Abby didn’t know where to go with this. Nick had not mentioned her stories once since his visit in May. It had been one more item on her paranoia pinwheel.
“Yeah. Have you written anything lately? Or have you been too wrapped up in…you know…the whole publishing end of things…?”
“I have a new story,” said Abby quietly. “It’s called Princess Penelope Goes to the Fair.” She paused. The two most important parts of her life were her husband and her writing. She really, really wanted them both to be okay. “Nick, I’ve been meaning to ask you…my stories, are you sure you’re okay with that? Because you haven’t said anything for awhile and I wondered…”
“What? You know I love your stories!”
“I know. But that was when it was just you-and-me stories. You know, before it got…out there.”
“Abby, I love your stories. Everyone does. You’re going to be famous!” Nick could see that his wife wasn’t too thrilled by that idea. “You’re going to be famous for writing wonderful stories, not for being my wife or for being rich or whatever…but for having talent.”
“Okay. Just me being silly again. But you haven’t mentioned them in a while …and I wondered…” She shrugged, at a loss for further words.
“You wondered if the reason I was being a prick was about the stories?”
Abby shook her head in denial, but Nick rode over it. “I know I was a prick, Abby. I don’t even know why. But what I do know, is that I’m over it. And it had nothing to do with your writing. I won’t be a prick anymore and I would love to read your new story. Please.”
Abby went to the study and got the story. Nick sat in the living room and read while Abby put together the dessert. She had made gingerbread cake, one of her favorite desserts from childhood. She liked it warm with cold whipped cream on it. She hoped Nick would too. She was going to have to have a serious talk with him about food and make a list of things he liked and didn’t like. She wasn’t even sure if he liked coffee at night. She set up the coffee maker anyway. She’d ask him when she took the cake out and if he said ‘yes’, she could just come back and flip the button. If he didn’t, well then, it was all set up for morning. She plugged in the kettle to boil for tea.
Abby took the cake portions from the microwave and served them onto plates. She dotted the tops with whipped cream and put everything on a tray. They would eat dessert in the living room. Abby smiled to herself. That was absolutely forbidden in the Fremont household. Hors d’oeuvres or cookies or any other finger food was okay, but if it required a fork or a spoon, it was eaten in the dining room.
Abby hummed to herself as she came into the living room with the tray. “Here we…” she began and then stopped abruptly. Nick wasn’t there. Abby set the tray down and waited. Maybe he was in the bathroom. When he had not returned in fifteen minutes, Abby got up and tiptoed down the hall. He wasn’t in the bedroom…or the study…or the bathroom…
Abby found him in his game room, sitting on the couch with his sketchpad. The pencil flew across the page.
“Nick…”
“Shush,” he said abruptly, without looking up from the paper.
Abby did, pressing her lips together and not moving. She wondered if she should back out quietly or just stand there frozen. She stood there for a couple of minutes and was just making up her mind that she would leave, when Nick tapped the sketchpad with the pencil and looked up. “There!”
He held the pad up and turned it toward Abby. “What do you think?”
“Omigod,” said Abby. She was looking at a drawing of Brian, dressed in a patchwork coat and a bent top hat, making balloon animals while a delighted Princess Penelope looked on. “Omigod,” she said again. She couldn’t believe it. Nick had got it perfectly. “Is it okay?” she asked, nodding at the papers beside him on the table…her story.
“Okay? Baby, it’s perfect. It’s unbelievable. You were only on tour with us for what…a week? And you’ve got every little thing…every…what do you call that, when someone has…like a weird habit or something?”
“Idiosyncrasy?”
“Yeah, that. You got them all. Kevin as the Magician just cracks me right up…giving the rabbit shit because it won’t stay in the hat… And Howie…omigod…”
“Is it okay?” Abby asked again. “I mean, like…will their feelings be hurt?”
“God no! They’ll love it. I can’t wait to illustrate this one. AJ as the jester guy, with the bells and the…”
“You can’t make them look like themselves, though, can you?” Abby realized that she hadn’t thought this through.
Nick looked down at the paper. “I don’t know. I thought I did a pretty good job with this one. I only worked at it for a few minutes.”
“No, no…I don’t mean ‘can you’ as in ‘do you have the talent’, I mean, is it…like…legal? Is it okay to make them look like who they are…their faces?” Abby shook her head in frustration. She wasn’t sure what she’d said made any sense.
Nick got it, though. “We’ll just ask them. I’ll show them the story and after they say how much they love it, I’ll show them the sketches. I don’t think they’ll be upset, Abby. I think they’ll be flattered.” He gave her a sly smile. “I know I am.”
Abby blushed and looked down. “Well, you’re my favorite, Strong Man.”
“Come here,” said Nick softly, dropping the sketchbook to the floor.
Abby moved to him and he pulled her down onto his lap. He cradled her body in his arms and kissed her neck. Then he moved his mouth over hers.
“Is there anything in that dessert that will melt or get messy?” asked Nick a few minutes later.
“No,” murmured Abby. If it wasn’t eaten soon, it would need to go back in the refrigerator, but Abby sure wasn’t going to go do it. It could rot as far as she was concerned.
“Then, if you don’t mind…” Nick kissed his way down her throat, as he undid the buttons on her blouse.
“Mmm,” cooed Abby, as she shifted her hips against his hardness.
Nick slipped his fingers under the edge of her bra, seeking out her nipple. Abby unclasped the bra in the front. Nick looked down at her. “Good planning,” he whispered and then he moved her off him onto her back. He knelt above her for a moment and then smiled a lazy, sexy smile. He pulled the t-shirt off and dropped it on the sketchbook. “Cover your eyes, Princess Penelope,” he said, with a grin.
Abby laughed and reached for his belt.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~They made love in Nick’s game room for a long, long time…kissing each other, caressing. They worked very slowly at getting naked and then they kissed and touched every part of each other. They took turns driving each other wild. Abby stroked Nick until he was getting close and then he moved her hand away and used his to make her come while his mouth feasted on her neck. Abby recovered from that and moved over him, using her mouth to bring him to the point of no return. Nick flipped her over at that point and settled his head between her legs, licking and sucking until Abby came a second time, with tiny whimpers and squeals of pleasure. Nick held back as long as he could, getting such joy from giving pleasure to Abby that he sublimated his own needs as long as possible.
Abby grabbed him by the hair and pulled him up her quivering body. He didn’t resist, but settled over her, entering her slowly. Abby clenched her walls around him and dragged her fingernails down his back. Then it became all about him, as he thrust in and out of her, deep, powerful strokes. He gave tiny grunts of pleasure with each movement and then one long, ragged groan as he emptied himself into her.
He collapsed on top of her, panting. Abby put her arms around him and held him tight. They lay together, breathless, tiny sounds escaping them both.
Then, with a long sigh, Nick raised himself up onto his forearms. “Man, we are good at this,” he said with a grin.
Abby smiled and brushed his hair off his forehead with a finger. “Do you want dessert now?” she asked, through half-closed eyes.
Nick considered a moment. “You know what I want…I want to have that shower that we keep talking about but never get around to. Let’s do that first. Then we can sit around in our robes and eat.”
“Okay,” said Abby, who’d never eaten anything in her bathrobe. “That sounds like a plan.”
They went into the bedroom and through to the bathroom. Their inhibitions were washed down the drain by the cascading water and they made love ferociously. Abby was glad they were standing under water. They might have incinerated themselves otherwise.
They moved from the shower to the bed where they cuddled together and then fell asleep in each other’s arms.
The dessert went down the garbage disposal the next morning.
