Take 2

Laurie calls James, late enough in the afternoon that he knows she is mostly calling because she feels suddenly lonely, and wanting company, and not because she has been thinking of him or craving him in particular all day. He doesn't care. He accepts the invitation to go over and watch the movie with her and John. She is eight months pregnant now, and it is snowing and icy, and she doesn't want to go out. He has noticed this in other women, wives of his friends, during the ends of their pregnancies, though it surprises him in her, because he knows her and she never likes to do at home what she can do somewhere else.

She gives him a glass of red wine at the door and though he much prefers to smoke he knows she's doing neither now, and John does not approve of either of them smoking - he is straight-laced, and Christian, and doesn't like to lose control, or anyone else to either. So James drinks his wine and they watch the movie together, he and Laurie on opposite ends of the couch, and John in the big chair, with a fire going. Its cozy and John can never finish a movie, and he excuses himself, kisses Laurie, and goes on up to bed. It always feels different and better to James when John isn't around, and he knows Laurie feels the same way, although neither of them would say so, not because of any real betrayal but because of how it would sound no matter how you explained it.

James gets up to go to the bathroom, pleasantly warm and buzzy, and when he comes back the movie is still going - they've seen it before - and Laurie has her eyes closed and looks asleep. He sits in the middle of the couch, and suddenly she reaches over to him, without opening her eyes, and makes a little pillow in her lap out of a cable-knit throw blanket - he hates her weakness for these little Pottery Barnish suburban touches. She pulls his head down into her lap, and he is very surprised, but lets her guide him, and she runs her fingers through his hair a couple of times, aimlessly but fondly, and then rests her hand on his shoulder, and then really does seem to go to sleep. And he is not sure what to do for a little while, and not sure why she's done this - it is companionable in feel, not flirty, or seductive, but unexpected and of course he can't help but think about John, upstairs, and John, coming downstairs.

He stays where he is. He can see the movie fine, and the pressure of her hand on his shoulder is warm and comforting, and reminds him of some childhood feeling - a hand on his shoulder at the curb, keeping him from stepping into the street before its time, maybe. Her breathing is deeper now, and she snores just a little. The back of his head meets her belly and he is surprised that it is so hard and firm, and he realizes that he has never felt a pregnant woman's belly before. Just at this moment he feels a tap tap tap, and a sensation like someone running their finger over his skull through a thick comforter, and he realizes this is the baby moving, Laurie's baby, and he is awed and uncomfortable at the same time with this odd comunication from the inside of her body, from this thing in her, and he feels chastised and, if he is to really admit it, a little possessive and competitive as well.

gotta go. playgroup.