A long lane at night

2.17. GOODBYE Part 2

Another thing we had to consider in this never-ending mess was the aftermath of the fire. The house was insured, so we didn't have to deal with paying for and fixing damages to what was now my property. I still had no idea what to do with the place, though. The thought of selling it crossed my mind, but I still wanted to see if I could put it to some good use.

'Let's restore it,' Brian said, 'and keep it just like we keep the flat. Jack and Nate already have their house in the town, so we keep those two places available for Will and Chad whenever they start building their own lives.'

'And how do we get to choose who gets what?' I asked.

'We don't. We offer the choice to whichever of them moves on first and the other gets the other place. They can't really complain, both places are incredible properties.'

'That sounds like a solid plan,' I said, 'but we're not telling them before it happens, are we?'

'Absolutely not. Are you crazy?'

Henry was kind enough to oversee the restoration of the house. He had found a great team of contractors who understood what we wanted done to the place and would perform a stellar job in the house.

The day we received the boxes with mom's possessions that survived the fire, though, that was a tough one. It was one day after the celebration in her honour, nearly a week after the fire, and, for the millionth time since this nightmare started, it was Brian who had managed to come up with a plan. All along, I was feeling hopeless and lost, like some massive part of my essence had been forcefully taken away by hand.

I was standing among the boxes in our foyer, staring at their dull colour, unable to move, my mind stuck on a past memory that looked similar to this one, but was by far a happier one. I didn't know how much time I stayed there, until I felt Brian's hands on my shoulder.

'You don't have to do this now, Allan. Nor ever.'

I opened up my hand to show him the old piece of metal I was holding and understanding hit Brian like a bullet and he hugged me. He let go of our embrace, held my hands on his, and stared at the old key, the word 'ours' made out of carved metal.

'One of the first things she ever did for us as a couple was to box all of my stuff and deliver to our flat the day I moved in with you, remember?' I said through tears. 'This is a very shitty opposite end to that story.'

Brian hugged me again and held my head against his shoulder. I allowed myself to let my tears to keep flowing. He didn't say anything.

'Are we alone?' I asked.

'We are,' Brian answered. 'The twins are officially visiting their uncle Henry and they took Alice with them for some fresh air. I don't know when Jack will let them come back.'

I kissed Brian and he kissed me back. I took him to the couch and started taking his shirt off. I didn't have to worry about AliCam, the cameras were all cleverly placed to only register where she stayed, preserving the adults' privacies. Plus, they didn't have any sound. I knew what I was doing.

'Are you sure about this, my love?' Brian asked, holding my hand against his chest, which was both a sweet gesture and a way to prevent me from going any further.

'Don't ever ask me whether I'm sure I want to have sex with my husband, Brian.'

Brian allowed me to continue to undress him and he returned the favour, kissing me and taking me into his mouth. Thirty plus years of great synchronization made our sex always better and we had long been living this nearly telepathic phase, where not even body language is required to express what we want to do anymore.

I enjoyed every second of the blissful oblivion of feeling Brian going up and down on top of me, of feeling his insides clenching on to me as well as they do. He guided my own hands through his body, at times caressing his chest, at others holding on tight to his hips. When I was feeling close, I wrapped my hand around him and stroked him until we both welcomed climax together, our breathing going back to normal.

I stayed in my position on the couch and Brian was lying on top of me. I gently caressed his head, his hair, and his back while he planted small kisses on my cheek and neck. Somehow, as if I knew it wouldn't happen, I was done crying. Then, I did something that I had never thought of doing after sex with Brian, I thanked him.

Knowing it was a strange reaction, he raised up his head to look at me, a silent invitation to elaboration.

'Thank you for starting to bring back my sense of normalcy,' I said. 'I don't care if it seems like the timing is off or anything, this is us. We spend our days doing what we love to do and we have sex as often as our long-lost hormones will allow us. Come take a shower with me, then we can come back down to the kitchen and whip out something to eat.

Brian gave me one more passionate kiss and followed my request. Forty minutes later, we were ravaging the fridge like two teenagers with the munchies.

The front door opened and the twins came through it. Will was holding Alice in his arms.

'Uncle Henry says hello', Will said and, with a wink, he added, 'and his guest says he misses you and wants to know if you can go there later tonight before he returns to the city flat.'

'Whoa, who's moving—' Chad said, looking at the boxes. He understood his mistake and cut himself short. 'Sorry. I'm sorry.'

I walk towards him and pat his shoulder.

'It's okay, son,' I said. 'The timing is actually the most opportune. Your father and I will go down to Henry's and we'll take Alice with us, because I'm sure she already misses him,' I also wink. 'In the meantime, I will require your assistance with those boxes. The rules are simple: I want them gone before I come back home, all right?'

'All right, dad,' said Will, handing me Alice. Brian is already by my side, car keys in hand.

'Take whatever you want for yourselves,' Brian said, 'all photographs go to the memory trunks in the attic, clothes go to donation. Everything else goes away. Questions?'

'No, pop', Chad said and I could swear I heard him whisper, 'this will be fun.'