She sat at the
end of the sofa closest to the window, the throw blanket wrapped
snugly about her. The light was already fading outside as the early
autumn night closed in. It felt good: the cool air out there had
just begun to make its way into the apartment, so she had put the
heat on for the first time, just low, to chase that chill away. The
smell of it – a sort of hot-dust scent – was comforting in its
announcing Fall's arrival. The candles that were the only
illumination in the apartment added their warm primal light and their
various scents to the whole ambiance of this evening, the kind she
loved and looked forward to each year.
Sounds from the
kitchen drew her attention away from the fading light and slowly
clouding sky outside. He was finishing up making some tea for them
both, a final touch that made the warm autumnal coziness complete.
He stopped when their eyes met, and smiled at her. He never could
meet her eyes without losing whatever concentration he had. She
smiled back, relaxed and sweet. That stopped him completely.
“Is the tea
ready?” she asked.
“Hm? - oh,
yeah,” he said, remembering himself, slightly embarrassed.
“I thought
maybe something had happened,” she said with a touch of kind
sarcasm as he picked up the cups and made his way to her.
“When you
look at me,” he said, sitting close and handing her a cup, “the
world goes someplace else. I don't even care where it goes,” he
added, sipping. The flicker of a few of the smaller candles winked
shadows on their faces. He set his cup on the little table in front
of the sofa and pulled closer to her. She took her free hand from
under the blanket and put it around his shoulders. In the soft
orange candlelight he looked into her mysterious grey eyes and she
looked into his searching blue eyes. She leaned her forehead against
his and sighed deeply, closing her eyes for a moment. He ran his
fingers gently through her hair.
She sighed
again then sipped her tea, looking at him. “Comfy?”
“I have no
idea how I could be more comfy, or feel more right.”
“True story,”
she said.
*
© 2015 Brandon W. Flatley
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