“Hair straight or curly?”
She asked this, standing in the doorway of their bathroom. The light shined from behind her, and for a moment, with one hand on her hip and the other resting on her bare breast, Christine looked like the statue of a Greek goddess to Henry. He leaned back on the bed, resting on his elbows, and took the sight in.
“Curly.”
There was a moment of pause between the two, and Henry searched his mind for words.
“Because… it frames your face better,” he added. “I just think it’s prettier.”
Christine tilted her head and smiled.
“Thank you, honey. That’s really sweet.”
She turned back into the bathroom and began wrapping another lock of hair in her curling iron. A few minutes later, as he sat on the corner of the bed, watching her, she began to hum—something he hadn’t heard her do in months. He straightened his tie, and though he felt his body growing tenser as the minutes passed, he remembered Dr. Kausen’s words:
Stress begins from the inside out, so release it from the outside in.
He still thought it was a ridiculous bumper sticker sentence, but he drew his breath in deeply anyway and released it in staggered intervals until his lungs were empty, just like he was taught. And damn it, if his body didn’t start to feel looser and more relaxed.
As Christine stood in front of the mirror, admiring herself, Henry knew no one could say he wasn’t trying.
All in all, she took an hour and a half to get ready. In the past, that would have thrown the schedule of the night completely off. He would have practically shoved her out the door and driven with white knuckles and a clenched jaw. He would have cursed out the drivers in front of him who had the audacity to stop at red lights. At the restaurant, the reservation would have been overridden before they got there, and they would have had the option of waiting another hour or taking a shitty seat in the corner of the restaurant where the light was too dim. She would
