Free The Fantasy by Nicole Ryan Page A

door behind him.
    I don’t really know when this distance between us formed. We still loved each other, were devoted to one another, we even had sex three or four times a week still. But there was a routine feel to it, as if we were simply going through the motions of life, in a perpetual re-peat, instead of living it day by day. Charles and I had met in college, we got married after only a year of being together and less than six months after that, we were pregnant with Tiffany. Neither of us had wanted any more children, and I had stayed home taking care of Tiffany while Charles worked at his father’s firm. I devoted all of my time to keeping the house clean, and taking care of Tiffany. I always had dinner on the table at five thirty in the evening, about a half hour after Charles got home from work, and I made sure that I went down on him at least once every three months, simply because I knew how much he loved it.
    There was a time when Charles and I were more passionate about life. There was a time when I would dream all day long while I folded laundry or while I cleaned the bathroom, about having him inside me the night before. I’d be so over worked by the time he’d come home from work that I’d tear his clothes off before he even hung his keys up. It wasn’t that we’d let ourselves go over the years, we were still very attracted to one another, but something was gone.
    The spice? What was it? That feeling of not knowing exactly where your partner is going to place his hand… or the uncertainty of the power of his thrusts and trusting him with your body anyway; that feeling had slowly crept out of our bedroom over the years and although it was peeking in on us each night when we made love, I never invited it back in. I sensed that Charles felt this loss within me, for shortly after I began feeling this way, it seemed as if he began to drift further from me, and eventually we were just at arms distance, and that was how we’d stayed. For the last five years.
    The phone rang bringing me out of my thoughts and I set my cup of tea down on the counter, I glanced at the clock as I lifted the phone from the receiver; almost noon.
    “Hello?”
    “Hey , what are you doing for lunch?” My friend Lisa asked.
    “Oh, hey… actually I’m going to the hotel early, I’m going to get waxed and hit the spa for the day after I grab lunch in the café, want to join me?” I asked her.
    “Oh no Jen you go ahead and enjoy your time alone, I totally forgot it was your anniversary weekend! Give me all the juicy details tomorrow.” She laughed.
    “I will.” I laughed, and cradled the phone.
    I rinsed my cup and grabbed my overnight bag. I locked the house up and dialed my mom’s number on the way to my car.
    “Hello?” Her singsong voice called after the first ring.
    “Hey mom.” I said.
    “Oh hi honey, how are you?” She asked, it sounded like she was outside, and I could imagine her in her gardening jeans, gloves and sunhat.
    “I’m good, I’m on my way to the hotel now.” I said as I switched on my headset and pulled out of my driveway, the garage closing slowly.
    “Oh good, this will be lovely for the two of you to have a night together, I don’t know how long it’s been since Tiffany stayed over here.” She sighed. “I wonder if your brother and his wife are going to have a little one anytime soon, I’m not so sure about these teenagers these days.” She kidded.
    I laughed loudly as I waited at a red light. “Thanks mom, I love you.”
    “Love you too honey, have a great time.”
    I smiled as I tucked my headset into my passenger seat and pulled up to the valet. He came around the car and opened my door for me, I popped the trunk before handing him the keys and walking around to take it out, my heels clicking on the asphalt.
    “ Let me take that for you ma’am.” A young man to my right said.
    He wore the hotel’s red and gold uniform top with black jeans, deep brown hair gleamed in the spring