I travel all the time for work, leaving my wife home to take care of our three children by herself. On the rare occasion that my wife is the one far from home in a hotel room, I always want her to come back to a clean home feeling refreshed. This year she had a conference in Seattle on the other side of the country and with everything going on, it had been hard to connect physically or emotionally lately. I wanted to send her a special gift so she'd know I was thinking of her.
I'm home on the couch finally putting my feet up after getting everyone to sleep when my phone rings.
"Hello, honey!" I say after checking the caller id.
"What is this about?" my wife asks.
I check my watch and smile. Right on time.
"There is a man here claiming you hired him to give me a massage?"
"Surprise!" I say, switching from my phone to my headset. I smile and settle in.
"Ok, I guess you can come in." I hear her say in the background.
"This is unexpected. What did I do to deserve this?"
"You do everything. Every day. And I just wanted to surprise you with a treat. You are never the person kicking back on the king size bed in the peace and quiet and I want you to get the most from it. Um. I guess there's something I should mention."
"Can it wait? He's all set up." I can hear her talking to him, discussing what to leave on, where to lay, etc.
"Well, do you have your headset handy? It's boring here and I'd love to just sit here and listen to you breathe."
"You are a weird dude. But sure. Hold Please."
I can tell she's smiling as she gets organized and the big sigh as she lays down on the massage table.
"Honey, the thing is that Charles there does a very complete massage. I hired him specifically because of his experience and he and I made an arrangement that he's going to go as far as you want and no farther. But there's a catch."
"As far as I want and no farther?" She asks between little moans. "What does that mean?"
"Well, you'll see. But the catch is that when he asks you a question, before you say yes, you have to ask me. Otherwise, you just lay there and enjoy yourself. He's promised not to talk too much so you don't feel weird. I know you don't love strangers touching you."
"Whatever. It feels so good. Just... let me enjoy it."
I go quiet and listen to her breathing and the sounds of Charles massaging her back. My heart is racing because I know what's coming but I'm trying to enjoy the process with my beautiful wife who is clearly having a nice time. Ten minutes go by before I hear mumbling on the phone.
"Honey, he's done with my legs and he says I have to ask you if he should lift the towel and work on my, um, upper thighs."
"Does it feel good? Do you want him to?"
"Yes."
"Then it's fine. Please go ahead."