Coffee Vol. 2

It was eight o’clock at night. Gregg, his wife Patricia, and their little girl Samantha were all eating dinner at the dining room table. While Gregg was enjoying his dinner with his wife and daughter, he was telling them how terrible he still felt over spilling coffee on a man earlier in the day.

“I felt so bad after running into that man and spilling coffee all over his beautiful suit,” Gregg told his wife while shaking his head and laughing a little. It was embarrassing, but a little funny that Gregg couldn’t stop beating himself up over spilling coffee on a person. It was an accident that most normal people could move on from. Gregg couldn’t move on from the accident because he injured a woman’s baby years ago and wanted to forget about it. Gregg’s wife didn’t know this.

“You have got to stop talking about this. It was an accident. You spilled coffee on somebody this morning. It’s not like you killed them!” Gregg’s wife Patricia spoke to her husband while laughing and wondering why her husband couldn’t let go of a minor situation.

What Patricia didn’t understand was that her husband had a secret that would haunt him every day. And with Gregg spilling coffee on a person, it reminded him even more of a terrible accident he committed at his old workplace. It was an accident that caused Gregg to lose a managerial job he had seven years ago.

“I know it might seem like I’m obsessing about this, but when I spilled coffee on that man, it brought back some bad memories,” Gregg told Patricia while leaning forward and using his napkin to wipe away some spaghetti sauce that his little girl had around her mouth. Gregg wanted to tell Patricia his secret, but he didn’t know if he wanted to tell her what happened in front of their daughter.

“Spilling coffee on that man brought back some bad memories? What bad memories?” Patricia asked, gazing at her husband.

“I’ll tell you later. I don’t want to tell you in front of Samantha,” Gregg told his wife while standing up from the dining room table. He reached over to pick up Samantha when the little girl stretched her arms out toward her daddy. Gregg kissed his daughter on her lips and he laughed when the child put her pint-sized fingers through his red beard.

“Dinner was splendid. You can cook pasta better than anyone,” Patricia told her husband while following close behind him toward the kitchen. Patricia loved her husband’s cooking, which was part of the reason why she married him.

“I’m so glad you enjoyed it. I learned to cook pasta with Parmesan chicken from my dad.” Gregg giggled while still holding his daughter in one arm and placing his dirty plate in the dishwasher. “Who’s ready for bed?” Gregg whispered to his daughter while rubbing his nose against the five-year-old’s face and causing her to laugh. Gregg loved making his daughter laugh.

“Are you reading me another bedtime story?” Samantha asked her father with her little fingers still playing with his beard.

“You want Daddy to read you another bedtime story?” Gregg asked while making a funny voice that would make him sound like Yoda from Star Wars, causing his daughter to giggle every single time he would do it.

“Yeah, I want you to read me another bedtime story,” Samantha told her dad through her giggling. The little girl smacked her tiny hands together in excitement after her dad told her he would read her favorite bedtime story.

“I’ll read your favorite story to you, but I want you to go upstairs and brush your teeth first,” Gregg told his little girl before sitting her down on her feet and watching as the child took out running toward her mom to kiss her goodnight.

“Goodnight, Sugar Pie!” Patricia laughed as she kneeled to embrace Samantha, who was moving her little bare feet toward her mom at a rapid speed. Patricia buried her lips into Samantha’s dark, curly sunset red hair while looking up at Gregg, who was enjoying the affectionate moment.

“Make sure you brush your teeth well, Princess! I’ll be up there in a minute to tuck you in!” Gregg told his little girl, who was moving so fast that her body was nothing but a blur going up the stairs.

“You didn’t tell her about tomorrow, did you?” Gregg asked Patricia after making sure that their daughter was out of hearing range.

“No, she doesn’t know we’re taking her to Wonder-World tomorrow. You think I’d ruin the surprise?” Patricia fussed at her husband a little after giggling. She couldn’t believe Gregg would even ask her if she had spoiled the surprise for their daughter.

“I’m sorry, Sweetheart. I didn’t mean to ask you that because I know you’re good at keeping secrets.” Gregg apologized to Patricia, and he could see that his question of if she told their daughter about the surprise offended his wife a little. “Don’t be mad at me. I already feel guilty for what happened earlier today,” Gregg whispered to Patricia before giving his wife a quick kiss on her full lips.

Patricia and Gregg gazed at each other for a moment while having bedroom thoughts about each other. The couple stood in the kitchen with their hands on each other’s hips. While looking into each other’s eyes, it fascinated them how happy they were together after being married for six years. Gregg and Patricia found it funny that their marriage lasted longer than their past relationships.

The couple believed the reason they were together was that they grew tired of having failed past relationships with their same-sex partners. The funny part was that Patricia experimented with lesbianism before she met Gregg. Gregg used to be gay, and he dated men because he grew tired of women, until he found Patricia. What turned Gregg on when he saw Patricia was that Patricia acted masculine, and Gregg liked beautiful women who were tomboyish. Patricia found Gregg attractive because of his sensitivity and his androgynous good looks.

“I want to know about those painful memories you were telling me about at the dinner table,” Patricia said to her husband, breaking the romantic silence between them. She wanted to find out why her husband spilling coffee on someone at a convenience store made him feel so guilty.

Gregg had to tell Patricia what happened to him since their daughter was upstairs. It was painful for Gregg to even think about it. Now it would be even more painful for him to talk about.

“Okay, so you already know I held a manager’s job at White Castle before we met, right?” Gregg watched as Patricia nodded her head.

“Yeah, you told me.” Patricia acknowledged her husband’s question while folding her slender, muscular arms.

“Well, one morning, a customer walked in to get her order and she left her hot coffee behind on the counter. The employee who took the customer’s order was distracted at the register. I was walking through and I saw the woman leave her coffee. So I grabbed the coffee and I ran after her. I ran around the counter, and a lady stepped in front of me with her baby stroller. I ran into the stroller and spilled hot coffee all over her little daughter.” Gregg hesitated for a minute, reliving the painful experience. The experience would sometimes feel like it happened yesterday for Gregg. He didn’t want to finish what he was telling his wife, but he had to. “I spilled hot coffee on that woman’s baby.” Gregg’s voice quivered as he continued to tell his wife what happened. “She was a cute little girl. She looked like she was eight months old. I almost died that day. And the baby’s mother wanted to kill me. She looked like she wanted to strangle me with my necktie. I thought she was going to bring charges against me. I lost my manager position that day.” Gregg took a deep breath while looking down at the kitchen floor and putting his hands on his hips.

Patricia didn’t know what to say after her husband spoke of his painful experience. The woman stared at her husband with sympathy, and she tried not to picture a toddler getting burnt by a hot cup of coffee.

“Oh, my god... Why didn’t you tell me this?” Patricia said, resting her hand on the side of Gregg’s face.

“I wanted to forget about it. That’s why I never told you,” Gregg replied while taking hold of his wife’s hand. “I injured that lady’s daughter because I wasn’t watching where the f#ck I was going. I guess when I spilled coffee on that man this morning, it brought back my past. That lady sued my ass for injuring her baby. So not only did I lose my job, but I had to pay for her daughter’s medical expenses.” Gregg didn’t want to tell his wife about what happened to him. But it seemed like after he told his wife, a weight lifted off his shoulders.

“So that’s why you couldn’t stop talking about spilling coffee on that man,” Patricia said while caressing her husband’s arm. Patricia always wondered why she would look into Gregg’s eyes and would sometimes see hidden guilt. “You know you have to move on from this. You need to forgive yourself because you didn’t mean to injure that woman’s baby. It was an accident,” Patricia told Gregg, hoping that her comforting words would help her husband, but she knew it would take Gregg some time to get over injuring a baby since Gregg loved children.

Gregg loved it when Patricia would comfort him. It aroused him just to hear his wife telling him to forgive himself. Gregg knew he had to let go of his guilt. He realized that telling his wife what happened to him was the best thing he ever did. While standing right there in the kitchen, Gregg wanted to make love to his wife instead of stacking dirty dishes in the dishwasher. He placed his hand on his wife’s hips and was about to lean in for a kiss, but he halted when he heard a delightful little cooing voice behind him. Samantha giggled after telling her dad how she brushed her teeth and was ready for her bedtime story.

“You’re done brushing your teeth already, Princess? Did you do a good job?” Gregg went over to his daughter, who was standing right outside the kitchen. Samantha adorably stood outside the kitchen’s entrance wearing her sleeveless and pink My Little Pony pajama nightgown.

“I can’t wait to go to Wonder-World tomorrow!” Samantha blurted out after her father lifted her into his arms.

Patricia’s heart went to her throat when Gregg looked around at her, giving her a dirty stare. Patricia knew she was in trouble after lying to Gregg and telling him she hadn’t told their daughter about the surprise trip to the amusement park.

“Who told you we were going to Wonder-World tomorrow?” Gregg asked his daughter, watching as the little girl pointed at her mother.

Patricia gave Gregg a guilty smile, like a child caught with her hand in a cookie jar. The only thing that saved Patricia from getting a rebuking stare from her husband was the ringing sound of the doorbell. Patricia kissed her husband and her daughter before easing her way toward the front door.

While walking toward the front door, Patricia looked over her shoulder at Gregg and she whispered out the words... “I’m sorry, honey, for lying to you.” She knew she wasn’t in trouble after watching Gregg blow her a kiss. When Patricia made it up to the front door, she opened it expecting to see their next-door neighbor, Mr. Wilson. Mr. Wilson was a sweet middle-aged widower who would knock on their door a lot at night, asking if he could borrow something.

When Patricia opened the front door, expecting to see her neighbor, a brown box sitting on the doorstep, greeted her. The brown package was about the size of a bowling ball, and Patricia assumed it was a UPS package.

“Who is that?” Gregg stood near the stairway, still holding Samantha in his arms. He tried to see who was standing at their front door from a distance.

“Nobody’s here, but someone left a package,” Patricia answered her husband while bending down to pick up the box.

“Someone delivered a package? That’s strange, I don’t remember ordering any...” Before Gregg could finish his sentence, a thunderous ground-shaking blast sent him and his little girl flying back toward his kitchen.