Waiting For August

Part 52 ~ A nothing kind of day

One thing about manual labour, is that it was often mundane, repetitive, and required little focus, leaving your mind the freedom to wander. This morning, I was chopping wood and had been at it for a while now.

I'd awoken just before eight and carefully slipped out of bed, so as not to wake August. The plan was to spend the day with him. Even so, I still had responsibilities, and although the last thing I had wanted to do was leave his side, I had forced myself to action and set out to the barn.

Technically I was already behind. My usual schedule would have had me out the door before six to release the horses and check on the hens. Sunday was the one day that I was left to do chores on my own. So far, I'd already collected eggs, and managed to muck out the stalls.

Chopping wood was something that was a continual chore. I gave myself a daily quota. Earlier in the week, I'd filled my woodshed and had stopped stacking. I was now tossing all the split wood into a large pile.

This morning, I had already been at it long enough to establish a rhythm and had even begun to work up a sweat. I would set the log on the chopping block, swing the axe, and toss it to the pile. Set the log, swing the axe, toss the wood. Set, swing, toss. It had become automatic, leaving me with a lot of time to think.

Last night had been intense. The sex wonderful. The part afterwards, not so much. Having to take our wolves out in the middle of the night in order to regain control, had left me feeling frustrated. Especially when all I had wanted to do was fold August up in my arms and hold him for the rest of the evening. Having him in bed with me, being intimate with him and snuggling afterwards; it was still very much a novelty. His being in my bed gave me a brief taste of what our lives together might be like and having that moment stolen had been difficult to swallow.

It was hard not to think about what had led up to it. August had felt insecure. So much so that his wolf had reacted. It left me confused. I wanted him to live with me. I had made that clear. He had rejected the proposal. But if he was feeling anxious about our relationship, wouldn't moving in together have helped to alleviate any uncertainties?

I know the reason he had shown up had been because of a physical need, and that the two of us had easily fallen into bed to satisfy our urges, but there was more to our relationship than a physical one and I needed to show him that.

With that in mind, I had decided that today would be about companionship and nothing more. Sex would be off the table. Instead, we would simply hang out and spend the day together. Cook and share a meal. Talk and have a few drinks. Perhaps even cuddle on the sofa while we watched a movie or two. Yep. That was the answer. Give him a taste of what being together, living together on the daily might be like.

At least that's what I thought.

"So here you are."

I looked up to see August coming down the path towards me, with a huge smile on his face. He was wearing a pair of navy joggers and a grey t-shirt, both of which seemed to be at least one size too big. His hair was damp, and he appeared to have showered before raiding my dresser for something to wear.

For some reason, seeing him in my clothes made me strangely happy. It caused me to break out into a wide grin. "Good morning. Did you get some rest?" I set up another log to split, before lowering the axe.

He nodded. "I missed waking up beside you though."

"Yeah, sorry about that. I had to work on some chores."

"Anything I can do to help?"

I grinned. "Nah. But thanks for the offer. In fact, I'm almost done here. If you want to head back up to the house, I'll make you some breakfast once I'm finished."