A Valentine Story (told by Dillon)

A valentines’ story told by Dillon
Carol
Gary and Dillon.

I had everything planned out to the minute; as soon as he walks in, I will hand him his after-work drink, and a kiss. Then I will take him by the hand, and serve him a nice dinner, then for dessert Champagne cake. Then, after dinner, I will give him my gift, which is not very much, but it is from the heart. Then I’ll take him to the bathroom, help him strip out of his uniform, and we’ll soak in a rose petal warm bath. After we dry off, then I‘ll take him to the bedroom and give him a full body, hot oil massage. After that, if he is not asleep, hopefully we will make out for an hour or so, and then fall sleep in each other’s arms.

I even had the kitchen decked out in streamers of pink and red, with Happy Valentine’s Day written in on them. I had those cupid cutouts on the cabinet’s doors. In addition, I even found Gary’s grandmothers old cake dish; if I remember right, his grandfather gave it to Gary’s grandmother on their first Valentines, so the lop-sided cake would look good. I think that’s the story he told me. Since I was not a drinker, I had a bottle of that Martineli Cider chilling in an old Easter bucket; well, it’s pink - I found it in the yard last year after one of the kids grew tired of it.

I looked at the clock; it was now six-thirty and no sign of my Gary. I was so pissed, it was not even funny I knew he would have to drop off David, but, hell, they only live fifteen minutes from us! He should be home by now. I was getting hot! I worked my ass off all day to make our First Valentine’s Day something to remember, and he was going to miss it and I went through hell to get it right. I headed into the kitchen to put the food back into the oven; I didn’t want it to get cold; bad enough it was going to get tough. I grabbed the first thing I saw (too bad it was a can of fruit) that was sitting on the counter, and spun around, throwing it against the far wall of the kitchen. It hit hard, and stuck into the sheetrock. I shook my head; I now had a hole in my wall as big as my fist. Gary was going to be pissed. I went over and pulled the can out; then looked around. Finding a big heart, I wrote, “I love you, Gary, with all my heart” on it with a Sharpie, and tacked it to the wall. It covered the hole nicely. Now all I had to do was to keep Gary from seeing it while he was off. When he went back to work, I could repair and paint it.

By eight, I gave up. I figured he just forgot, and went out for a few beers with some of the guys after work; he’s single, kind of. Afterward, I flopped down on the sofa and turned on the TV. I usually don’t watch the news; Gary usually tells me the exciting stuff that happen around our town; and since we live in Washington, the weather never changes - cool, chilly, cold, freezing, or snow - for the next few months. However, when I saw a woman standing in front of an inferno, I turned up the sound.

“Like I said, Ken; just before six o’clock tonight, a gas main burst in the back of this warehouse, causing an explosion that knocked out windows for a few blocks down the street. Fortunately, the workers were able to get out before the second explosions happened. As you see here” (the camera panned out), and I could see the whole building in flames. “We have three stations attending the fire; several EMT’s are working on by-standers and several Emergency personnel who were overtaken by smoke, and even a few of our own members, as well as the other news crews, have been taken to local hospitals,” she told us, as the camera kept moving back and forth from her to the building, “I will have more in a minute,” she told us, and then the news went to commercial. I just flopped back on the sofa. Gary’s been hard at work, and I’ve been pissed because he’s not home with me. Here I thought he forgot about today, and went to have a few beers. I laid my arm over my eyes, and took a deep breath. I fought to keep the tears from escaping. ‘I’ve been such an ass,’ I thought, as I listened for the news to return. When the news came back, they talked about sports, so I flipped to another channel where a news crew was live at the fire. As I watched, I kept an eye out for a glimpse of Gary, or at least David. I wanted to know if either of them was the ones who had been sent to the hospital. I didn’t see either one of them, nor anyone from their station.

It was almost eleven when I turned off the TV. The Eleven o’clock news was the same as the late breaking news. Therefore, I just laid back on the couch and closed my eyes, The next thing I felt was warm lips on my forehead. Opening my eyes a little, I saw Gary standing in the doorway of the kitchen and our living room.

“You’re home?” I said, as I got up.

He turned around to see me standing there dressed (rumpled now) in a suit that I only wear for special functions, or court. He took me in his arms and kissed me.

“You smell,” I told him, kissing his cheek, and then I sneezed. I always sneezes when he come home smelling of his job from the smoke and all.

“I should have called; I am sorry,” he said. “Happy Valentine and he handed me an envelope.

“As long as you are home safe, every day is my Valentine day,” I told him, giving him my special hug, along with a kiss.