Meaningful

She kissed her husband goodbye, and watched fondly and sadly as he turned to open the door.

"Damn!" he muttered as the icy chill blasted his exposed face. "Summer just can't get here fast enough!"

Wearing only her robe and slippers, the cold air momentarily affected her much more than it affected him, but at least she would be inside all day. He had to trudge three blocks to the bus stop and wait for the bus to get through the horrendous morning traffic.

She watched from a window until her husband was out of sight, then returned to the kitchen to put away the remnants of breakfast. It was as she was throwing away the coffee grounds that an idea came to her, a simple yet nice surprise for him, but she would need to wait before putting the idea into action.

It was late afternoon when she emerged from the bath tub, her skin soft and sensuous, her legs and her sex nicely shaved. As the last of the scented water drained from the bath tub, her mind kept flashing back to the previous summer, to that particular lengthy weekend...

Remaining fully nude and enjoying the associated feeling of freedom, she prepared herself, pausing long enough to consume a few chocolates as her nail polish dried. With an eye on the various clocks in the apartment, she tried to judge where he was, and approximately when he would be walking in the door.

The old DVD she had found at a yard sale would be quite handy for this surprise. She set it to Play and adjusted the volume on the television so that the sounds of gulls and of waves breaking on the sand would attract the attention of his ears as soon as he entered the apartment. The sounds and the accompanying images also served to place her in the right mindset as she returned to the bedroom one last time...

*****

Fortunately, his was not one of the jobs deemed redundant, but he was still greatly saddened and troubled at seeing several colleagues in those few minutes between the notification that they were being laid off and the moment they left the office for the final time. It was especially heartwrenching that Gina was one of the people who was now without a job; Gina was no longer his girlfriend, as they had been in high school, but he was still fond of her, and from the hug she gave him before leaving the office, it was clear that she still felt something for him as well.

The three blocks from bus stop to apartment was particularly grueling with the advance of what was expected to be the worst winter storm in over a dozen years. The wind was definitely stronger than usual, and the sky darker than usual even for nighttime. Already one neighborhood the bus had passed through was lacking electricity, and he desperately hoped that his would not suffer the same fate. Without electricity, he could survive on his own, but given that his wife was still very much a southern girl and unaccustomed yet to the harshness of a northern winter...

Thinking of her warmed him a little as his feet crunched the virgin snow which had fallen atop the icy sidewalk. At least there was enough snow that he was not particularly concerned about slipping and falling, although it would have been nice if the people owning the houses along the street had shoveled and salted their sections of the sidewalk – although, given that most of the lights in the houses were off, the homeowners probably had yet to return from work themselves.

When he arrived at the apartment complex, he was relieved that the management had shoveled and salted the sidewalks and plowed the parking lot. By the end of winter, he would have enough money saved to buy a decent used car, and by the start of the following winter, he would have enough funds to properly maintain and operate it during the winter, which would make going to and from work a bit more bearable for him.

Yet at that moment, nothing would have pleased him more than to be back on the beach, with the warm sand between his toes as the surf washed over his feet and ankles with his new bride at his side, holding his hand and tugging him toward what appeared to be a secluded grove of trees a little further along the beach...

A stop at the mailbox produced exactly what he had expected: junk mail and bills. He passed by the empty swimming pool, wishing it was filled with water and surrounded by the teenage girls of the complex tanning in their bikinis after school. He trudged past one of the laundry rooms, basking in the warm exhaust from the dryers.

And then, his breath visible against the door, he slid the key into the lock, glad to finally be home, thankful that in a few seconds, he would truly be warm again.

The warmth of the apartment did not reach him immediately, the cold air advancing faster than his feet would move. It was only when the door was finally closed behind him that he became aware of the warmth.

...and of the sounds of a beach.

He could not see the television screen, as it had been angled slightly away from his line of sight. But he could see feet, bare feet, accompanied by bare legs, at least bare up to the knees before a wall blocked his view of the person on the floor.

"Honey?" he called out, but there was no response. He set down the unwanted mail and his briefcase and quickly shed the winter coat and hat, looking again at the feet and noting how they were pointed away from him as if someone was stretching on the floor.

His wife stretching would not be a surprise, but for her to be wearing so little while exercising...

Yet he could quite clearly hear the sounds of a beach. As he slipped off his shoes, he had to wonder if this was not some nice surprise...

He advanced, discovering that his wife indeed had bare legs – he instantly recognized the scar of an old injury on her right thigh. As he approached the end of the wall, more and more of her was revealed to him: the red-and-white striped bikini bottoms she had worn on their honeymoon trip, the silver belly chain she always wore, the arched back which forced her breasts to strain nicely against the matching bikini bra, the painted smile, the sparkling eyes looking up at him, the lengthy hair, the outstretched arms ending in an intertwining of fingers...

"Time to think of warmer times," she said sweetly, her accent slight and endearing.

In seemingly a heartbeat, he was beside her on the floor, clutching her warm body to him even though she shuddered from his cold clothes against her barely-protected flesh.

It was not a grassy grove. There was no scent of a great body of water. There was no breeze to caress them. Even the sounds from the television seemed somehow "off." But none of that mattered, for she warmed him, and they both relived one of the most meaningful joining of their young marriage.