I eased the mouse toward the top of the screen. The menu unfolded and the arrow found the ShutDown command. The screen went grey, then black as the fans slowed to a stop and the last trace of sound in my office faded into the late evening.
I took a sigh and leaned out of my chair and started the long climb from my basement office to our bedroom upstairs. As a graphic designer I had the privilege and cruse of working from home. Getting a block of work finished, usually took more than several hours and left me as the last man awake in our quiet suburban neighborhood.
As I often did, I stopped by the front window and looked out at our cul-de-sac. It was unusual to see any movement after ten o'clock, and this was a typical night. All of the houses were dark, save for a handful of porch lights and our one streetlight casting a large orange circle onto the pavement. I took a moment to appreciate our charmed life and continued my climb to bed.
Our room was black and a single slice of dim light escaped from our bathroom and cut across the floor to our bed, where, Julie, my beautiful wife lay sleeping. She usually left the small nightlight glowing in the bathroom, so I could navigate my final chores without waking her. I brushed my teeth and changed into some jogging shorts, forgoing a shirt because the humidity from the afternoon had not lifted. I clicked off the light and softly padded across the carpet to my side of the bed.
I felt for the seam of our sheets and slid my foot between them. I slowly straightened out a relaxed each muscle, feeling the cool sheets on my back. My wife's slow, deliberate breathing proving that she was still asleep. I rolled to my side, facing her and could just make out her silhouette. I closed my eyes, assuming that sleep was just a few moments away.
"Hey." It floated across the pillows on her breath. I had woken her up.
"Hi. Sorry," I apologized, taking the disruption as an opportunity to adjust my pillow one last time.
"It's okay. I was awake." She leaned in, planting a soft kiss on my upper lip. She used the first kiss to line up the next, a little harder this time. Then another. This happens sometimes. She kissed me aggressively and I happily let her control things for a bit. "Do you wanna play around?" Her question was more rhetorical than anything.
"Sure." I propped myself on one elbow to take over the situation. She laid a hand on my shoulder and pushed me back into my pillow. My eyes were just starting to adjust to the darkness.
She rolled away from me. "Hang on." I heard her shuffling in her bedside table. She rolled back towards me, and I thought I caught a grin or smirk flash across her face. "Here," she put her hand on the back of my head, slid her sleeping mask over my eyes and I was plunged back into darkness.
I felt her weight on the bed shift and then heard her feet shuffle around the end of the bed. Her soft hand found my shoulder. "Sit up. On the edge." I was completely lost, but obeyed her. I tried to raised my hand to her mid-section and was softly slapped away. "I got you something. Put your arms out."
I held out my hands waiting for the weight of my gift. Instead I felt something delicate sliding around my hand and up my arms. At my shoulders, something pulled across my chest and around my back. I felt my wife reach behind me and my torso was ringed with a tight band of fabric.
