Chapter 18

“ ... then I told him flat out before we went into the sauna that there would be no activities that could potentially get me pregnant until there’s a bouquet, a ring, and a preacher. And then I’m the one who jumps right over the line, I pull off his towel, get a view of the ... scenery ... and I say to myself “maybe just a flower and a Lifesaver.”

“Stop, please stop,” Macy was laughing so hard that her sides hurt. If Paul’s “scenery” was the same as John’s “scenery” then she full well understood Andi’s dilemma. Macy and Andi were sharing coffee in the breakfast nook.

“I guess I said it out loud...”

“You didn’t!” gasped Macy between bouts of laughter.

“Well in church he presents me with a flower and a Lifesaver, that YOUR husband handed him ... in CHURCH!” Andi tried to look indignant, then started laughing again. “I haven’t laughed like this since...” she looked concerned. “Oh God ... since pre-med. God how I missed laughing like this. Did I mention our bet on the Broncos game on Saturday?” Andi and Macy were talking over coffee in the breakfast nook as part of their pre-marriage counseling.

“Not yet, and I hope you will,” Macy leaned in and whispered conspiratorially, “living here you should know, it’s never a Broncos game, it’s always a Bills game.”

“Either way, we bet one orgasm per score. He owes me seven, I owe him eight AND a full body massage.”

“Now that’s a kind of bet I can agree with,” grinned Macy as she poured more coffee. “I may even watch some post season ball with my ma chérie.”

“I used to love sex and everything about it. Maybe I liked it too much.” Andi sipped her coffee. Macy nodded in agreement, but she never had that experience. Her introduction to sex was bad, and it remained bad for quite a while. Poor John, so patient for all those years...

“Then I married Frank. He beat all of that out of me,” Andi said into her coffee cup. Macy drew near and put her hand on Andi’s shoulder. “I poured everything into becoming the best doctor in Colorado because he took so much out of my life. The harder he hurt me the more I poured myself into my job. Thank God Frank left me. He left me broke and broken, but he left me and was gone before the twins were born.”

“Oh baby, I’m so sorry.”

They were interrupted for a moment as the twins roared through the kitchen, leading Wonka, Paul’s chocolate Labrador retriever, on a leash. “Then I got stuck in a snowbank and met Paul, and he took us in, and in less than 24 hours I was madly in love, and to my shock and surprise, so was he.”