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counter. Perfect. The one and only night I happen to be in the house alone and there’s no electricity.
    As I walked across the kitchen towards the living room, I thought I heard a sound in the hall. I froze. I listened again. Was someone in my house? Panicked, I snatched a dirty knife from the counter and held on to the handle with both hands. I stood glued to the floor, the thumping of my heart hindering my ability to hear anything else. I was terrified, but told myself not to succumb to the fear. If someone meant to do me harm, I would be ready this time. My trepidation quickly turned to anger and my legs began to move as if of their own volition. I started down the hall armed with a weapon that probably couldn’t cut through a bowl of Jell-o.
    “Who’s there?” I called out, sweat beginning to trickle down my back. Noticing, as I peered into my bedroom, a flicker of light illuminating a person’s shadow, my fingers tightened around the knife handle. The shadow moved and I lunged into the bedroom, stumbling over something on the floor and landed hard on my knee right next to my bed. The knife slipped out of my hands and clattered across the hardwood floor. As I scrambled to my feet, I heard a familiar voice.
    “Sarah! What in the world are you doing?” It was Daniel, standing at the end of the bed holding a candle. Looking around the bedroom, I saw four or five lighted candles and heard soft music playing in the background.
    Daniel walked over and draped his arms around me. “Scared you, didn’t I?” he said, pulling me close. I felt my body slump against his as tears of relief ran down my face.
    “Guess my emotions are rubbed raw,” I said, smiling up at him. His wavy brown hair was wet and his skin smelled of soap.
    “Poor sweetheart,” he chuckled, obviously amused by the situation. If I hadn’t felt so relieved, I would have slapped him. But then his mood changed. He became quite serious as he looked down at me, an odd glimmer in his eye.
    “Since we have no electricity, why don’t we use this romantic candlelight to our advantage?” he suggested, removing my jacket.
    “Thought you were sick.”
    “Oh, that,” he said, scratching his chin. “That was just me being a big baby.” He bent down and kissed me on the lips.
    “Where’s Brian?” I asked.
    “I told him he could drive my car over to Nick’s,” he said, the warm candlelight playing over his face.
    “I see. I suppose you think you’re going to get lucky tonight,” I teased.
    “Luck has nothing to do with it,” he said as he unbuttoned my blouse. Then he picked me up, deposited me gently on the bed, and kissed me again, slow and soft, the way he used to when we first met. “Can you forgive me for being such a selfish prick?” he implored, holding my face in his hands and starting to kiss my neck.
    “Well, I can see you’re trying very hard to make it up to me.”
    I closed my eyes and willed myself to feel something. Anything. Unfortunately, my heart just wasn’t in it. And why not? Maybe it was the fact that I had just been through a traumatic ordeal. Or maybe it was merely the absence of passion between us that had existed for so long.
    But wanting to avoid a quarrel, I let him undress me anyway. I was simply too tired to say no.

Monday, November 8
     
    I stood in the shower for a long time, letting the hot water wash over me. Life was peculiar. Daniel’s tenderness the night before had astonished me. It was as if he finally got it. All I ever needed from him was a little attention. But now that he seemed ready to give it, I wasn’t so sure I wanted it. Was my heart already resigned? Realizing that marital problems weren’t resolved overnight, I decided to put concerns about it out of my head for the time being. It was apparent that neither one of us was going anywhere anytime soon, and there were other issues to contend with. Knowing I had to pull myself together and get back to work was a relief of sorts. I needed the