(Today’s writing prompt from Storyaday.org is to tell a story with the climax at the beginning and the explanation afterward. This is my shot at it.)

She was halfway up the stairs when she heard the first noises. They were familiar but so very out of place that she couldn’t quite place them. It was when David made that low moan that she put it all together.

There had been flowers on the table when she had come home earlier. She didn’t know much about flowers, aside from the fact that she liked them, so she couldn’t say what the blooms were just that they made her think of happy little faces. She smiled back at them as they sat on the table, and she dropped her briefcase and purse next to the dining room wall.

In the kitchen, she poured herself a glass of water and checked on the spaghetti sauce in the crockpot. She loved when she could get everything set up in advance so her evening would unfold easily. The days she rushed home from work without any idea of what to have for supper, those evenings left her feeling frazzled and unsettled, and she swore they made her next morning at work harder.

The sauce was bubbling away and it was a while before she had to put the noodles on. She decided to take a bath and relax before David got home, she always felt a bit strange relaxing in the tub with her new husband in the house. It seemed like she should be spending time with him instead. She assumed it would change over time, that she would not be as torn about wanting to do her own thing and wanting to be with him. For right now, though, she wanted both equally and it could be very hard to decide. Sinking into the tub before he got home would solve that quandary and they could have a fun evening together, maybe they could watch a movie if she could stay awake long enough.

She walked back downstairs and turned off the spaghetti sauce. In the living room, she picked up their wedding album, and a package of matches and headed out to the firepit in the backyard.