Stories to Make You Blush: Seven Naughty Tales by Gray Marie

Author:Gray, Marie [Gray, Marie]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2007-03-31T16:00:00+00:00

Midwinter Reverie

Bzzzz! Bzzzz!

Michele was dragged out of a deep sleep by the doorbell’s insistent buzzing. It was only eight-thirty on the first day off she had allowed herself in three weeks. Since her husband was away on a shoot outside the city for a few days, she could have easily slept in.

Bzzzz! Bzzzz! Bzzzz!

The intrusion was outrageously annoying. “Why can’t the world leave me in peace for just one day!” she wailed in complete exasperation. She was now in a filthy mood and the day had only just begun. Having no other choice, she forced herself up with a huge sigh of self-pity.

She pulled on her bathrobe, left the room, and descended the staircase, grumbling miserably the whole way. Through the little window beside the front door, she spied an enormous bouquet of white lilies nearly concealing the head of the young man who was delivering them.

“What? Who? Martin?”

She opened the door.

“Mrs. Blake?”

“Yes.”

“These are for you! Have a nice day!”

The flowers were magnificent, but the name of the florist was nowhere to be found. Michele shrugged her shoulders, thinking the omission was rather strange. She noticed a tiny envelope stuck to the transparent plastic wrapping and guessed what was inside before she even opened it: one of those bland little cards illustrated with flowers, ribbons, and little birds. She would bet any money that the card contained an uninspired little message scribbled in by some employee stating, “I love you, Martin.” In spite of these thoughts, she still felt somewhat placated by the gift, and of course she was curious.

It was no doubt another attempt on the part of her dear husband to reconcile with her; an unimaginative and predictable effort that would certainly not solve their problems, but an effort nonetheless. She would have appreciated a more original approach, but this sort of gesture was typical of the man she had married and secretly hoped would change over time. She remembered the old joke she had heard once long ago: “The main problem with marriage is that the woman gets married in the hopes that her man will change and the man gets married hoping the woman won’t.”

She finally detached the card. It was certainly small, but there was no design on it; it was completely white. She opened it up and found not the predictable “I love you, Martin,” but an enigmatic little message that read: “I’ve been watching you for some time now.” That was it—no signature, no initials, no “I love you” or “Forgive me.” “What does that mean,” she asked herself in complete bewilderment, “I’ve been watching you for some time now?” This wasn’t Martin’s usual terse, almost abrupt style, and it certainly wasn’t his “too neat” handwriting, either, which confirmed her suspicion that the message was probably dictated over the phone. But why was he suddenly being so mysterious?

The whole situation completely baffled her, and she stood by the door for quite some time puzzling over the mystery. Since she was fully awake now, there was no point going back to bed.

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