"I can't believe you won!" Lisa exclaimed to Alan.
"Neither can I. I bought the raffle ticket just because those kids were fundraising and I had an extra $5 in my pocket. I never win these things. You do, but I don't." Alan responded.
It had been a surreal holiday night. They had received a phone call from someone they hadn't recognized on the caller ID, and therefore hadn't answered the phone. A man with an oddly nasal voice left a short message claiming that they had won a fundraising raffle prize and to call him back. Lisa was ready to call right away, but Alan was suspicious and thought it might be some sort of telemarketer gimmick to suck people in. But eventually Lisa's curiosity and optimism prevailed, and Alan called.
Good thing he did
Lisa thought.
Just after the conversation started with "Mr. Johnson," Alan turned to Lisa and whispered how he now recalled buying a raffle ticket for $5 from a group of preteen kids for the benefit of youth sports in their city, and repeating Mr. Johnson's side of the conversation. Apparently, Mr. Johnson's son had been one of the kids, and he admitted a certain amount of pride in having the winning ticket sold "...through my family."
"No kidding, I actually won. What is it? High School football tickets?"
Mr. Johnson laughed, and responded "Didn't you even listen to what the prize is when you bought it? Doesn't matter, doesn't matter. You won the grand prize - a 4 day/3 night stay for 2 adults at a wonderful spa resort just south of Santa Barbara called "The Retreat." One of the partners in the spa has a couple grandkids playing youth sports up here, so he donated the top prize, and it was good enough to get all the moms, um, families to buy tickets. We had a record fundraiser and we have enough to buy new equipment for all the youth leagues - it's going to be great! Can I come over tomorrow to give you the prize and take your picture?"
"Uh, sure, I'm off right now, since Christmas is only 3 days away." Alan responded.
"Fantastic! I'll have the info for you then! Goodbye!"
Lisa watched Alan hang up and then, along with the kids, immediately ran upstairs to the office and pulled up The Retreat's website to see what it looked like. From all appearances, it was gorgeous. "This looks way better than anything we have ever stayed at!" Alan exclaimed.
Lisa was already mentally making plans - who could watch the kids for that long? When could they go? "Is there a time limit or expiration date on the coupons?" Lisa asked. "Ah, good question, we can ask tomorrow when Mr. Johnson comes. Schedules were reviewed, ideas floated, and dreams born. But reality doesn't stop for long, and they shifted into 'dinner mode' and take care of their little ones.
The next day Mr. Johnson and his wife had come over, snapped pictures of them (with and without the kids) and handed over the "prize pack." It contained 4 coupons - one for airfare for both of them on Southwest, a 4 day rental car from Enterprise, one for their room at The Retreat for 3 nights, and a $500 coupon for The Retreat's Spa, to get a massage or whatever else caught their attention. After shaking hands multiple times and thanking profusely, Alan and Lisa managed to usher the Johnsons out the door. They carefully examined the coupons, and noted that while the hotel and spa coupons didn't have any expiration dates on it, the airline coupons were only good for 9 months and the rental car for a year.
"Guess we are going away for our anniversary this summer, babe!" Alan exclaimed.
When they announced their good fortune on Christmas Eve, their families were all amazed and ecstatic that they had won such a prize.
Rebecca looks both happy for us and somewhat jealous - maybe of the free time?
Lisa thought. She noticed Alan looking at Rebecca and sharing a seemingly meaningful glance with her that Lisa didn't quite understand, and wondered, not for the first time, about the strange connection that her sister and husband seemed to have at odd moments.
After much discussion it was agreed that they would go down in July, for their 7
th
anniversary. Both the grandmothers promised to make themselves available to watch the grandkids to make the trip work. The next free day Alan booked their flights, and Lisa began making plans for what she was going to do at the spa. Once again, after the kids were in bed, they sat down at the spa's website for some 'in-depth' research.
"Wow, everything is so expensive there! We can get 3 one-hour massages - they are $150 each - but I thought $500 would go a lot further. Look at this - there is one treatment that is 4 hours long, called the "Hollywood Pampering - For Women Only" that costs $995! They must really inflate the prices, and I really wanted to be able to spend a lot of time just relaxing. I mean, last time we went on a trip even sort of like this it was before the kids came along, and I was pregnant. This time I really wanted to take advantage of it, since we aren't likely to do something like this ever again. Well, unless you win another raffle. Ha."
Alan gave her a look of amusement, and responded, "I'm sure it will still be fun." He admired his dynamo brunette wife, still amazingly hot after two kids. Her light blue eyes still sparkled, and she had devoted herself to regaining her figure quickly after the pregnancies. Her hips were a bit wider, breasts bigger (now a full D cup!) but she still had that taut, energetic look that made men stare at the gym. Alan started to walk out of the office, then stopped and turned back to the computer.
"Let me check something first - I might have a solution to our problem." He sat and started typing rapidly, zipping around sports websites for some reason.
"You aren't checking your silly fantasy sports teams now, are you?"
"No, I promise, this is relevant. Yup, just like I remembered. The Twins are going to be in LA that weekend, playing the Dodgers all weekend long. It's a short drive from Santa Barbara to downtown LA, so here's what I'll suggest. I'll buy a ticket to whichever of the games are open, hopefully the Lakers, and you can use the whole of the spa coupon on yourself. I'll talk to John and see if he wants to go to the game with me - I think your Aunts and Uncles will understand if we don't come down there, but I'd rather not go to a game alone and I doubt Mary would want to go without you around. You can spend the day in the spa getting yourself, ahem, ready, and I'll get my adrenaline pumping at the game. We'll rendezvous in the room afterwards and celebrate our anniversary with appropriately dirty and prolonged sex. What do you think?"
"Oh, no, you should get something from the spa too. I don't even..."
"I don't need to go to the spa - you can give me a massage the next day or something. Hell, all I'm looking for is a hand job. Besides, while it was sorta fun before, I'm not really into the whole stranger pampering you thing. I'd rather have you pamper me. OK, I'll give John a call - well, an email - and make the plans."
Lisa started to protest again, but Alan just silenced her with a smile and started typing his email to John.
Hmm, well, I know he really likes basketball...and I sure would like to get a high end treatment. Maybe a mud bath or super facial or something.
Plans were made, and Lisa started to
really
look forward to the trip. She could tell Alan was too.
During the spring, time seemed to crawl by slowly. A Kindergartener and a toddler require a lot of attention, and they both fondly recalled a time when it was just the two of them, and it wasn't unusual to watch a movie that turned into a makeout session that turned into hot sex.
Hell, even before we were married, we could just do it. I remember us going for a drive and me climbing on top of him and fucking his brains out after he was nice and didn't complain when I kinda ditched him to do a charity event. That was a fun day