“Hey, I’m not an invilid…!” Jack called out to her, pushing the blanket down just a Missy was approaching him to probably plop down over his lap as she was often to do. He swung his legs out of the bed and eased his sockless feet into the slippers tucked by the bed. He pulled himself to his feet, huffing a breath as he does and grabs his dressing gown that hung by the door.
“Katelynn, come on… let me help you.” he said as he followed her through into the kitchen.
Behind him, Missy leaped down off of the bed with a grunt, and hurriedly followed him.
Her hands were already elbow deep in the seek, washing the dishes as soap bubbles popped around her. “I’m not treating you like an invalid, love,” she told him gently, bringing a dish up and washing the soap off before putting it on the drying rack. “I just wanted to relax is all. You know I love spoiling you.”
There had been many incidents of this when Katelynn would try to get him his favorite food, bring him home some extra paints when she noticed he needed more, cleaned up after him after he had gone to bed, knowing what was okay to move and what he needed where he had left it. Little gestures like this were the least she could do and she hardly even thought about anymore, doing it out of love for him.
“But I guess if you want to help you can dry them?” she asked, giving him a smile while washing a stubborn stain off the pan as best she could.
Missy went to settle on her dog bed, watching them.
He smiled at her faintly and, in a gesture he’d been doing for almost 34 years now, he approached her and wrapped his arms around her from behind. His lanky arms wrapped around her middle and he rested his cheek against the back of her head, allowing his eyes to slip shut a moment.
“Hmmm I keep telling you, I’d be more than happy to do more for you…” he said before pulling away from her and plucked a towel from where it hung over the oven’s door rack. “My parents didn’t raise a pig who lets his wife do all the cleaning. Remember?” he asked, as he began to dry a plate.
Jack Maple 