Joe woke up early Saturday morning and slowly climbed out of bed, being sure not to wake his wife, Mallisa. As he stood in the doorway to the hall, he looked at her and smiled. She looked so peaceful; her long wavy hair cascading down over her shoulder and across the pillow, one hand smushed up under her face and the other reaching out toward his side of the bed.
He walked down stairs to the laundry room and got dressed in a pair of jeans, a t-shirt, and a heavy flannel shirt on top. Grabbing a pair of socks, he walked into the kitchen and stood for a moment, debating if he should make coffee or not.
"Eh, screw it." Joe said to nobody.
With a shrug, he turned and walked through the house to the front door, where he leaned against the wall and pulled his socks on while looking at the slowly brightening horizon. He then repeated the process with his heavy work boots, laced them up and was just stepping through the door when he stopped, turned around and walked as silently as possible in his boots over to the table where his phone was charging. He scooped it up and walked back outside and eased the front door closed.
Today's task was splitting a bunch of wood. He wasn't really sure what he would use it for. He and the wife had switched over from burning wood to solar and wind the year before, so now he had a stockpile of wood and no real purpose for it.
"Maybe I can practice some carving," he told the waiting stack, "pretty sure I haven't carved since I was a kid."
With another shrug he wandered into the garage and grabbed the axe and maul off the wall, then he dug through a few drawers to find his leather work gloves and a couple of splitting wedges. It wasn't terribly long before he had worked away the morning chill and had discarded the heavy flannel shirt. His white t-shirt was now covered in tiny woodchips and a ring of sweat around the collar.
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Mallisa woke up and yawned. She reached to the other side of the bed and felt that it was cold. Opening her eyes she rolled back over and looked at the clock on the nightstand.
"Sheesh, no wonder he's up," she murmured as she rubbed her eyes and sat up, "He's already seizing the day."
Standing up and stretching while she walked, she made her way over to the closet and opened it. She grabbed a pair of pedal pushers with the cargo pockets she liked; She never understood women who would wear pants with tiny little pockets and then carry giant handbags that would destroy their back. Then she pulled on one of Joe's old button down shirts, wincing as she raised her right arm, and walked downstairs to the kitchen.
She hummed to herself as she set herself to the task of making some breakfast for herself and Joe. She could see him outside, shirtless, hammering a wedge into a large chunk of wood, her eyes following his back muscles as they flexed and moved with each hit of the maul. Her hum turning into a bit of a groan as she watched a little longer before going about her cooking.
***********
Joe hit home one last time and was rewarded with a satisfying crack as the log split and fell open in two halves.
"Showed you who's boss eh," He tough talked the split wood as he stooped to pick up the wedges. "Think that's enough for now."
Whistling a fairly plain tune he walked into the garage and placed his tools in their rightful places. He continued his simple song as he opened the fridge in the garage.
"Note to self, buy more beer." He said out loud as he reached into the fridge and grabbed the last can. "Yeah, I think it's cold enough Joe." He continued as he adjusted the temperature dial and closed the door.
He cracked open the can and took a swig before walking outside to his pile of wood. Setting the can down on a log he began to restack the wood, putting the split wood to one side of the stack and the uncut logs to the other. It wasn't long before he had finished his beer and was thinking of going in for a drink when he heard the storm door open and light footsteps step onto the porch.
"Morning babe, thirsty yet?" he heard his wife call to him.
"Well sleepyhead," he answered with a smile, "you even sure it's still morning?"
"Yes I'm sure," she was almost to him now, "got an hour of it left."
"I see, I see," Joe said smacking his shirt against his leg to try and dislodge the woodchips clinging to the cotton, "and yes I'm thirsty."
"I thought you might be Mister Lumberjack Man." She teased with a laugh, nearly spilling the cold drink she'd brought out for him.
Joe turned and took in the sight of his wife, her hair in waves framing her face and hanging down her shoulders. His eyes followed downward to see that she was nearly spilling out of his button down shirt, her nipples standing against the cloth from the chill in the air. Tight pedal pushers showed off her muscular legs and toned calves. Her feet covered by her canvas shoes.
"Damn Leese," Joe said as he pulled his shirt over his head and reached for the glass, "you're looking amazing today."
"Thanks, you're looking pretty studly yourself," she said, putting the glass in his hand and walking over to pick up the flannel shirt lying on the ground. "I made breakfast."
"Best not let it go to waste then," Joe said as he drained the glass.
Joe led the way inside, kicked his boots off and walked over to the sink to wash his face and hands. Leese followed him into the kitchen, looked at the table, then walked over to the cupboard to grab a pitcher. As she reached up, her shoulder hurt and she winced sharply.
"What's wrong?" Joe asked as he took a seat at the table.
"Yesterday at the cabin, Mom was complaining that nobody would go canoeing with her so I finally agreed to," Leese answered, as she walked over to the fridge and poured what was left of the juice into the pitcher then filled it the rest of the way with water. "That was dumb of me though, since I haven't canoed since like, my freshman year in college. So what like, ten years almost?"
"I'll take care of you after we eat" he said as he picked up his fork. "That was sweet of you though."
"Yeah, Ma was happy" she said, setting the pitcher down and taking her seat.
They ate their scrambled eggs, french toast and bacon while Leese told Joe about the day she had at the cabin with her family and said that they were expected to head over later today.
Joe listened intently to his wife, he loved how she told stories. She got so animated and into character as she talked, waving her hands around and even imitating the voices of her family members. A lot of his attention was being diverted to her bouncing chest however, his loins giving a stir when the fabric pulled tight in the middle of a story and he would catch teasing glimpses of her flesh through the openings created between the buttons.
After their meal, he told her to stay put as he went in search of her purse. Finding it, he grabbed the bottle of lotion she kept in there and returned to the kitchen. He walked up behind her and began to rub her neck and shoulders.