We have never been a normal couple.
( the fifth anniversary is wood. she had googled it. twice, even, just to make sure. these days, they don’t talk much so it isn’t difficult to slip out and take the trip while alex is at school. it takes her a while to find it and even longer to bargain and barter it into her hands, but it’s worth it. for the first time in a long time, she’s excited about something and she has the days marked off on the calendar at the hangar.
the morning of their anniversary, they get into a fight. it’s stupid. something about the attic and getting it organized before it was time to lug all the christmas crap down. they both leave the house in a huff and she spends most of her afternoon fuming. but then she finds the bag tucked under her desk and she can’t remember why she was angry.
he doesn’t get home until late, after alex is in bed and carol has almost given up on waiting for him. she can hear him moving around in the kitchen, the sound of cabinets being opened and a chair scraping across the floor. carol doesn’t say anything when she steps into the room, just folds herself into the chair across from his and slides the bag toward him, eyes fixed on her feet. there’s a long moment of silence before she hears the tissue paper being pushed aside.
she waits a beat. then two. and her shoulders droop, chest tightening around a painful sadness that makes her want to snatch the present back. but then she hears the muffled laughter. when she looks up, his shoulders are shaking, grin half-hidden behind his hand. on the table is the stupid sign they found in some gift shop on their honeymoon-- a ridiculously inaccurate carving of a beaver with the words ‘wood you marry me?’ etched into the sign above his head.
they’re both giggling now and carol’s brought back to when they found it, arms around each other and riding the high from what she still thinks is one of the happiest days of her life. phil catches her hand on the table, bringing it up to kiss her knuckles and muttering against her skin. carol only shrugs. )
Who needs normal? I’d take us any day.
