Daddy's Girls (72)

    “Twelve hours! Twelve hours from Tahoe. We left at eight-thirty this morning,” he said, exhausted. He was wearing the sweater from her. He loved it.

“That’s only eleven and a half hours, Dad,” Billy corrected him. It was eight P.M.

“I thought you were all dead,” Caroline said, wiping the tears off her cheeks, and hugged Peter. “Thank you for bringing them home.”

“We left early because I didn’t want to disappoint you. I know you wanted them home tonight, and I didn’t want you to be alone.” He hugged her back, and Morgan handed her the bag from the gift shop, and she pulled out the yellow bear.

“I love it!” she said. “It’ll look great in my bedroom.”

“Told you, Dad,” Morgan said smugly, and he rolled his eyes.

“The alternate was a pack of golf tees with the hotel logo on them.”

“Are you starving?” They all nodded and left their parkas on the floor and went to their rooms to leave their backpacks. Peter left his parka in the front hall.

“I should be going,” he said politely.

“You must be wiped out.” And then she realized he probably had a date. “Do you have plans?”

“Yes, wiped out. No plans. I don’t want to horn in on your dinner with the kids.”

“Stay,” she said and meant it. The blizzard in Tahoe had transformed into sheets of rain in Marin. They had been through every kind of bad weather in the last twelve hours, and he had brought them home to her so she wouldn’t be alone. “Stay for dinner.”

“You’re sure you don’t mind?”

“Not at all. It’s New Year’s Eve,” she said, and poured him a glass of wine. He had earned it, and it would wear off by the time he left after dinner.

    She added another place to the table she had set in the kitchen, and had dinner ready in half an hour. She had steaks, salad, baked potatoes, and she had a spare, she always did. They ate ravenously, and then the kids disappeared to their rooms to call their friends. Their suitcases were still in the front hall, and he carried them in for her, and came back to the living room. The rain had gotten worse. It looked dangerous.

“Why don’t you stay till it lets up?”

“I don’t think it’s going to.” He looked exhausted, and then she startled him by what she said next. It was almost ten o’clock.

“Why don’t you spend the night?”

He looked confused for a minute as he thought about it. “Would that be too weird?”

“What difference does it make? We’re still married, and you just drove twelve hours to bring my children home safely. You’re so tired you’ll fall asleep on the bridge.”

“You don’t mind?” He was stunned by the invitation. “I’ll sleep in the guest room.”

“Actually, you can’t.” She laughed. “I decided to redo that too, or at least get a new bed. They took the old one, and the new one isn’t here yet. We can sleep in the same bed, it won’t kill us.”

“What will the kids think?”

“I don’t know. You’re tired, it’s late, the weather’s awful, you’ve been driving all day. Do we need their permission?” He smiled at her answer.

“No. Only yours,” he said gently.

“You have it. I don’t mind letting you sleep here. It’s a big bed. I got the next size up.” He agreed to stay then, and poured them each another glass of wine, since he didn’t have to drive.

    “Happy New Year, Caro. I can think of more glamorous ways to spend it, but I’d rather be here than anywhere else.”

“Me too,” she said simply.

He built a fire as he always did, and they sat in front of it talking quietly. The children were in their rooms, and when she checked, they were both asleep on their beds at eleven. She went back to the living room and they sat watching the fire and talking.

They waited until midnight and he wished her a happy new year and kissed her on the cheek. And then they turned out the lights and went to her bedroom. She opened the bed on both sides, and let him use the bathroom first, and he came out in boxers and T-shirt. Then she went in, and came out in an old warm nightgown, and climbed into her side of the bed, keeping her distance. He lay on his side looking stiff and awkward.

“It feels strange being back here,” he admitted.

“Yeah,” she agreed, turned off the light, and they lay there stiffly in silence, remembering better days.

He didn’t know how it happened and she wasn’t sure either, but he reached out silently to her in the dark, and pulled her into his arms, and kissed her, properly on the mouth, the way he had wanted to all night, and for months, instead of little pecks on the cheek. All his longing for her came at him in a rush, and engulfed them both. She thought she was over him, but she wasn’t. He had unlocked something in her again and she wanted him desperately. They were ravenous for each other and found each other easily. He was inside her where he wanted to be in seconds and she couldn’t get enough of him. They couldn’t stop and didn’t want to, and their lovemaking was so intense and so good it was almost painful. They couldn’t stop or slow down until it was over, and when they stopped, she knew that she had forgiven him. There was no room for Veronica Ashton in their life anymore. She had lived with them long enough. She was gone.