Hard Day's Work

 

The gravel drive way crunched under the car's tires. It was late, almost midnight; her shift had ended around a half hour before, the closing shift. It had been a long day and as she pulled up she felt relief to be home. Turning the engine off she looked up to the house, all windows were dark, the lights off. AS she grabbed her bag and got out of the car making her way up to the porch steps she hoped he was home, she was too tired to remember if he would be later than her tonight or not. She opened the front door, and first slipped her shoes off, pushing them to the side of the door. Her feet were killing her, though they were comfortable shoes, by the end of the night they were far from comfortable leaving her feet soar and tight.  She glanced around the dark house then made her way up stairs hoping he was home; she just wanted to curl her soar, tired body into him. She reached the top and could see the flickering of the white light from the TV on the door. Her body relaxed and suddenly she felt she could breathe, which may sound a little funny since she could breathe all day but with him, breathing was different, being able to relax was different. She walked in quietly to see him lying back against the headboard flipping through the channels, the volume was low. Nothing was said by either of them, just a gentle smile from him as she put her bag away. She then went to his end of the bed where he had left his shirt for her, as always. She took the shirt with a quiet smile as she slipped out of her work clothes and then into the shirt. He watched her, the way she moved, slowly, gracefully. He watched the way the shadows of the TV light danced over her skin. After slipping into his shirt, she caught his scent on it causing her to glance his direction with a smile. His eyes met hers till she chuckled softly as she picked her clothes up and put them in the hamper by the closet. She pulled her hair down letting her curls fall around her shoulders as she ran her fingers through them to shake them out. She climbed in next to him sliding between the sheets. His arm came around her shoulders to meet her as she moved in close. He leaned in to kiss the top of her head as she rested her cheek against the warm skin of his chest, her arm wrapping around his middle.

"How was your day baby?" he asked quietly breaking the silence between them as he gently tugged at a few curls around her shoulder.

She was quiet for a moment, her mind rehashing the busy heck-ness of her day. She decided she didn’t want to ruin the peacefulness between them by going over it all, she replied quietly,

"It was okay, but it’s better now." She kissed his chest then asked,

"How was yours?"

"It was good," he paused, "But its better now." She smiled as his fingers ran through her hair. He then turned the TV off sliding down to lay beside her as she moved her body on her side to face him, the quiet darkness surrounding them.

He lifted her chin and gently kissed her lips brushing his nose over hers, then kissed her forehead a last time before letting her burry her face in the warmth of his neck like she liked to do, followed by the rest of her body curling into him. Her soft leg tangling in over one of his, her hand on his chest her thumb brushing back and forth, later, in her sleep her arm would wrap around his middle. He kept her close that night, as with ever other night and she stayed close. Slowly as her breaths shortened and her thoughts drifted toward the blankness of nothing, they both knew no matter how busy or tiring their days had been, coming home to each other made the rest of the day vanish.