Chapter 5
On Friday morning, Sydney said goodbye to her husband and son before she left the house. She would be leaving directly from the office to drive forty-five minutes to the inn, which, as its name suggested, was beside a beautiful lake. She made Henry promise to be a good boy before kissing her husband goodbye and leaving with her luggage bag over her shoulder.
Sydney was surprised how quickly that Friday passed by. She expected it to drag on and on until four o’clock when she was leaving for the weekend, but it actually went by very quickly. That was probably because she was most awake on that day of all the week days, anticipating the long weekend of sleep she had ahead of her.
As she drove, Sydney’s mind drifted back, not only to the first time she and Michael went to The Lakeside Inn, but throughout their whole relationship as well. She thought about the good times and bad times, which were far outweighed by the good. Most of all, though, she thought about how much she still loved her husband fifteen years later.
Sydney and Michael first bumped into each other during their spring break from their final semester of college during their senior year. He was twenty-two, she was a few weeks shy of that same milestone, and the two of them were spending their spring break in London on an exchange program. They were from different schools in two different states, yet they both were attending the exact same program abroad.
The two undergrads met their very first night in the foreign city; they were seated beside each other at the welcoming dinner. Naturally, they struck up a conversation and quickly found that, to their amusement, they graduated the same year from the same high school yet never knew one another. Then again, their class had nearly one thousand students, so it was understandable that they never before crossed paths.
For the remainder of their week there, they bonded, walking side by side on almost every outing they went on. Two days before they were to return home, they shared their first kiss while riding on the London Eye, a large observational wheel that allowed them to view the entire city in all its glory. It was then they giggled and made their relationship official, completely unaware at that moment they would eventually marry one another.
Back home in the United States, they still had eight more weeks of school to complete, which was not easy at all with their brand new relationship. For the most part, they were not able to see each other at all; they relied on email, instant messenger and phone conversations to get to know one another. However, they were able to see each other very briefly over Easter break since their homes were, ironically, located within just a mile of one another.
Once they graduated, the two of them decided to move back to their home town to give their relationship a real shot. They found jobs related to their fields of study (marketing for her, finance for him) and began dating regularly. Within just a few weeks, they realized their relationship was truly something special and rare. In the past, they had only dated casually, so a serious relationship was a change for them, but they were both willing to make it work knowing how much of a connection they had.
By their one year anniversary, they knew that their relationship would lead to marriage. Michael even brought up the subject, and they discussed it, both agreeing that it was definitely in their future. A few months later, it was official, and they were thrilled, along with their families.
The two of them decided not to get married right away, and ended up waiting until they were twenty-five before tying the knot. The first few months of their marriage were difficult with moving in together, adjusting to married life, and Michael starting a new job. Once they fell into an even pattern, though, things went perfectly and only got better and better as their time together passed.
As a whole, their marriage had been on the more perfect side of things. It was only when Henry’s bedwetting began that their relationship, along with their whole lives, started to take a turn. Even still, they were not fighting between themselves, or nitpicking about each other’s habits; they were just exhausted, too exhausted to even kiss one another goodnight most of the time.
With these thoughts floating through her mind, Sydney once again began to regret how she had handled the whole weekend away situation. She should have invited Michael along with her, but it was too late to change things now. Perhaps the two of them could have a weekend away the next weekend, or the one after that. Then again, maybe they didn’t even need to have a weekend away; perhaps Henry just needed to spend a night with each of his grandparents to give his parents a break.
By the time Sydney arrived at the inn, it was already dark outside. She had hoped to take in the lake’s scenery, especially since the tree leaves were beginning to turn brilliant colors, but she would have to do that the following day. For that evening, all she was going to do was relax, hopefully with a nice soothing bubble bath.
Once settled into her room, she picked up her cell phone and gave her husband a call. The two of them chatted for only fifteen minutes, during which Michael informed her that he and Henry were doing perfectly fine. Sydney also spoke with Henry for a few minutes before hanging up after telling them both that she loved them. Then, she went into the bathroom and cranked on the water as hot as she could stand it.
Her soak in the perfect temperature water soothed her aching muscles. It even succeeded in removing the permanent cramp in her neck from spending hours at her desk, which did not live up to ergonomic standards. Once all her fingers and toes were shriveled up and waterlogged, she got out of the tub, wrapped herself up in a fluffy white towel and finished getting ready for bed. Though it was barely after eight o’clock when her head hit the pillow, Sydney fell asleep almost immediately; the bath was perfect preparation for a long awaited uninterrupted night of slumber.
