Chicago, Illinois, Present Day — There had once been a time when Kelly hated the smell of sweat, especially when it mixed with dirt and created a foul-smelling mud.
Back before they had married–before they had dated even–every time Connor came back to the station after having given chase to apprehend a suspect or two, he would inevitably smell like dried sweat and on occasion, dirt. It was worse during the summertime.
Whenever that happened, she’d wrinkle her nose and wave her hand in front of her face because of the smell.
Then that event had happened. The one that had caused countless sleepless nights and tears. The one they never talked about.
After he had recovered, the first time he came back to the station after apprehending someone, she hadn’t wrinkled her nose at the smell. Instead, she had breathed it in.
When their oldest was born and she decided to be a stay-at-home mom, she developed the habit of staying up for her husband. Most of the time she would fall asleep waiting for him, and on some occasions, she would wake up while he carried her back to bed. And she would just breathe.
Because at the end of the day, it didn’t matter how good or bad he smelled. At the end of the day, all that mattered was that he had made it home, safe and sound.
© 2018 H.S. Kylian
(Critiques are welcome and appreciated!)
(This post was last updated February 15, 2020)
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I like this. I think it would make an even better lead-in if it started something like this: “Kelly loved the smell of sweat”………”she hadn’t always liked it”……..etc.
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