A Different Kind of Anniversary

April 30, 2021

“Hey, wake up, sleepyhead, doncha know what day it is today?”

“Starsk, what the hell are you doin’ up before me? What time is it?”

“Never mind what time it is. The important thing is what day it is.”

“If memory serves me, it’s Friday. So what about it?”

“I hope you’re not startin’ to lose your memory, babe. It’s our anniversary. Don’t you remember?”

“Starsk, our wedding anniversary is in July!”

“I’m not talkin’ about our wedding anniversary, I’m talkin’ about—“

“If you’re referring to the anniversary of the day we met, that’s in September. And we became partners in January, so it’s not the—“

“You sonofabitch, you’re pretendin’ you don’t know what day today is!“

“Who me? Pretending? Oh, you mean THAT anniversary! The first time we made love. Or was that in August?”

“I shoulda known you had somethin’ cooking up your sleeve when you promised to follow me to that five-alarm chili place and then you went the other way—“

“Well, you didn’t have to turn around and follow me, you know. You could have eaten the chili all by yourself.”

“I could have, but if I did, I wouldn’t have walked into your apartment to find you stripped down, wearin’ only your birthday suit, and then we wouldn’t have had sex that was hotter than the chili.”

“That’s true. Twice in a row, and in two different rooms.”

“But Hutch, how did you know?”

“How did I know what?”

“How did you know I wouldn’t have turned around and gotten the hell outta there as fast as I could and not stopped until I was as far from Bay City as possible? How did you know I wouldn’t have decked you when you walked up to me stark naked, put your arms around my neck, and pulled me in for a kiss?”

“Because every morning when you came to pick me up at the gym, your eyes were fixated on my ass. I could feel the burning of your gaze as you stood behind me, even though I couldn’t see you.”

“Oh you knew, did ya? Well, it was kinda hard not to stare at your luscious ass, what with you wearin’ those tiny blue gym shorts all the time.”

“And why do you think I was wearing those tiny blue gym shorts in the first place, hmm?”

“I don’t know. Thought maybe you had a thing for Frankie, haha.”

“And don’t think I didn’t see you checking me out while I was in the shower. I saw you sneaking looks when you thought I had shampoo in my eyes.”

“Did you? And here I was, thinkin’ I was bein’ discrete.”

“Did you wake me so we could re-create the magic of that day all over again?”

“Just like I do every year, babe. Here, look what I picked up at the bakery this morning. You wanna share, it’s still warm.”

“Umm, you bet I do. And I wanna share more than just your danish. Come here, loverboy. Happy anniversary.”