I stop laying out the blankets and grab a pillow out of Will’s hands. “I’ve heard this story; there was absolutely nothing funny about it. I’m pretty sure I win,” I gloat, fluffing the pillow.

“Back up there, cowgirl. I never told you the whole story; Rob made me promise not to tell anyone, but I’m making an exception.”

This time, I do hit him with the pillow. “You chose to keep a secret from your wife at the request of your shift partner? I’m pretty sure you broke a marriage vow or something.”

“Simmer, Viv, when you hear the story, you’ll understand. He doesn’t want anyone knowing this, let alone someone that sees him often and can regularly judge him.”

I motion for him to continue, pretending like I’m sore at him. He and I both know that I’m really not though. There are plenty of things that he keeps from me about his job. It makes him uncomfortable to tell me about some of the dangerous situations he finds himself in, and he doesn’t want me to worry, so he decompresses with Rob at times instead of me. I know this about his job, and the emotional support that he needs to do it, so I’m okay with it. Will grabs the pillow from me and throws it into the back of the car. He then picks me up and rubs his lips against the spot behind my ear. “I would never break one of our vows, love,” he whispers. “You know I always put you first,” he adds before kissing my neck.

I reach my arms around his neck; my feet are still dangling above the ground, but Will’s strength has no problem holding me up, so there is no need to hold onto him tightly. I look into his eyes, feeling the love that radiates from him. “I know, Will; you would never hurt me. You have spent every second of our life together trying to make me feel safe. I love you, and am so thankful for you.”

Will searches my eyes before landing a lingering kiss on my forehead. “Thank you, Viv. I need to hear that sometimes.” I let go of his neck and run my fingers through his golden hair, causing his eyes to close. I pull myself up and delicately kiss his moist lips. He growls in response, and I know that if we weren’t in public he would take this much further.

He slowly pulls away and flings me into the back of the SUV. I land relatively softly but the surprise of it causes me to squeal. He hops into the back to join me, and slides closer to put his arm around me. “So, the winning story of the night–where was I?” he says smugly, and I bump his shoulder with mine, making him grin. He grabs my hand and tangles our fingers together before beginning his story.

“So, we all take off in the direction of the pursuit in progress. Rob and I are the first ones to arrive at the truck stop on the edge of town where the suspect has abandoned his car. We take off on a foot chase, and I’m able to catch up to him and tackle him just outside the front entrance.”

I nod, knowing this part of the story already. The whole town heard the story; it was a very big deal. There are never robberies or pursuits in our sleepy little town, so when your husband runs after and captures the person responsible for the first town burglary in probably a hundred years, of course I heard about it.

“A small crowd had gathered outside to see what was going on; most of them were truckers passing through town, no one local. Rob was right behind me to offer back up. He was having trouble keeping up; he has gained some weight since his wife left.” He leans in to whisper the last part, as if it is a secret that Rob has struggled since he and his wife separated. He has spent a great deal of time at our house since it happened, and when the final divorce papers were delivered a few months ago, he completely fell off the wagon, eating anything he could get his hands on as a way to cope. Since the pursuit though, he has been doing better. He has been going to the gym with Will; he’s lost the weight, and he looks like the same-old, muscular, handsome Rob we are used to, so I’m unsure of what that has to do with humor of the story.

“As soon as I have the suspect on the ground, Rob bent down to place the handcuffs on him and pull him up, so that I could get up and collect myself. But when he bent down, his pants split down the middle, and all of those truckers saw his boxers underneath. What’s worse–his boxers had the words ‘love machine’ written all over them in hot pink writing.”

As much as I know that I shouldn’t, I burst into laughter, picturing Hot Rob–a nickname given to him by my single teacher friends–pretty much mooning half of the trucking fleet of America parked at our local truck stop. Will balls his fist and covers his mouth to hide his own smirk.

“To make matters even worse, all of his extra uniforms were at the cleaners, so he had to sit in one of the bathroom stalls while I bought a sewing kit at the truck stop and stitched up his pants enough to get him through the day.”

The last bit of the story, knowing how pathetic my husband’s sewing skills are, has my stomach hurting from laughing so hard. Of course his story is funnier; they always are. Will’s ability to make me laugh has always been one of the things that I loved about him. Since the moment we met, we’ve always tried to one-up each other’s funny stories; you would think that by now I would know I’m never going to win this game we play.

I wipe the tears from my eyes and grab all of our snacks from the cooler we packed; we are parents and have jobs in public service–of course we are lunch sack people. The concession stand is not in our future. I throw him a package of Skittles and crawl back to my spot next to him. “Okay, I concede. You win like usual.” I square my shoulders and point my finger into his chest, determined to seem as serious as possible. “Just don’t get used to it; I’m determined to find a better story, Matthews, and knock you off that high horse of yours.”

He grabs my finger and kisses the pad of it. “I’ll be ready for whatever you’d like to dish out.”

We both snuggle down into the blankets to watch the film in relaxed silence. While the days here can be beautiful, October evenings tend to be cold, so we bundle around each other tightly. We haven’t had our first snow yet, but the chill in the air can definitely cool your bones. I settle into the crook of Will’s shoulder, and he wraps both of his strong arms around me. I can feel his breath in my hair and the rise of his chest with every laugh; it makes me feel safe. He makes me feel safe, and it’s a feeling I didn’t have for a long time. I thought men only hurt you, and Brooks proved that assumption right, but Will made it okay to love again. He pieced my wounded heart back together again, and for that I will always care for this man.

By the time we return home, we are both exhausted. Long gone are the days of late night partying, sleeping in until noon, and afternoon power-naps. Now, if we don’t fall asleep on the couch before ten, we are having a good day. Maybe we are boring; maybe we are past the point of comfortable and into the realm of fuddy-duddy, but it works for us.

We each finish brushing our teeth, and I’m putting on my most comfy pajamas when I feel Will come up behind me. “We have the house to ourselves; I don’t think these are going to be necessary,” he murmurs in my ear, taking my pajama shirt from my grasp and tossing it onto the hardwood floor.

Instead of turning around, I reach my hands back to find a naked Will in my palms. His excitement rubs against my back as he walks me to our bed. The duvet has been pulled down to the foot of the bed, and when he softly pushes me down onto the mattress, the crisp coolness of the sheets sends a jolt across my chest and stomach that awakens my senses. Will leans over me, his forearms on either side of my head, and I can feel the slightest bit of his weight pressing me into the bed.

Will works in silence as he swipes my hair away from my neck, kissing along my neck and across each shoulder blade. I can feel every kiss, every lick, and when he blows lightly on my damp skin, I shudder, and goose bumps spread across my body. “So soft…your skin is always so soft, and you smell good enough to eat.”