She got off the bed and stood on her tiptoes so she could kiss her husband. The brim of his hat got in the way, and with a smile she tore it from his head and tossed it, something she knew Darren would never do. It missed the dresser and fell onto the floor. It took everything in Darren’s power not to stop her hands, already reaching for his belt, and set his Stetson the proper way, brim down, on top of the dresser. But he knew this show of passion was a gesture from his wife, that it would be rude and hurtful to hold her off, to not play out the scenario she’d surely been scripting on her nearly four-hour drive to Jefferson. He hardly had time to catch his breath, the way she went at him. He wanted to slow down, to taste her, not just her mouth but the skin on her neck where her hairline tangled into a tiny mess of curls between sessions at the salon, the place where she was most raw and tender—he wanted to take his time with all of it. But again, he was afraid to offend her. So he let it play out like something she’d seen in a movie, some idea she had of the perfect picture of passion, which wasn’t to say that Darren didn’t enjoy himself. He’d only been with a few women in his life, but Lisa was always home, the first girl having eclipsed the ones who came after, girls from undergrad and law school he saw in the years when he and Lisa were separated by their academic choices, when they’d made an unspoken pact to ask few questions. He hardly remembered those girls or the brief, sloppy nights on dorm-lounge couches, one time up against the dryer in the laundry room. He spent his years in Princeton and Chicago only ever wanting to get back to Lisa.

They lay sweaty after, crushed velvet all around them. It made creases in the skin of Lisa’s back that Darren traced with his fingers. The room was soft with the dew of the effort they’d made of it, and he kissed the salted moisture on Lisa’s shoulder and thanked her. She’d never once joined him on the road, something that wasn’t forbidden by headquarters so much as it was just a terrible idea.