Our house was quite after the guests left. The only sound was Nikki collecting bottles and dishes and taking them to the kitchen.
I followed her lead, wondering if I should start the conversation or wait for her. She started washing dishes once we had them all corralled in the kitchen. I stood on the side of the sink so I could load them into the dishwasher.
“Not that one,” she took a glass bowl from my hand and set it to the side. “I’ll hand wash that one.”
“I can,” I reached for the bowl. She grabbed my hand. “No.”
“Alright,” I told her.
“You promised, Isaac. You promised you wouldn’t start it with Zac tonight.”
“I know. And I’m sorry. I will call him tomorrow.”
“You will call him tomorrow. You also will apologize again in front of everyone at Christmas Eve dinner.”
“I don’t want to embarrass him again.”
“No, you don’t want to embarrass yourself. I want to you apologize in front of everyone or no more whiskey for a week.”
“Don’t treat me like a child, I’m your husband.” How dare she belittle me? How could the person I love most in the world talk to me like that?
“Now you know how it feels,” she said quietly. “Now imagine if I would have said that in front of your brothers and their wives. I know that you still think of Zac as your little brother, but he is grown, Isaac. He has a wife and children, just like you. He’s a big brother to 4 other siblings. If you ever want him to get better, you need to treat him as your equal, not as your repair project.”
“I know. You’re right. But I don’t think I can ever make myself not look after him. I’m only hard on him because I care so much about him.”
“You can look after him without looking down on him.”
“Huh.” I said. That hurt. It was true, but it hurt.
“Is that all you have to say?”
“I’m processing. And also trying to keep myself out of more trouble.”
“That’s a good idea. Keep trying,” she said.
“I feel like that will be a lifelong project.”
“Yeah, probably, but that’s what I signed up for.”
“I’m so lucky to have you.”
“Yeah, you are,” she rolled her shoulders back. They were stiff from Christmas party prep.
“I think I know what to do about that,” I said. I gently massaged her shoulders until I felt the tension leave them.
“Ooooh, that feels good. I knew I kept your stubborn butt around for some reason,” she said.
“I try to make myself useful.”
“Sometimes you manage.”
I started kissing the back of her neck. “Do you think the rest of this can wait until tomorrow?”
“I think you’re still in trouble,” she said. “And I think I’d rather not wake up to a mess.”
“Both excellent points,” I said. I loaded dishes until our dishwasher was full, then I started stacking them neatly on the counter.
We finally reached the end of the dishes. The last thing was her special glass bowl. She washed it while I wiped down the counters.
“I’ll go check to make sure we picked up everything from the other rooms.”
“Thank you, darling,” she said.
I walked around the living room and dinning room. I put the cards back in the entertainment center and picked up a few stray pieces of trash. We were all becoming neater in our old age. The first year, when we were still dating, it took two days to clean my apartment. Of course, we had quite a few guests crash there since they were in no condition to drive. I couldn’t start cleaning until after one. And Nikki didn’t exactly keep the distractions to a minimum.
“What’s so funny?” I didn’t notice I had been grinning.
“Just reminiscing,” I said, taking my wife into my arms.
“Is the present not good enough for you?”
“The past is why the present is so wonderful. Things seemed simpler back then, but simpler isn’t always better.”
“When life is too simple, Hanson boys get bored and cause trouble.”
“Hmm, yep,” I kissed the top of her forehead. “Good thing you keep me entertained.”
She kissed my cheek. “Do you have any entertainment in mind for tonight?”
“How about cuddle until we go to sleep?”
She laughed. “That’s your best answer of the night. Come on Mr. Hanson. Let’s go to bed.”