Chapter 10: The New House (Two Months Prior)

We moved into the finished house almost exactly one month after the pool party. The remodel was done. New hardwood floors, new paint colors Sarah had chosen. The kitchen she had designed with Roxie, the bathrooms that had been updated, including expanding the master bathroom to include a large walk-in with rainfall shower heads, and outside it, a large porcelain tub that I thought was definitely big enough for two. The kids ran through the rooms like they owned the place. Sarah stood in the middle of the living room with her hands on her hips and smiled so wide I thought she might cry.

“It’s perfect,” she said. Her voice was thick. “I can’t believe we are actually going to live here.”

I put my arm around her and kissed the top of her head. “You made it perfect. You and Roxie. This is yours.”

That night, after the kids were finally asleep on blow-up mattresses in their new rooms, which were temporary beds while we waited for all our furniture to arrive from Iowa. We had the moving company pick up all our furniture and possessions that had been in storage for the last few months a couple of days ago, and it would arrive here in the morning. Sarah and I went to bed on a new mattress on the floor, with clean sheets Sarah had put on it. The room smelled like a candle she had lit. I kissed her, and she kissed me back. We undressed slowly. She was wet when I touched her, and I went down on her the way I always did, using two fingers inside her while I licked. She came with her hand over her mouth so she wouldn’t wake the kids. When I moved up and pushed inside her, she held me and told me she loved me. We stayed in missionary while we made love. I came. She didn’t. She kissed my shoulder and said it was okay.