Andy and I sat on the couch side by side, my arm around his shoulders, playing with the hair on the back of his neck. His head was on my chest, his left arm on my stomach. He idly made a circular movement with his hand, occasionally taking a few strands of hair between his thumb and forefinger, twizzling them there. I released a contented sigh. This caused Jake, the big yellow lab who was nestled in between my feet, to raise his head and thump his tail on the carpet. In response Annie, the shepherd, looked up from her nest behind Andy’s knees and surveyed the scene.
I looked around the room. The lights of the Christmas tree were emitting a gentle glow that illuminated the bay windows with their Christmas villages and snowscapes. Our second Christmas together was getting off to a good star
