A Place To Stay

Second Winter Thanksgiving

As Claire carefully measured out ingredients, she chuckled to herself about how different this year was from the last Winter Thanksgiving. Cliff was just her farm hand, and she had given him a small piece of chocolate, while Ann, her rival for his affections, had brought a beautiful chocolate cake (which turned out to be horrible tasting, and Cliff threw it away.) This year, Cliff was her husband, and hopefully she would be the only one gifting him with chocolate this year, in the form of a triple layer dark chocolate cake with chocolate mousse inside. It was a very complicated recipe, but she was determined to pull it off. Cliff, sensing something good was up, graciously took over all the farm chores that day, steering clear of the house as much as he could.

It took almost three hours, but it was finally done! Claire inspected it critically. It was just a little lopsided, but she was sure that it tasted good (the exact opposite of how Ann’s cakes were: beautiful on the outside, frightening on the inside.) She nodded approvingly, and opened the front door, leaning out onto the porch. She peered out at the white landscape, looking for Cliff. She spotted him by the firewood pile, and waved to him to let him know he could come in. He grinned and hustled towards the house.

Claire greeted him with a small kiss, and backed into the house, blocking his view of the cake for now. “Okay, it’s not perfect, but I really, really tried, so I hope you like it.” She stepped to the side and let him see the cake.

He smiled happily at her. “It looks wonderful. Thank you, honey.” He gathered her up in his arms and kissed her sweetly.

Claire smiled up at him. “It has chocolate mousse inside…”

Cliff’s eyes flashed at the mention of his very favorite dessert. “Can we…eat some right now?” he asked eagerly.

“Sure,” Claire laughed and rummaged in the drawer for a cake knife. She emerged with one and cut him a large slice. He urged her to have some too, so she cut herself a smaller slice. They sat together and started to eat. Cliff moaned at the first bite, telling Claire that it was wonderful. He ended up cleaning his plate, and then having a second slice.

Claire bit her lip and looked at him. “Was it better than Ann’s cakes?”

Cliff laughed heartily. “You can’t even compare them! That was pure heaven. The last time I ate any of Ann’s cakes, which is fortunately so long ago that I’ve almost managed to forget the experience, I remember it was a sugary, gritty, slimy mess with the flavor of a moldy kitchen sponge, ” he shuddered a little at the memory. Claire giggled. Cliff looked at her, giving his signature pitiful look that managed to get him most anything he wanted from her. “You should make that more often…”

Claire shook her head. “It took three hours to make!” Cliff looked at her pitifully once more. Claire caved. “Okay, maybe I’ll make it again soon. I’ll definitely make it for your birthday, okay?”

Cliff groaned. “But that’s like half a year away!” Claire just laughed and shrugged.

That night, they decided to do something a little different. They bundled up and set out for the inn. When they walked in, Ann was leaning over a table that her boyfriend Harris sat at, drinking grape juice (he was on duty, after all.) She smiled at him lovingly, but turned to greet Cliff and Claire as they came in. Ann cleared off a small table for them, and took their drink orders. Cliff and Claire decided to have some wine. They didn’t usually drink, but they felt like having a little fun tonight.

They got their drinks, and looked around. Karen and Rick sat at the bar. Karen was already pretty drunk, gesturing wildly, her face red. Rick just laughed at her jokes, one hand behind his head. Duke sat on the other side of Karen, his cheery face showing that perhaps they had been having a drinking contest not long ago. Doug just watched them as he polished empty mugs.

Zack and Won walked in then. Their body language didn’t give away that they were a couple, calmly sitting down on opposite sides of a table, but Claire knew from her best friend Elli’s eyewitness account that the two were definitely together. They ordered two beers, and chatted happily.

Ann approached them with two plates, plunking them down under their noses. “W-what’s this?” Claire asked tremulously, looking down at the beautiful yet sinister looking slices of cake.

“It’s the Winter Thanksgiving cake I made for Harris. He’s so sweet, he told me I should share it with all the customers. Isn’t that selfless of him?” Claire and Cliff nodded, mute with fear. Ann turned around to serve more slices to other customers, and Claire caught Harris’s eye from across the room. She scowled and pointed down at the cake. Harris shrugged sheepishly and mouthed “Sorry.”

Claire just sniffed and turned back to Cliff. She lowered her voice. “What…what are we supposed to do with this?”

Cliff looked scared. “If we don’t eat it, she’ll get mad. But if we do, we might die.” He looked around. “I really wish the inn had a dog right now.”

“Cliff, no! That would be animal cruelty!” Claire laughed.

“Well, this is human cruelty,” he sulked, poking at the cake with his fork. “Okay, here goes…” he broke off a very tiny piece and brought it to his mouth. Claire watched, breathless. Cliff chewed it and swallowed with a queasy looking grimace. He took a long drink of his wine, coughing a little. “Uh… yeah, it’s even worse than expected. Don’t you dare eat yours.”

Claire made a face. “I wasn’t going to. Oh no…” she sighed, pondering what to do with the cake.

Karen abruptly stood up from the bar and weaved her way over to Cliff and Claire’s table. She pulled the chair out with a loud scrape, and plopped herself crookedly in the chair. “Well, lookee here! You guys came out of your love nest long enough to come by and have a drink. Thash so cute!” She grinned at them, a blonde highlighted lock of hair falling over one eye. She looked at their almost untouched desserts. “Oh my god, isn’t that cake so good? Ann already gave me a piece, and I just wolfed it down.”

Claire smiled broadly, pushing her plate towards Karen. “Would you like some more? We’re…we’re not hungry,” she explained, fibbing. Karen eagerly dove into the cake, and Cliff silently pushed his plate forward as well. Karen ate both slices hungrily, then washed it down with a long swig of beer. Cliff sighed in relief, and Claire just grinned, happy that the “problem” was taken care of.

Rick had been watching nervously, but got up the courage to come over and join them. He wasn’t as shameless as Karen, and he still felt very embarrassed about being seen naked by them during the summer. He smiled goofily, then stared down into his mug. Karen roared with laughter at his bashfulness. “Ish okay, Rick! They don’t care about that! Big deal! They’re married, it’s nothing Claire hadn’t seen before!” Cliff squeezed Claire’s hand under the table, the unspoken message being that Rick’s pale, ginger body was unlike anything either of them had ever seen or hoped to ever have to see again!

But, with some effort, the unfortunate scene at the pond was put aside. The four of them managed to lapse into easy conversation. Rick told funny stories about when they all were kids, and they all laughed and laughed. Before long, it was closing time. Cliff and Claire stood to go, both staggering a little in surprise at how tipsy they had become over the course of the night. They bundled up and stumbled out into the frozen night hand in hand, giggling as they made their way back home.

When they got in the front door, they began kissing, their hands working busily at each other’s winter wear, pulling it off and letting it fall where it may. They made their way to the bedroom, where they stumbled into bed together. They were already half-naked, and Cliff rolled towards Claire. “Mmmm, honey, touch it…” he sighed. She complied, working one hand over his hardness. “Ohhhh…” he moaned in pleasure. “Your hands are so soft.” They continued to fool around, and he brought his hand down the front of her panties, making her writhe against him. He snatched her panties off, and she clambered on top of him, facing him. “No, let’s try it the other way,” Cliff said.

Claire peered down at him in the darkness, confused. “What…other way…?” She started to get a little apprehensive until he whispered an explanation to her, and she happily climbed off and then climbed back on facing away from him. The different angle, the slight buzz they still had from the wine, and the thrill of trying something new, had them both gasping and giggling with excitement. “I see…why they call it…reverse cowgirl!” Claire shrieked happily as Cliff bucked her up and down with his hips. She leaned forward and grabbed onto his thighs so that she wouldn’t fall off. He grasped her waist from behind to steady her, and then pressed upwards into her with long, powerful thrusts. Claire moaned in pleasure, tightening her muscles and enjoying the unusual friction. Soon, she tensed her whole body and then released, trembling with ecstasy. The feeling of her shuddering on him pushed Cliff over the edge, making him grit his teeth and cry out her name, spilling inside of her.

They caught their breath, sighing happily, and Claire carefully climbed off of Cliff. They made a pitiful effort to redress themselves in the dark, then finally gave up, collapsing in satisfied sleep.

The next morning, Cliff rolled over in bed. He looked at his wife, who was sleeping face down, hair rumpled, wearing nothing but his boxers. He looked down at himself and saw that all he was wearing was a T-shirt, with nothing on bottom, and Claire’s panties were around his elbow. He laughed quietly as he pulled them off, and wrapped an arm around Claire, snuggling in close to her. She cracked her eyes open, squinting in the harsh morning light. She smiled at him, then stretched and rolled over. She squeaked when she looked down at herself. “Wow, we sure look like we had fun last night, huh?” Cliff just laughed and snuggled her a little closer.