It was almost two in the morning when Bill got to his in-laws’ house. His wife was waiting for him and he took her quickly into the car and drove home.
“Have a good day?” he asked.
“Missed you. Otherwise, it was okay. My aunt and a whole load of people came over and my mother fed them all. We opened presents, then the men watched football while the women chatted.”
“What did you do?”
“I hung out with my brothers for awhile, then with the ladies for awhile. Mostly I stayed in my room upstairs and read. I also had a good nap.”
“We were very busy all day. Even the evening and night were relatively busy. Caesar kept us open for our regular hours so we couldn’t even clean up until we were just about closing.”
“You must be tired.”
“More weary than tired.”
“What time tomorrow?”
“Later. Not until eleven.”
“Good. So you can sleep in a little.”
“I’m hoping to.”
“Good,” his wife said.
They rode the rest of the way home in silence. His wife hooked her arm in his and kept herself close to him as she could get given the bucket seats. Then they were there and he parked and they went upstairs.
The house was warm. It was clean and neat, and despite it being very late, they both hung up their coats.
“I’ll run us a shower,” his wife said. “You want anything before I do?”
Bill said no. He took her in his arms. “I love you,” he said. He kissed her once, a soft kiss, and then he told her to go along because he not only felt funky, but he smelled funky too.
One thing they always had plenty of was hot water. Bill did not dilly dally at all. He went straight to the bedroom where he stripped and tossed his clothes into the hamper for dirty laundry. Then he went into the bathroom and joined his wife in the shower.
They lounged a long time in the hot water. They washed each other and Bill washed his hair. Since he’d been working in kitchens, he washed his hair a lot.
“Been drinking?” his wife asked.
“All day. But not get-drunk drinking. More like celebrate-the-holiday-in-our-own-way drinking. We all worked hard, everyone, bus boys on up. We sold a shitload of ham and turkey and then as the evening got later we started selling a lot of steaks and hamburgers.”
“The hotel must be busy.”
“That hotel is always busy. And we have parties all week too.”
“I hope it slows down some so you can have a break.”
“All the overtime is good money.”
“We’re doing okay now,” his wife said. She was done with her shower, done getting washed and washing her husband. “I’m getting out,” she said.
Bill waited until she was out of the shower until he said, “What’s okay? Having been broke and down and out, I don’t think just having some money in the bank is okay. I think making as much as we can and putting away as much as we can—that’s okay.”
Sue didn’t say anything. She was toweling herself dry. “Want a glass of wine?” she asked.
“Sure, Bill said.
“Meet you in bed,” his wife said.
Bill finished rinsing his hair and made sure all the soap was gone from his body. Then he stood a couple of minutes more under the hot water. He remembered Rosie ever so quickly taking his hand and putting it up between her legs so he could feel how wet her panties were from her sweating. He remembered her helping herself to a feel of him only to discover his underwear was equally wet.
“Haven’t peed yourself, have you?” she asked.
“You?” he responded.
Sue had lit candles and made the bedroom soft and pleasant. She had put on a nightie and was waiting for him as he came from the shower.
“Hi sweetheart,” she said.
