“Is he asleep?” Brian asked his wife as she joined him on the couch after putting their son Baylee to sleep. He put the book he was reading down and held his arms open to his wife.
Leighanne nodded and sat down so that Brian could wrap his arms around her. “He only wanted three stories tonight.” She sighed with a smile on her face as she leaned into her husband.
“Only three? Last night when I put him down he requested five.” Brian laughed and Leighanne joined in. He loved the sound of his wife’s laugh and when it mingled with his son’s and his own he felt like he had found a piece of heaven on earth.
He breathed the smell of Leighanne’s shampoo as he held her tightly in his arms, kissing her shoulders.
Brian closed his eyes as his lips met with Leighanne’s when he pulled away he was startled to see the face of the fan from earlier looking back at him. “What?” he whispered to himself as he closed his eyes again as the woman moved closer to kiss him. He cringed as he prepared to feel her lips on his.
“Brian?” Leighanne’s voice brought him back and he slowly opened his eyes relieved to see Leighanne sitting in front of him and not the unknown fan from earlier. “What’s wrong?” she asked her voice full of concern for her husband.
Brian shook his head, it was just an image. Some of the other guys had mentioned sometimes fantasizing about a fan when they were with their wives or girlfriends, maybe seeing all those girls day in and day out had finally seeped into his brain and he was seeing one now too. “Nothing.” He smiled at Leighanne and pulled her back to him. The two continued to kiss, finally moving into their bedroom together.
Brian listened to his wife’s steady breathing as she lay next to him, he thought he would fall right to sleep after making love to her like he normally did but tonight sleep would not come. The earlier vision, daydream, about the fan was still bothering him. Despite what the other guys had told him, despite that it was only a split second it was still weighing heavily on his mind. The other guys all talked about their exploits with fans or would joke about what fans they would be envisioning that night as they were with their girls but Brian had never felt he needed to imagine anyone but his wife, she was enough for him. They loved each other passionately. He joined in with the guys as they joked, but he had never actually envisioned a fan.
And to have such an intimate vision of a fan that had caused such a strange reaction at the meet and greet and then again on stage. Even though he’d fought the vision initially, a part of him felt drawn to her. He wanted to relax and feel the other woman’s kiss on his lips.
Quietly he snuck out of the bed looking back to make sure Leighanne was still asleep. He slipped by Baylee’s bunk and checked on him. He was still soundly sleeping.
Brian moved to the living area of the bus and sat looking out of the window at the level ground as the bus passed. Perhaps the lull of the landscape would help put him to sleep. Lights ahead of the bus caught his vision and he looked towards an ambulance on the side of the road. Police cars were surrounding a lone car that looked as if it had been in a fender bender. No other car was around, a hit and run.
As the bus passed the ambulance Brian strained his eyes to get a better look at what was going on. He gasped in shock as he noticed the fan from earlier in the day sitting at the back of the ambulance with a blanket wrapped around her talking to a police officer.
“It will be alright,” He heard himself saying.
“Nothing will ever be the same again,” her voice was soft and he instantly knew it was not the voice of his wife, Leighanne, but of the fan he’d met.
He closed his eyes and let the vision take over.
He had his arm around the fan, she looked younger but not by a lot. Tears were streaming down her face as she sat next to him. He reached over and wiped the tears from her cheeks and turned her face towards his. Just the sight of her made his heart jump; she was so beautiful to him. Leighanne was a beauty but even though this girl wasn’t the typical beauty, he felt she was the most beautiful person he would ever see.
“What are we going to do?” the woman was asking him.
“We will find a way out of this, we have before.” He assured her.
“I think there is a mole inside,” she whispered to him and he could feel himself agreeing though he did not say anything. He just pulled her closer and held her tighter. He felt love for her but helpless at the same time. They were sitting in a barren room; a bed and a toilet were all he could see. A prison cell? He wondered.
“Brian?” Leighanne’s voice, which sounded groggy, startled him and he jumped as he turned to face her, feeling guilty he was thinking about another woman.
“Hey babe,” He smiled at her ignoring what he just imagined. He held his hand out to his wife and pulled her close to him. They stood with their arms around each other watching the landscape fly by, the accident far behind them now.
“What are you doing up?” Leighanne finally asked him.
“Couldn’t sleep. I thought if I watched the road long enough it would help lull me to sleep.” He knew he didn’t want to mention what he just thought about. Why worry her over a daydream?
“I know something that will help you sleep.” She moved closer and placed her lips on his pulling him tight against her body. He could feel the excitement flow through him. He smiled at his wife as she pulled him back into their bedroom.
Again, Brian lay awake while his wife slept peacefully next to him. He couldn’t sleep, his mind kept going back to that vision he had with the woman from the concert, from the accident. Why was he fantasizing about this fan? The hours ticked away and eventually Brian felt his heavy eyes close as sleep finally came to him, with the last thought on his mind the unknown fan, it was no surprise to him that his dreams were filled with her image. Instead of tossing and turning over guilt about dreaming about another woman, Brian slept soundly with her image in his head.
