fix, ended up being much more costly, and an extra couple weeks of new drywall and cosmetics in his work out room below.
He attempted to steer the conversation back on track. "Are you going to do the south shore charity run this summer?"
"Changing the subject, eh?" she asked. "Good idea."
He said nothing and pretended to read the paper in his hand.
"Definitely that one. There are a couple others over the summer too," she said. "We haven't decided which ones we'll do. It will probably depend on the kids social calendar."
"That's great." he said.
He looked at her again, admiring her. He was glad she enjoyed the active lifestyle. A decade after kids and she was now sporting a body that was tight and amazing.
"Hon?" Val said. "Cosmo has a list of the most popular role playing scenarios."
"Oh yea? Do tell." He thought he detected a hint of excitement in her voice, or perhaps curiosity. "Did college professor and student make the list?"
"Hmm. Ha!" She laughed. "Yes it did."
He chuckled. "Student action I get all the time, but no role playing," he said seriously.
She looked at him sideways, "You wish."
"Yea, well..." he said glumly.
