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“What?” Rebecca asked Ted.
Ted smiled at her and shrugged. She was curled up on his couch with a cup of tea in one hand and the remote to the television in the other. The lights in his living room were low, casting just a soft glow on her face. They’d taken Henry out to dinner and ice cream straight after work and then come back to his place. Desperate to get out of her work clothes, she’d put on a pair of his sweat pants and Joe Arthur barbeque shirt. He loved the way the shirt pulled in different places on her than it did on him and he couldn’t help but stare.
Henry was visiting for six weeks and since Ted and Rebecca were abiding by the “no sleepovers around Henry” rule, it had been two weeks since they’d had sex. Ted was feeling restless. He had a feeling Rebecca was feeling similarly since earlier in the day he’d texted her from his office to see how she was doing and she’d only sent back the devil horns emoji.
He continued to stare.
Rebecca had gone back to flipping the channels on the television when Ted had only offered her a shrug of a response to what he was looking at but now turned her head back to him since he was still staring.
“Seriously, what?” She wiped at her face.
Ted licked his lips and scooted closer. “I noticed Henry was asleep when I went to the bathroom earlier.”
“Oh, good.” Rebecca smiled and turned back to the TV.
“I was thinking since he’s asleep, maybe we could ... you know … if we’re real quiet.”
“Where?”
“Here.” Ted nodded down to the couch they were sitting on. “Ohhhh, or we could be really naughty and go in the kitchen. Biscuits with the Boss.” Ted winked.
“You and Michelle have an agreement, Ted.” Rebecca completely ignored his joke.
“Technically, the agreement is that no one sleeps over. Michelle knows you probably don’t leave when Henry goes to bed. I’m sure she’s doing the same with Brett. It’s fine.”
Rebecca looked over her shoulder back to the cracked open door of Ted’s bedroom where Henry was sleeping.
“We’ll wake him up.”
“We won’t.” Ted moved in for a kiss and Rebecca obliged. Her lips felt soft and inviting beneath his. They’d sneaked a few kisses and gropes here and there over the past two weeks, but this was the longest they’d gone without sex since getting together a few months ago.
Rebecca pulled back. “No.”
“I promise you, he won’t wake up. He’s a deep sleeper and we’ll be quiet.” Ted moved back in.
“Ted, I said no,” Rebecca said firmly and gave him a little push.
“Really?”
She sighed and set down her teacup.
“I’m going to go home.” She stood up and Ted followed to grasp her arm lightly.
“Rebecca, wait. What’s going on? I’m sorry. I thought you were feeling … you know … I thought from your text today you were feeling it too.”
“I’m not feeling desperate enough to risk your son walking in on us fucking.” She turned away from him to gather her purse and move towards where she last left a pair of trainers by his front door.
“Okay, I’m sorry. Truly. I thought you just needed a little encouragement to feel okay that we wouldn’t wake Henry, but I get it now. We’re on the same page. I’m sorry I pushed. Will you just sit back down with me?”
When she turned to look at him there were tears in her eyes. Shit. Thoughts flooded back to him of Michelle that morning he’d come home with breakfast and realized his marriage was over. His stomach dropped and he reached weak fingertips out to take her hands.
“Rebecca, you’re scaring me. Are we okay?”
She looked down where he’d grasped her hands. “Fuck,” she said softly as tears started to fall. “Fuck!” She said louder.
“Yeah, I know I said Henry is a deep sleeper, but if you keep yelling ‘fuck’, he will wake up.” He laughed to try and encourage her to do the same.
Rebecca smiled through tears. “I feel stupid… and I’d really rather not talk about it.” She paused.
“Okay, okay, you don’t have to tell me, but you know you can tell me anything. Even if you’re breaking up with me right now, you can tell me.”
“I don’t want to break up with you.”
“Oh, thank God. I was playing it cool, but I would have wept like a little boy.” Ted ran his fingers through his hair, “Okay, seriously, you can tell me, you’re not going to scare me or upset me.”
Rebecca took a shaky breath before continuing. “When I was a teenager, I walked in on my father having sex with someone who wasn’t my mother, Ted, and it was fucking traumatizing. No one should ever see their Dad like that … knackers deep in some woman and oblivious to everything else going on around him. The thought of that sweet, innocent boy in there,” she pointed towards Ted’s bedroom, “coming out here because he’s had a bad dream or he needs you and seeing you like that … I can’t--” she shook her head.
Ted gathered her in his arms.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry that happened to you. I didn’t realize…”
Rebecca sniffed against his shoulder. “You had no way of knowing. I’m sorry I got so upset. I know this situation is different, but I just can’t risk doing that to him.”
“I didn’t think about the fact that, even besides that horrible experience, you wouldn’t have the same comfortable level having sex with a child in the house. It wasn’t fair of me to ask you. Worse case scenario, I figured we could explain something to him if he wandered out here.”
“I’m not his mother. You can’t explain it as Mommy and Daddy love each other very much and were wrestling.”
“I would have gone with checking each other for ticks.”
“That’s not the point.” She giggled and hit his arm. “I can’t bear the thought of him seeing you like that, Ted. Seeing his Dad all horns for his new girlfriend. He should never carry that. He needs to feel like he’s the most important thing right now and his Dad can wait four more weeks to have sex.”
“I can. But you’re also not just some woman. Henry knows you are my girlfriend and that you and I say I love you, and you’re part of our family now. I hope at some point Henry will come out here and stay with us at *our* house for extended periods of time.”
Rebecca smiled, “That’s different. Even tonight, if you had a second bedroom I would feel more comfortable. A room with a door we could lock and he could knock if he needed you.”
“I really should talk to my boss about these meager accommodations.”
At this Rebecca did laugh, “It is kind of ridiculous you are still in this one-bedroom flat, isn’t it?”
“It is.”
“And your bed is only a queen. It’s awful.”
“My boss is a real cock blocker.”
“Ted!”
Ted looked at his phone. “It’s only 10, will you stay for another hour, at least? Just let me hold you here on the couch.”
“Of course.”
“Maybe one night this visit, Henry can have a sleepover with Uncle Beard and we can have a little time to ourselves?”
“I’d agree to that.”
Ted gave Rebecca one more kiss before snuggling back into the couch. The next time Rebecca got up to go to the kitchen, Ted pulled out his phone and texted Beard.