Jenny coaxed the hot water heater, murmuring as she held her hand under the water. It slowly changed from tepid to warm, to hot, and she flipped the toggle. She shrieked as the first drops came out cold, but then relaxed as the hot water flowed over her exhausted body.
First: her hair! She'd brushed her thick brown hair after the workout, but it was sweaty and disgusting. She ran the water through her hair and carefully selected a shampoo.
Charlie sat in the floral recliner, wondering how to approach Jenny. She was living her life at 100 miles an hour. He checked his watch, still plenty of time to talk before she left for work. Oh no.
Charlie moaned as his gut clenched, and he remembered the awful fact: one bathroom. No, God, he couldn't do that with his wife 2 feet away, in the shower. More cramping. No! He moaned and pleaded with God all the way down the hall. "Not here!"
Jenny, singing in the shower, didn't hear the knock, but she did hear the door hit the wall as Charlie rushed inside. "Have you come to see me naked?"
Then the stench hit. Oh.
"Look to your left, on the floor". The room filled with the pungent scent of roses as Charlie moaned in shame.
"Charlie"
"Yes? I'm so sorry, Jenny, so, so, sorry, I just couldn't.. .not in your living room...."
"CHARLIE!" He stopped apologizing. "In sickness, right? In sickness?"
Charlie sat on the toilet, tears spilling down his stubbled cheeks. "Yes. Jenny, I'm so..."
"Charlie, did you plan this?" He shook his head. "I can't see you. But I know the answer is no."
Jenny worked the shampoo out to her ends, humming quietly. She began to rinse.
"I hate your shower" Charlie blurted. "I feel awful."
"Don't worry, C., I'm saving up. I'm going to get those plastic wall things and get them mounted. I won't have any more falling tiles. Huh. Sounds like a poem." She turned around, facing the back wall. "I may even do my own demo."
Charlie thought about his wife surrounded by plastic walls, and put his head in his hands. He had to tell her.
Jenny, exfoliated her face with a dollar store sponge and acne soap. She enjoyed the challenge of making her paychecks meet her needs, and when manic, really appreciated how much went to bills! It was hard for her to keep her wallet closed when she was manic.
She usually took $20 and went to the Dollar Store. She got to spend "a lot" without spending a lot. She had found some wonderful items.
Charlie flushed and pulled up his shorts. "Can I stay?"
Jenny clipped her hair up and thought about it. "I don't mind, if you hand me my towel and bathrobe."
"Done".
Jenny finished her shower. She guessed Charlie was speechless, or had run out of things to say. She didn't want to ask him why he'd come when she was standing there, naked, 2 feet away.
Jenny checked herself over one more time. She'd washed everything. One horrible day she'd forgotten to wash her hair, and had gone to work with greasy hair. She was thankful she still had a job. Other days, she'd forgotten to wash her face. Good to go. OK. She rinsed, shut off the water, and asked Charlie for the towel.
As she dried, careful not to bump the walls, she wondered at her exit strategy for work. Just leave? Confront him and then go to work? She paused. Running ahead. Don't do that.
Jenny pulled back the shower curtain and Charlie admired his radiant wife, glowing from her shower, clean wet hair running down her back, her complexion oddly enhanced by the vivid orange hue of the bathrobe. Staring. He was staring. Was he staring?
Charlie was staring. Jenny's temper flared, not from the admiration, which she'd missed, but from the two-thousand some nights she'd spent alone. She'd committed to loving one man, who hadn't wanted her, and now he was leering at her like a high-school kid with a nudie magazine.
Jenny stopped in front of Charlie, leaning forward to look him in the eyes as he sat on top of the closed toilet seat. "See something you like?" She knew, she just knew, she was showing a lot of cleavage. She also knew she had a lot more since she'd changed prescriptions.
Charlie stared, riveted, as his wife's scent floated over him, rich with the smell of cinnamon and bath soap. He gulped.
She undid the sash just a bit, putting a hand on each of his shoulders as she leaned in again. "Charlie, did you miss me?"
Charlie gulped again, trying to control his desire to crush her into his arms and drag her off to bed. "Every day, Jenny, I missed you. I missed you every single night. I never, didn't, miss you."
"Good" she stood up and retied her bathroom, silently repenting for manipulating her husband. "I hoped so." She glanced back at him as she left. "Leave the lid up".
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