The Laurent Therapy Center #3
She rolled her eyes, but she settled back against me and let me keep her there.
We stayed in bed another hour while I rubbed her back, kissed along her shoulders and listened to her talk about whatever came to her mind.
Sometimes she stopped in the middle of a sentence ‘csuse she remembered somethin’ she meant to ask about the kids, but I kissed her until she forgot the question.
By the time we finally left the bed, breakfast was already waitin’ on the terrace.
They brought us fresh fruit, warm bread, eggs cooked with herbs I couldn’t pronounce, honey straight from somewhere in the mountains and coffee strong enough to wake a dead person up.
Pluto sat across from me in one of my shirts with her bare legs stretched under the table, and I ain’t take my eyes off her long enough to care what half the food was called.
She looked rested. Not completely healed or back to the woman she was before everything happened, but rested enough for some softness to return to her face.
I could see it in the way she took her time eatin’ and how she leaned back in her chair without lookin’ around for somethin’ that needed to be done.
After breakfast, I took her to one of the natural mineral springs hidden between the mountains.
The water was warm and clear, and the people who worked there swore the minerals helped with sore muscles, stress and whatever else had been trapped inside the body too long.
I ain’t know how much of that shit was true, but Pluto relaxed the second she lowered herself into it.
I sat behind her with her back against my chest while the water moved around us.
My arms stayed wrapped around her stomach, and every few minutes, I kissed her temple or the side of her neck.
We ain’t talk much ‘cause we ain’t need to.
The place was quiet except for water runnin’ over stone and birds makin’ noise somewhere above us.
At one point, Pluto tilted her head back against my shoulder and looked up at me. “You really planned all of this?”
“Every last part,” I answered before kissin’ her lips.
“You didn’t have to do this much.”
“I did exactly how much I wanted to do,” I told her. “Quit tellin’ me what I ain’t gotta do for my wife.”
She smiled against my mouth, and I kissed her again until both of us forgot we was supposed to be relaxin’.
We had been kissin’ so much since we landed that our lips stayed tender.
Every time Pluto smiled, I could feel mine pull a lil’ ‘cause her mouth had been pressed against mine damn near all day.
The second day, we took a boat along the coast and stopped near a small village built beside the cliffs. Pluto wore a long white dress that moved around her legs whenever the wind came off the water, and I kept one hand on her waist the whole time like the wind might try to carry her away from me.
We walked through an open market where people sold oils, jewelry, spices, handmade clothes and fruit I had never seen before.
Pluto stopped at almost every table, touchin’ shit and askin’ questions while I bought whatever made her eyes stay in one place too long.
By the time we reached the end of the market, one of my men had to come get half the bags ‘cause Pluto claimed I was doin’ too much again.
I bought her a thin gold chain with a small blue stone that matched the water near our villa. The woman who made it said the stone was supposed to protect peace inside the home, and I bought one for Pluto before the woman could finish explainin’ it.
Later that afternoon, we ate near the beach with our feet buried in warm sand while music played from a small group further down the shore.
They served grilled fish, vegetables cooked over hot stones and rice seasoned with enough spice to make Pluto drink half my water.
I laughed at her until she reached across the table and took the rest of it.
That night, we had massages inside the villa. Two women came to work on Pluto while another handled me on the other side of the room. I kept my head turned toward my wife most of the time ‘cause I liked watchin’ the tension leave her body. Every few minutes, Pluto looked over and caught me starin’.
“Close your eyes,” she told me after the third time.
“I paid for this shit,” I replied. “I’m lookin’ wherever I want.”
The woman massagin’ Pluto tried not to laugh while my she shook her head. I finally closed my eyes, but only ‘cause Pluto promised she would lay across my chest when they finished.
She kept that promise.
Once everybody left, we stayed on the massage table wrapped in soft robes while Pluto curled against me.
I rubbed the back of her head and kissed her until her breathin’ slowed.
She fell asleep right there with her cheek over my heart, and I stayed still ‘cause I ain’t care how uncomfortable my back got.
My wife had spent months wakin’ up every few hours for everybody else.
If her body finally trusted me enough to sleep, I wasn’t movin’ her.
By our third day, the intimacy between us had got so deep that I ain’t feel like we was missin’ nothin’, even though we still ain’t had sex.
I wanted her. That ain’t changed for one second.
Every time Pluto stepped out the shower or bent over to grab somethin’, my whole body reminded me exactly how long it had been.
The difference was, I wasn’t lookin’ at sex like some finish line we needed to cross before the trip counted as a success. I was enjoyin’ every part before it.
I loved wakin’ up with her body pressed against mine. I loved rubbin’ lotion into her skin after her bath, feedin’ her pieces of fruit and holdin’ her in the pool while she talked. We kissed until our mouths felt swollen and soft, then kissed some more ‘cause neither one of us seemed able to stop.
I could feel Pluto wantin’ me too. It was in the way her hands stayed on my chest when we kissed and how she looked at me whenever I came out the shower. Sometimes she climbed in my lap and wrapped her arms around my neck, but I never rushed the moment past what it was.
Her mind needed to understand she was safe with me before her body could fully relax. Once that happened, everything else between us was gon’ come natural.
I knew my wife, and I knew what happened when she stopped thinkin’ long enough to let herself feel. When we finally made love again, I wanted every part of her present. I ain’t want fear in my head or doubt in hers. I wanted us to come back together without that hospital sittin’ between us.
That evenin’, I took her to dinner at a place carved into the side of the mountain not far from our villa.
The restaurant only had a few tables, and ours sat on a private terrace overlookin’ the ocean.
Lanterns hung from the stone walls, candles covered the table and the sound of the water reached us from below without drownin’ out the music playin’ nearby.
Pluto wore a gold dress that fit every new curve her body had gained after Isley. The material wrapped around her waist, left her shoulders bare and fell low enough in the front to keep my eyes from stayin’ where they belonged.
I stood behind her chair and pulled it out before she sat. Then I leaned down, kissed the side of her face and let my lips stay there while I took in the smell of her perfume.
“You been starin’ at me since we left the villa,” Pluto said once I sat across from her.
“I’m gon’ keep starin’ too,” I replied while reachin’ across the table for her hand. “You got on that dress like you don’t know who you married.”
Pluto smiled and ran her thumb across my knuckles. “You picked it.”
“Yeah, and I did a damn good job.”
The first course came with small pieces of grilled meat, soft bread and vegetables covered in some sauce Pluto loved more than I did. She cut off a bite and held it toward me without askin’. I leaned across the table and ate it from her fork while keepin’ my eyes on hers.
“That’s good?” Pluto asked.
“It taste better ‘cause you fed it to me,” I told her.
She rolled her eyes, but I saw the smile she tried to hide.
I cut a piece of fish from my own plate, made sure it had enough of the sauce on it and lifted the fork toward her mouth. Pluto leaned in, wrapped her lips around it and held my eyes while she chewed. That look went straight through me.
“You like it?” I asked.
Pluto nodded. “It’s good.”
I fed her another bite before eatin’ one myself.
After that, the plates might as well have belonged to both of us ‘cause we kept reachin’ across the table to give each other pieces of whatever tasted good.
Pluto fed me fruit from her dessert, and I wiped a drop of juice from the corner of her mouth with my thumb before puttin’ it against my own lips. Her cheeks warmed while she watched me.
Dinner took almost two hours ‘cause neither one of us was in a rush. We talked about the trip, the kids and all the places Pluto wanted to see before we left Soléya. She asked if we could visit a temple near the mountain gardens, and I told her I had already arranged for us to go the next mornin’.
“You already knew I wanted to go?” She asked.
“I know everything you want,” I said before takin’ a drink. “Sometimes you just take too long to tell me.”
“That’s not true.”
“It is, but therapy told me I’m supposed to let you speak for yourself now.”
Pluto reached across the table and squeezed my hand. “You’re doing good.”
That simple sentence hit me harder than it should’ve.
I lifted her hand and kissed her fingers. “I’m tryna do right by you.”
“You are,” she assured me.
After dinner, we walked back toward the villa instead of callin’ the car. The path was lit with small lanterns, and the ocean stayed beside us the whole way. I held Pluto’s hand while she walked close enough for her shoulder to brush mine.
Halfway there, she stopped and turned toward me.
“What?” I asked as I slid one arm around her waist.