Stop and Stare

3

Brad snoozed after Lisa had left the motel. The thing about Lisa was that she had the looks and the moves to make an invigorating bed partner but fortunately and also unfortunately she didn't have much in that pretty head of hers to make for any sort of meaningful conversation. To Brad, Lisa was just a job with the side benefit of good exercise within easy access and not much else.

When Brad pulled onto his street, he saw a car backing out of his drive, when the car drew closer, he recognized it as belonging to the babysitter. He rolled down his window and waved before pulling into the drive.

"Late night?" Brad said to his wife, Sarah, when he got in.

"You too?" she asked without looking at him as she went about undressing in the walk-in closet.

They didn't have separate his and hers walk-in closets, Brad went in after her and got undressed himself. "How are things going on your end?"

"Hmm, same as usual," Sarah hung up her dress and pulled a night gown off a hanger. "I should have things wrapped up in a month or so. You?"

"It's going as it should for now," Brad said.

Sarah crooked an eyebrow, "For now? What's that supposed to mean?" She slipped on the night gown.

"You know how it is, you can never be sure what people would do when push comes to shove." Brad shrugged.

"I suppose you're right." Sarah walked out of the closet and sat down in front of her dressing table. "You saw the kids?"

"Yeah, sleeping like angels. They are growing up so fast." He bent to place a kiss on his wife's shoulder. He propped up his pillows, settled into bed and watched Sarah wipe off her make-up.

Sarah studied Brad from the reflection of her mirror while she busied herself with various facial care paraphernalia. After ten years of marriage and two kids later, their marriage had gone through some drastic transformations. It was by no means conventional. Their union was borne out of mutually beneficial financial arrangements that later turned into a symbiotic coexistence, and now she would call it an empire. They both knew that marriage in the most traditional sense was far from what either of them wanted from the very beginning. Marriage for them was a platform in which they could stage plays where the narrative was highly fluid to cater to different scenarios they may come across. Children was something they had compromised on and later found to be a necessary element to extend their growing empire. Both Brad and Sarah envisioned themselves as empire builders and planned to entrust what they had built to their two children. Amidst the pragmatism between the two of them was there an element of love in there somewhere? Sarah believed the answer was yes, but what they had between them was of mutual respect, love was crystalized within their children. Sarah knew that both Brad and herself were many things but their love for their children was absolute.

"What are you thinking?" Brad asked after a little while.

Sarah smile into the mirror, "What makes you think that I'm thinking of anything?"

"I may not know a whole lot about anything but I do recognize a few looks to you," Brad settled further into his pillows, "what I recognize right now was that look of a mother's love. Am I correct?"

"Oh? And what look is that?" Sarah mock challenged.

"A look of unsettledness with a hint of dissatisfaction and peppered with serenity," Brad said with smugness as if challenging Sarah to dispute his observations.

"That description of yours made me feel like as if I was some gastronomic creation ready for tasting," Sarah chuckled. "Although, you were right when you said I was thinking of the kids." She moved from her chair over to the bed, "And you were right, I do feel unsettled because I worry about the future for the kids, dissatisfied because I wanted to give them more, and serene because they are growing up steadily as they should."

"That's the reality of life, we can never be settled because we can't know the future, and we are never satisfied precisely because we don't know what the future holds. All we can strive to do is to find moments of serenity and call ourselves lucky that we can still find them," Brad said sagely.

"Brad, since when did you get that philosophical?" Sarah laughed, "Besides, it's too late at night to talk philosophy. Go to sleep. I'm going to rinse my face. I'll join you in a few minutes."

"Hey, don't forget I study philosophy when I was in college," Brad said.

"Right, for one whole semester, if I recalled correctly."

"Sometimes, one semester is all you need."

"Go to sleep, Brad," Sarah got up from bed and laughed.

#

Lisa felt a whole lot more relaxed after her tryst with Brad. She even thought of the perfect excuse to give her husband for an away weekend that she planned to take with Brad if he could get away. Smiling from ear to ear, Lisa pulled into her garage and stepped into the kitchen only to find that her husband was fussing over her youngest, Teddy.

"What's Teddy still doing up?" Lisa asked and dropped her bag on the kitchen counter. "I thought you are going to be out till the morning." She walked over to pour herself a glass of water and watched her husband, Dan, struggle to put Teddy's diaper on.

"The negotiations with the overseas client went bust, the whole project is called off for now," Dan said as he finally secured the diaper around Teddy's waist. "This little guy decided to do a number two after I sent the babysitter home," he looked at Lisa, "is this usual?

"No, but he looks ok to me," Lisa reached out and stroked Teddy's chubby cheek, "put him to bed, he looks sleepy."

"How's your day?" Dan asked.

"Better than expected, actually," Lisa said and followed Dan into the nursery. "At first, we thought we have a serious problem brewing with one of our partners but after careful analysis, we thought might have misread the situation. For now, things calmed down a bit, but there might be a chance that we'll have to do a face to face to settle the situation," Lisa fibbed smoothly, working the day's actual event into the lie, she even managed to slip in the possibility of needing to travel, setting up the possibility of a weekend away.

"At least your day went better than mine did," Dan placed Teddy down in the crib and pull the blanket over his son, tucking him in. Lisa looked in on her daughter, Melissa, sleeping soundly on the bed on the opposite end of the crib.

"By the way, what should we get your mom for her birthday?" Lisa asked when they both finally settled into bed.

"I don't know, she said it's only her fifty-eighth, not a major birthday year so she didn't have anything planned," Dan said, "although she says that but I know my mom, she does like her parties."

"That's true," Lisa giggled, "the party last year, how many people showed up for it?" She rolled her eyes in search for the answer, "close to thirty people, if I recalled correctly."

"Yeah, even though she said beforehand it's just going to be a handful of people," Dan rolled his eyes.

"But, oh! That diamond ring your dad got her," Lisa recalled, her eyes wide, "it's breathtaking. How big was it again?"

"I don't remember." Dan sighed with indulgence. "Good ol'dad, he never does anything by halves."

"Like father like son I hope?" Lisa said in jest. She wiggled her fingers at Dan, "When will I get my bling?"

"How about for your next birthday?" Dan grabbed her hand and planted a kiss on her knuckles.

"Really?!" Lisa gasped, she wrapped her arms around Dan and kissed his face all over.

Dan laughed amidst Lisa's kisses and wrapped his arms around her, "Anything for you, my love."

AfterDan fell asleep, Lisa laid awake lamenting over if it weren't for his rich dadand the very nourishing assets that Dan personally holds, Lisa wouldn't even giveDan a second glance. She knew with her looks she could get anyone she wished.But now, that she had pumped out two kids with the guy, she knew she at leasthad secured her own future assets, so long as he didn't find out about hertrysts. While Lisa calculated in her head the potential assets she could get ifDan and her should divorce; the assets that were available to her and her twolittle asset anchors sleeping soundly in the next room made her feel secure andsatisfied. Every time Lisa made these types of calculations, she found that itsoothed her. A sense of calm washed over her, she turned onto her side andsmiled as she slipped into a dreamless sleep.