“Good night,” Kyle responded in a voice that sounded mostly confident but still hinted of hidden concern. On the way to the bed he stopped by the adjoining bathroom and turned the light on. Casually he took a look around inside before closing the door. A small amount of light could be seen around the edges of the closed bathroom door, giving the bedroom a touch more illumination than it had before. If Angie wasn’t there, Kyle suspected he might even have slept with the room lights on. It was that kind of a night!<br/><br/>Kyle laid down and curled himself around her so that he knew she was close and OK. He lay there spooned up behind her as long as she would let him as he drifted off to sleep. As he faded he couldn’t help but notice how profoundly satisfied he felt to have her so close – even in the middle of such a terrible night. Just before falling asleep his mind came to the conclusion that he would much rather face life’s challenges – real or imaginary – with her; assuming of course she would let him.<br/><br/>Morning came after a mercifully dreamless sleep for Kyle. Although it was Saturday and he didn’t need to get up early – getting up early was just what he did as a builder. In any case he lay there next to her as still as could be until she stirred.<br/><br/>“Good morning,” he said to her eventually after a yawn. “So, did all that really happen last night? Or did I just have a two-hour-long nightmare?”<br/><br/>As Angie responded Kyle thought about their day. After he had made her breakfast he was going to suggest they go into town – either the local village or even New Orleans if she felt like it, so she could start to reacquaint herself with the local sights. At some point, he figured, they would need to do some food shopping to get stuff she wanted to have in the kitchen. That could be part of a return trip, though, he figured.<br/><br/>“So how do you like your eggs?” he eventually asked, changing the subject. “Unfertilized?” he asked with a broad smile as he cracked an off-color joke.<br/><br/>Downstairs the kitchen looked the same as it had the day before, other than some muddy footprints from the dog’s trip outside. After cleaning them up Kyle fired up the gas range and started warming up a frying pan. After that he began cutting up items for an omelet for himself – and whatever Angie would like of course.<br/><br/>“My cooking is a lot better than it used to be,” he explained again. He had mentioned before that cooking was a hobby he used to take his mind of the otherwise endless construction work all around him. “I don’t think I cooked at all when you knew me in school. Back then – when I played ball – I could really do some damage in the dining hall. I’ve backed off a bit now that I manage construction more than swing hammers.”<br/><br/>He smiled at her as talked, trying to help her relax after the long night. That was, after all, the whole point of her coming down here, he thought to himself.