year to be with my family’, and ‘nothing gets in the way of family day’. That kind of agreement.” Did he really think I only cared about money? I still had some atoning to do, then. Oh, and I want us to attend couple’s counselling remained unsaid. He didn’t need any added pressure right now.
“What about your working hours?”
“While I love what I do, I’ve been thinking about cutting back on my case load. Maybe even working from home when I can.” Compromise. It’s all about compromise, my counselor had said. “The long hours were a means to an end, my way of taking care of our family.” If Travis became my paralegal, I’d dare anyone—Travis included—to consider him “the man behind the man”.
“I know. Believe me, I know. But knowing with your head and feeling in your heart are two different things.”
“Yes, they are. And I want us to try new things, go places we’ve never been before instead of getting into a rut. Don’t get me wrong, we’ll still go to our favorite places, but we’ll be more adventurous too.” I’d already started a list: parks instead of museums, plays instead of Netflix, and an amusement park instead of our annual shopping trip to New York. Or going to New York and doing all the tourist stuff we’d prided ourselves on being too cool to do. Or I had. He’d wanted to visit the Statue of Liberty. Why the hell not?
This time he kissed me. “Sounds like a plan I could live with.”
We lay in the dark, me listening to every little breath from his side of the bed. Who needed music?
“When do you have to be back at work?” he asked.
“I don’t.”
He rose up on his elbow. Even in the darkness I felt his stare. “You, who never missed a day?”
Confession time. “I’ve done something I should have done a long time ago. Took time off to save my marriage.”
Over the next two days we rarely left the room.
Bob’s eyes widened as he approached the table. “Dad?” He glanced back and forth between me and Travis. Underneath the tablecloth my husband gripped my hand. We’d come a long way, but the journey was far from over.
“Are you back together?” Bob’s hopeful smile made me wish I could say yes. One step at a time.
“We’re… working on getting to know each other again,” Travis answered, with a squeeze of my fingers. “For now.”
Why did two little words give me so much hope?
“I’m in therapy for depression, and my doctor still keeps a close watch on my medicine, but I’m feeling much better now.” A heated gaze from Travis’s lovely green eyes warmed me better than the sun. “Your dad and I are also in couple’s counseling.” Something we should have done years ago.
Travis looked like a million bucks. Gone were the gaunt hollows from his face, and I’d become enamored with the slight dusting of gray in his hair. The “distinguished gentleman” look suited him—and had won him his latest role, a small part in a movie as an attorney. Ah, the irony.
“Well, that’s a start.” Bob ordered a breakfast of croissant and eggs.
I peeked over my paper in time to spot a blob of butter clinging to Bob’s cheek. My napkin beat Travis’s to the smear. We all laughed. Then I put my paper down. Time enough to read the news later. Now was family time.
Epilogue—Ten Years Later
Travis’s gray hair glittered, and laugh lines etched deeply into his face. Thirty years. For thirty years he’d been by my side, save for the two years apart that had only served to strengthen our bond. Eventually. We called those lost years our “time out”.
He produced a Wet Wipe to swipe away a chocolate smear from our grandson’s chin, while I helped our daughter Shari don her necklace.
Bob asked, “Everybody ready?” How proud and confident our son stood, so unlike the scared little boy he’d once been.
“I believe so,” I replied, wrapping my fingers around my husband’s.
Travis added his voice to mine. “I can’t wait.”
Bob took over parental duties, herding the youngsters out of the tiny café we’d rented for the occasion, and led them to the very front of an assembled group of family and friends. Travis and I trailed behind, and when the kids took their positions near a makeshift podium, we stepped forward.
We stood on a mountaintop at sunset, a far cry from the sumptuous hall we’d used the first time we’d said our vows. I’d made