The familiar door beeps brought her attention away from her graphic design project for a mere moment. A client called earlier in the day asking for the design to be finished earlier than expected, so she was working late into the night to meet this new deadline.

“Hey, I’m in the living room,” she said.

With all focus turning back to her bright screen, she barely heard the shower turn on. Only thirty minutes later was she pulled out of her trance when she realized the shower was still running. It was strange that he was still in the shower. He usually was in and out in a moment. Wondering if he was so tired that he fell asleep in there, she walked to the bathroom and opened the door.

Inside of the shower he was sitting with his back towards the falling water, facing a wall.

“Hey, Jackson, are you awake?” she asked tentatively. There was no answer, but she saw him readjust his grip. His legs were tucked into him and his arms wrapped around them.

“Babe, is something wrong?” she said taking a few steps towards the shower. He turned his face away from her. She thought she could hear a sniffle mixed with the sound of the running water. “Are you going to answer me?” she asked, but again no answer.

She was not going to let him sit there like that. Her clothes dropped to the floor. Opening the shower door made his head turn. The warm water hit her as she stepped in and sat behind him. His neck craned to watch her in surprise.

“What are you doing?” he asked. She could see his eyes were slightly puffy.

“Well I couldn’t just watch you being miserable from the outside,” she replied. “Turn around to face me,” was her next request. He turned his body and rewrapped his arms around his bent legs.

“What’s wrong?” she ventured again. This time there was an answer.

“You know our contracts need to be renewed soon and I told you I’m thinking over the idea of leaving the company,” he paused, “Well, one of the members told me he’d never speak to me again if I left. That the group would be ruined if anyone left.”

“Oh, that’s hard to hear,” she said.

“I just feel like I can maybe expand on my own things if I leave the company, but I don’t want to ruin anything for the group. I love those guys, you know?” His voice was starting to crack.

“It’s a big decision to make. You’re not even sure on your final decision. Plus you haven’t heard anything from the company about the new contracts. How about tomorrow you go back to work and talk to all the members and get their opinions, too?”

He nodded and stared at the water falling between them. She noticed that his fingers were wrinkled from being in the shower for so long.

“Come on, let’s get you out of the shower. You look like a prune,” she said, taking one of his hands and pulling him up with herself.

She turned off the shower and stepped out. Handing him a towel, she dried herself off and then helped him dry his hair. Making him sit down, she grabbed a hair drier and slowly waved it on his hair. He closed his eyes and his body relaxed. Taking both his hands she walked with him to the bedroom and they both put on comfortable clothes.

“Now that you’re taken care of, I need to go back to work,” she said to him in the dark room.

“Work? You’ve been working up until now?”

“Unfortunately. A client called and changed the deadline. I think if I work on it for another hour, I can finish the rest tomorrow,” she said while moving around him and walking into the living room.

“Will I bother you if I sit with you?” he asked following her.

She smiled at his puppy-like actions. “Not at all; I’d love the company.”

She sat on the couch and put her tablet onto her lap. In the space between her and the couch, he sat so that she was sitting in front of him. He wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder to watch her work. He watched her hands move to make thick lines and change the colors nearly 100 times. His eye periodically on the clock, he stopped her exactly an hour after she started. With a whine she acceded to putting away the tablet and heading to bed. Once she was in, he turned off the lights and joined her, wrapped his arms, and squeezed her tightly to his chest. She squeaked for a moment but was left in giggles.

“Thank you,” he whispered into her ear. Her reply was a little kiss before she buried her face in his chest again and quickly fell asleep.