3D: Still Dating

Hello, and happy new year! One day it occurred to me I had never done any poses with Skylathan, and I just knew they would look amazing. So I did a little photoshoot with them in the backyard, edited the pictures, and posted them on a new page called My Art. If you want to see the stylized versions of the pictures in this chapter as well as several others I didn’t use, check it out after you read the chapter. I loved the pictures so much, I wanted to share them with you somehow, so I decided to make a little chapter out of them. Enjoy!

Jonathan and Skyla’s lives were already hectic enough before Oliver was born and even more crazy with him in the picture although they wouldn’t have it any other way. When Skyla’s maternity leave ended, she wasn’t too thrilled about putting him in daycare at such a young age especially because she was able to be at home with the girls, but it seemed inevitable. To minimize the time he had to spend there, they talked it over and decided Skyla should spend less time at the restaurant, working three days during the peak hours. To their surprise, however, Oliver never had to go to daycare. Janessa offered to take care of him, and Skyla was forever grateful.

After two weeks of the new schedule, Jonathan and Skyla finally found a rhythm that worked well for them. On the days they were both off, Jonathan would linger in bed while Skyla took care of Oliver and saw Aubrey off to school although she was quite independent. After getting Oliver back to sleep for his first nap, she’d go back to the bedroom to spend some quiet time with Jonathan before they got busy with chores and such.

One morning, he was laying on his back gazing at the ceiling with nothing in particular on his mind. She slid next to him and laid her head on his chest.

“That was fast,” he said.

“He didn’t fight it today.”

Jonathan chuckled. “I’ll never understand babies. They’re sleepy, and they know it, but they get mad at you for trying to put them to sleep. Ungrateful brats they are.”

She giggled and gently slapped his cheek. “Our son is not a brat. He’s wonderful.”

He snorted. “He’ll be wonderful when he can sleep all night.”

“He’s wonderful now and you know it!” She stroked his cheek, and he smiled. “What are we going to do with him when your sister is gone? I still don’t like the idea of daycare.”

He closed his eyes and let out a long sigh. “I don’t want to think about losing another sister right now.”

“I know. I’m sorry…but, it’ll be soon you know.”

“I know. We’ll figure it out. Maybe if Juliana still isn’t working by then or doesn’t have another kid, she’ll take him. I don’t know.”

“Ok. We don’t have to think about it now.” She propped herself up and looked him in the eyes. “What do you want to do today?”

He placed his hand on top of hers. “Let’s go on a date.”

She smiled but her eyebrows furrowed. “But, it wouldn’t be very considerate to take Oliver to your sister’s without notice.”

“We don’t need her.”

Skyla cocked her head.

“We can stay here while he sleeps. He’ll be out for, what, an hour or two?”

She laughed nervously. “Well, yes, but I don’t understand.”

Jonathan sat up, grinning like a giddy schoolboy. “Let’s get dressed up and go dance in the backyard…with no music. It’ll be the most romantic date ever.”

She began laughing then stopped. “You’re serious?”

“Of course! Come on. It’ll be so fun.”

He grabbed her head and pulled her close so he could kiss her lips.

“You are a special one, Jonathan.”

He fell back onto the bed, taking her with him and clutching her jaw to make it move. “Just say, ‘yes, my totally awesome husband, I will go out with you.'”

She laughed so loud. “You’re such a goofball!”

“Put on that blue dress and meet me outside.”

They got up and dressed. She wore the blue dress he liked, and he put on a nice red shirt and tie. He even spent time teasing his hair a little bit and didn’t realize how long it took him until he found her waiting outside for him. She was standing in the middle of the yard looking out at the street with pearls on her wrist and blue jewels around her neck. Her red stained lips were just as deep as his shirt, and he wanted to kiss them again. She probably felt silly for standing in the yard looking as elegant as she did, but he hoped she would enjoy the impromptu date.

He slipped behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. “Can I have this dance, m’lady?”

She offered her hand, he kissed it and began dancing with her. He put his hand on the small of her back, and she draped her hand over his shoulders as they rocked together pelvis to pelvis. Who needed music when they had the melody of love in their hearts?

They had so much going on in their lives, it was hard not to fill the silence with concerns about the children, the restaurant, the family, and whatever else ran through their minds. They had all day for that. Besides, they needed some margin in their lives. It was so easy to get caught up in the day-to-day and forget to take time for each other. It happened all the time in marriages. The danger lurked in the innocence of how it began. First, there would be the “just a minutes” and “we can talk about it laters” and “I’m too tireds” and the like. Years of that lead to two strangers living together, wondering how they got there. Jonathan wanted no part of that and looked for places to create quiet, intimate moments like this. They had to keep dating.

“Are you having a good time, Mrs. Pruett?”

“Mmm hmm.”

Looking into her eyes, he was transported back to the first day they met as teenagers. He thought she was the most beautiful girl in school, and it was her eyes that captured him. He remembered thinking she looked so sweet but also saw a bit of pain in them. She didn’t have much pain anymore, but he could see all the usual things. The tiredness, busyness, and anxiety. He couldn’t make those things go away permanently as it was just her nature to worry and care for everyone, but for just a moment, he could wipe her problems away with one deep kiss.