"Just ignore it," Laura whispered into his ear as her fingers slowly made their way to his belt.

His lips found hers when the phone rang again.

"I think you better answer that," he said, pulling away.

She rose and picked up the phone. Behind her, the heavy door to the master bedroom opened and closed again.

She wasn't sure if he heard her footsteps. He didn't move, even as she came closer and wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her cheek against his back.

"Are you all right?"

She felt his breath catch as he slowly pulled his concentration from the darkness, turned in her arms, and directed his full attention to her, saying, "Yes. You?"

"Fine. Let's go upstairs."

After a pause, he ventured, "Anthony...?"

The words died in his throat, but Laura sensed more than just a social question.

"...Is an attractive man," she said gently. "And your wife," she smiled, "is a very attractive woman. They were... briefly attracted to each other."

"Were?"

"Were."

"Thank God," he exhaled, drawing her close. "Laura, I need you to know something. Something about what I said earlier... I don't want a divorce in two years."

She didn't say anything but her quickened breath and the tightened grip of her arms told him he should proceed.

"I know that's not what you need to hear. Sometimes I want to say more, but the words stick in my throat... Sometimes I wonder if I'm able to... to feel..." his voice caught. "How would I even know what it is? You tell me."

She pressed her cheek closer to the rough surface of his sweater and took a breath before continuing. "It's when you have your life planned down to every last detail and you meet a man who overturns all your designs. You meet a man who's so impossible to live with that some days you want to end it all - and yet, you know that a day without him is infinitely more impossible than a lifetime with him, and you'd gladly let him turn your life inside out if he'd just stay."

"Is it?"

"It is."

"What about a stubborn, obstinate, infuriating woman whose standards are too high, who makes you jump through one hoop too many, who constructs impossible challenges for you to surmount, only to invent even more byzantine ones - and yet, you know that you'd do anything to prove you deserve her?"

"You would?"

"I would."

"I think that's close enough."

"I don't know what I would do without you," he whispered, kissing her hair. "Teach me to love, Laura. Teach me to love, save my soul."

Anyone passing by the window at that hour would see a man and a woman holding each other as though they were one another's lifeline, standing in a silence that meant more than any words.

The End