0730
Thanksgiving morning
Swell, we’re supposed to go to Bud and Harriet’s for dinner at noon today. I finally glanced outside as my coffee was brewing and saw it. Eight inches of snow, and it’s still falling. No wonder it’s so unearthly quiet. It was only supposed to be rain. I should have realized, it’s never this quiet when it rains.
Well I know what I have to do. I’ll just go pick her up. She’ll either try to drive her ‘vette, which I know from personal experience cannot navigate this stuff, or she’ll use it as an excuse to stay at home by herself. Nope the only answer is to go get her. I won’t even call her because that will give her warning, and she’ll either try to leave early, and get stuck God knows where, or she’ll leave the apartment so I can’t find her. She can be so stubborn. She’s been in a strange mood lately, she needs to be with her friends, with.…uh…. people who….love….her.
1100
Great. This is luck. No ones parked in front of her car. I can back up so close it blocks her in. It’s doubtful she could even move it, but that doesn’t mean she wouldn’t try. God she can be stubborn sometimes. The dessert and drinks I’m bringing will be okay in the cooler in back for a while, and once I convince her to come with me I’ll move forward so she can put her stuff in too.
I wonder how much of a fight she’ll put up, as I knock on her door.
“Harm what are you doing here?” Are the first words out of her mouth, but a wariness in her eyes shows me she already knows and is ready for it.
“It’s snowing,” I reply. That about covers it.
“I know it’s snowing, Harm,” she answers with elaborate patience.
“You can’t drive in this,” I add with all the male decisiveness I can muster.
“Of course I can. I have those thingies for my tires,” she returns with a full compliment of Marine stubbornness.
“Won’t work. The snows too deep.” I follow her into the kitchen where she pours me a cup of coffee and adds the stuff she knows I like. It’s almost like a ritual we have to go through, this ‘discussion’.
“I’d have to do it if it was a work day, Harm,” that’s a specious argument and she knows it.
“Maaac! When it snows like this, they close the city. You wouldn’t have to go to work,” I remind her.
“I don’t have to go to dinner either, Harm,” she’s almost slipping into that mood now. Only one way to get her out of it.
“Don’t be silly, of course you have to go to dinner,” I state positively
“Silly!” She whirls on me, “Silly!? You think I’m silly?” Good she’s angry, that’s easier to deal with.
“Absolutely,” I answer firmly, “if you think you can take that two wheel drive, plastic, gas guzzling, monster out in this stuff, you’re silly. And if you think for a minute I’m going to let you miss Thanksgiving dinner with our friends,” I shrug expressively. “It’s the only word I can think of.”
She’s fuming now. She takes a huge gulp of her coffee, bangs the cup down on the counter, and faces me square with her hands on her hips. “I’ll tell you what’s silly.” She starts, “What’s silly, is you coming in here thinking you can tell me what to do because….uh because…..” she looks around everywhere but at me. She knows the answer, and won’t admit it. Stubborn. I finish the sentence
“Because I care about you Mac,” I state simply.
The look that floods her face worries me for a moment. Is she going to laugh, or cry, or knock my feet from under me and pin me to the floor. I’m beginning to think of the advantages to that last possibility, when something between and sob and a giggle bursts from her throat, and her entire body starts shaking. It scares me a little.
“Mac?....What…? C’mon Mac,” she keeps making that sound. It’s scaring me. I take hold of her shoulders and she slips into my arms. Her entire body is trembling with something I still can’t identify. “Mac, are you okay?” I ask as the tremors subside a little.
She looks up at me with a warm watery twinkle in her eye. “Listen to us. We can’t even do this without fighting Harm. You’re just trying to help me, and I’m fighting you.”
“I know,” I tell her.
“You knew I’d argue with you,” she narrows her eyes a little.
“Uh huh,” I nod
“That’s why you came early?” She asks suspiciously.
I nod again, “Yeah I parked in front of your car, so you couldn’t get out if you got mad at me.” I admit sheepishly.
“You know me too well Harm,” she shakes her head. There’s something a little odd in her eyes now.
“Not nearly well enough,” I murmur. My fingers are drawing soft patterns on the small of her back, and I realize she’s still in my arms. I haven’t released her, and she hasn’t pulled away.
“Do you know how much I care about you?” She asks. I know I register a little surprise because her expression changes, “You don’t do you? You never really knew.”
I just shake my head slowly, I think my mouth is hanging open.
She reaches up and gives me a soft kiss on the cheek then looks at me again. “Thank you for caring so much, Harm.”
I think my smile at that moment could do a lot of damage to the frozen flakes falling outside. “You’re welcome,” I reply, and do the next thing that comes to mind. I let my lips drift slowly down and capture hers.
It starts out very soft and gentle, but grows little by little as a fire ignites, then turns into a steady glow deep inside. Just as it’s about to burst into a raging inferno, just as her body starts to melt against my heat, I pull back slightly.
“We either have to stop now, or call the Roberts’ and tell them we’re snowed in,” I tell her catching my breath.
“Or we could just take out a front page add in the Washington Post that’s says ‘Harm and Mac finally did it,’” she giggles.
“Yeah,” I grin foolishly, “it would be the same thing, huh?” Although after all this time, its fine with me, I don’t say this out loud.
“I guess we should go, huh?” She says
“Yeah, I guess so,” I answer.
“You’re going to have to let go of me,” she says, not struggling in the least.
“I know,” I answer, not liking that part. So I kiss her again, until I know I have to stop.
“We really have to stop now, Mac,” I rest my forehead against hers, and try to control my breathing. Still holding her tight against me, still not offering to let her go.
“I know,” she answers, “but….I don’t think I want to. I don’t want to live any longer without you touching me like this.”
“Me either,” I admit. “What will we do?” If we don’t show up at the Roberts it’s the same as an announcement were not ready to make. This is too new.
She pulls her head back far enough to look into my eyes, “How about a rain check for later,” she asks mischievously.
“Do they work in the snow?” I ask in the same teasing tone.
“They work even better. Sometimes you get snowed in, and can’t get out for days,” her eyes are positively wicked now, as she slides from my arms. I have to release her, or I won’t be able to walk.
“You have a deal Marine,” I answer, composing myself and picking up the container with her dinner contribution.
She grabs her coat and I hold the door for her. I wonder if we’ll argue later over where we’re going to collect the rain check? Or did we give each other one? Even better, I think, as I slip my free arm around her waist and guide her to my car.
End