I built the house on the mountain for just that reason. The cold sweeps across the flank of land I picked up at auction for a song, chilling anything standing on it, making warm blood run cold.
Not that yours needed help. You suffered in even the slightest chill. Layers of clothing, thrown on to combat the cold, would hide you away, yet in some perverse diminishing return the more physically cold you were the less physically remote you became. Your fingers, daggers of ice in cold weather, would seek me out, your hands shoving under my fleece, under my t-shirt, until shivering palms were nestled on the curvature of my paunch.
You loved the view from there, helped design the house, plan the garden. We made space for children should they come along, an annex for family to stay. The room we had to build all the excuse we needed.
That first night, huddled together before the ostentatious fire place you insisted we build, I feigned forgetfulness, begged forgiveness for failing to bring the matches. There would be no fire tonight. I gathered blankets and duvets from the moving boxes and we retired to the sofa.
We huddled and your fingers found my belly, seeking only warmth, but allowing me the contact I craved.
‘I’ll warm you up,’ I said.
11 Responses to It’s a couple of coats colder up there – #fridayflash
Maybe I should feel some annoyance with him because I loathe the cold so much but there’s too much beauty in this piece to be annoyed, and anyway his craving her touch (I’ve made them male and female, assuming, because of my own experiences) is so understandable, I sympathize. This is a gorgeously simple love story. I like it a lot. And the phrase, “the flank of land” is lovely.
Really warm and genuine. Like a mahogany ember, nice one dan.
Warm despite the cold you so skillfully described. This was just right.
Awwww. I think could cope with that kind of cold if it had that sort of solution 🙂
Very nice story, and quite a good solution to the problem of being cold.
I thought women were supposed to be the manipulative ones! I guess all that warming up might produce some children after all 🙂
This was beautiful, a great scene. Being a source of warmth has a great deal of value from an evolutionary standpoint.
Beautifully written. I hate to think how remote she might be in the summer. 😉
Like Mazzz, I was actually saying “Awwwww” out loud.
What a sweet guy.
And I know how it feels (hopefully don’t we all) to curl up to the warm “paunch” and feel warm and safe and protected.
This was sweet and beautiful, romantic without the ‘ick.’
Feels like a warm blanket all by itself.
I’m always in awe of your ability to break the human experience down to its base emotions and invoke empathy with so few words.
I miss winter already. This was really lovely. Thank you.
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