Apple Surprise

“Tommy, we never do anything fun, anymore. You used to surprise me with romantic gestures and secret dates all the time. Now you have become so predictable. Our relationship is growing stale and boring.”

         “So, Sasha, it’s romance and surprise that you want? I think I can still provide that.”

         “I don’t think you have it in you anymore, Tommy –Boy.”

         Tommy took that thought to bed with him to ponder that night. He had to agree with Sasha. Since they had gotten married a year ago, they had really fallen into a rut. They worked, they ate dinner and breakfast together, but fun? No, they really didn’t have much ‘fun’ anymore. But what married couple did? Tommy had not once gone to work and heard ‘my wife and I had so much fun this weekend’. He had heard plenty of other things, but not that.

         Sasha knew that she was pushing Tommy really hard. He worked all the time, and when he came home he was truly tired. He didn’t have the energy for fun and romance. He barely had the energy to eat dinner, shower, and crawl into bed. She really didn’t have a right to demand anything from him, but here she was, doing it anyway.

         She promised herself that tonight when Tommy came in, there would be no discussion about spontaneity, no discussion about fun and romance. There would be a nice, quiet, pleasant dinner and a relaxing evening watching television until they went to bed. If he wanted to make love, they would, but she wouldn’t push that issue, either.

         The phone rang and interrupted her thoughts. It was her neighbor (and pain in her ass), Estelle. She called so she could brag. That was it. The only reason. This time she wanted to brag about the fact that her husband (who was retired and loaded) had rented a recreational vehicle and they were going to take in sights in each state. They would be gone the better part of a year.

         “Sasha, darling,” Estelle crooned, “since I won’t be home, will you keep an eye on the place? Collect the mail, water the plants, that sort of thing? I mean, I figured you were the best one to ask, since you folks never go anywhere.”

         Sasha sighed a deep sigh. “I suppose so, Estelle. That shouldn’t be a problem.”

         After hanging up, Sasha felt a little angry. Estelle was right, they never went anywhere or did anything. Her promise to herself forgotten, as soon as Tommy got home, she started telling him about her phone call from Estelle and how she had said that they never went anywhere. Tommy looked at Sasha for such a long time that it made her uncomfortable. Finally, he looked down at his plate and the food, untouched, on it.

         “Sasha, baby, you know that if I could, I would give you the world.”

         “I know that, Tommy, and I hate myself for bugging you about it, but damn….”

         Instead of a relaxing evening of television and love making, he watched a ball game while she read a book and they didn’t even go to bed at the same time because the ball game went into extra innings.

         The next day was grocery day, so Sasha got ready after Tommy left for work and she left to go to the store. While she was there, she ran into an old boyfriend that had left town after high school. He was back in town for a couple of weeks and wanted to know if Sasha wanted to have lunch. She agreed, brought her groceries home, and got herself all dolled up. Estelle saw her as she was leaving for lunch.

         “Oh, darling, where are you off to all done up to the nines?”

         “Just going to lunch with an old friend. No big deal.”

         “From the looks of you, I would say he is a big deal, indeed.” said Estelle with a knowing wink. 

         “Don’t worry, I won’t tell the hubby.”

         “It’s not a secret, Estelle, it’s lunch.”

         “So your Tommy knows about it then?”

         “Of course he does. Why wouldn’t he? Like I said, it’s not a secret.”

         After Sasha was safely in her car, she wondered why she hadn’t called and mentioned to Tommy that Brett had invited her for lunch. She decided that she would let him know at dinner that Brett was in town for a couple of weeks and that they had gone to lunch. No big deal.

         That night, when Tommy came in, he had a bounce in his step. He told Sasha that the next day, Saturday, he had a romantic day planned for the two of them. Sasha was taken aback, to say the least. She certainly didn’t want to ruin his mood, and decided that maybe it would be best that she didn’t mention the lunch with Brett just now. She would tell him later. 

         The next morning, Tommy woke her bright and early with breakfast in bed. When that was done, they got dressed and headed downstairs. Tommy had already prepared a picnic lunch for them. They loaded themselves into the car and Tommy drove them way, way out into the country. 

         Sasha was actually dozing in the car when they came to a stop. The vision before her eyes was absolutely gorgeous. There were green fields with flowers as far as the eye could see. In the middle of one of the fields stood an apple tree. This was where, Tommy told her, they would have their picnic lunch. When he started laying out the food on the blue and white checkered blanket that he had purchased especially for the occasion, her stomach began to grumble. She hadn’t realized until that moment that she was ravenously hungry. 

         They ate the beautifully prepared lunch, including a pie that he had thoughtfully precut before packing it. After lunch, they made sweet, slow, beautiful love on the blanket under the apple tree. Once that was done, Tommy told her that he had bought this field and the apple tree was theirs. They spent the rest of the afternoon hugging, kissing, and picking apples. They made plans to come out to their field often so that they could make love and pick apples.

A few weeks later, Sasha went to Tommy with a surprise of her own - they were going to have a baby!