I Love You In a Song
Lita relaxed; truly, utterly relaxed. She could literally feel every muscle inside of her body uncoil, depressurize. She stared into the green canopy of tree branches waving above her head, ignoring the pain throbbing in her neck.
It could have been the heavy medication that she had to subsist on at the moment, but at this second she felt deliciously happy. Dissatisfaction and misery had been her modus operandi for months now; having to sit still for days on end wasn't her style. But here she was now; lying in a blue-and-white striped lawn chair feeling a breeze lick her bare toes. The cabin's slat porch creaked; the branches waved down to her.
She resisted boredom by concentrating on the small things around her. Stephanie's kitten, meandering across the lawn, her walk bottom heavy. The sound of Stephanie inside the cabin, grunting as she squeezed lemons into a juice jar by hand. There would be lemonade soon.
Small things; they made up her existence at the moment. Like her grandmother's checkered curtains, waving in the window. A earthenware jar gleaming in the windowsill. The sound of Jim Croce singing through a tinny pair of speakers.
Her eyes followed Stephanie's progress as she made her way to a deck chair that faced Lita's own. Handing her a small mason jar filled with lemonade, she raised her own to her lips and sipped.
Lita was encouraged by her lover's smile; taking a deep drink of her own, she sighed rapturously. It tasted like her grandmother's brew, and it sent her back to a place and time where things weren't complex or insane. Before she had been injured, before she even began training. Being six, running through the woods, feeling carefree; good memories. They comforted her.
Stephanie sighed deeply from her chair; guilt touched her girlfriend's conscious. Throughout the injury ordeal, it had been Stephanie who had taken care of her; watched over her, ferried her to appointments. But now Stephanie would have to return to the road, leaving Lita here, alone. In a way, it was a relief, at least for Stephanie, who would get a break from it all.
The redhead spoke at last, "Steph?"
"Yes?" Came Stephanie's exhausted voice.
"I love you."
For Stephanie, this was more than enough of a reward. Beaming angelically, she held her girlfriend in the only way she could while wearing a hard neck collar; she reached out and squeezed her left hand.
There would be time later to express her gratitude.