The Shy Wife's Diary – Part 2: A New Page

The new habit started with a question each morning. Julien would ask it over breakfast, between the coffee and the bread: What do you want today? Camille would answer, sometimes with a word, sometimes with a paragraph. Then she would write the answer in the diary, on a new page, and leave it open on the table so he could read it at lunch.

The first week, she wrote a walk by the Rhône, with no phones. The second, to be kissed like I'm not going to break. The third, to tell you what I like in bed, out loud, without blushing. Maybe.

Julien read that one twice, and then came home early on Friday with a bottle of wine and a nervous smile.

"You wrote that," he said.

"I did," said Camille, from the sofa. Her cheeks were already pink. "I'm not sure I can say it."

"Then don't, yet. Show me."

She stood, and came over, and took the wine out of his hands, and set it on the table. Then she looked at him, straight in the eyes, the way she never did when she was shy.

"I like it when you take your time," she said. "I like it when you ask me first. I like it when you say my name like you're happy I'm here."

Julien's breath caught. "Camille."

"That's the first thing," she said. "There are more."

He smiled, slow and warm. "Tell me the second."

"Can you kiss me first?"

"Yes," he said, and stepped closer. "And you can tell me to stop."

"I won't," she whispered.

He kissed her, gently at first, one hand coming up to cradle her cheek. She kissed him back, a little uncertain, then more sure. The kitchen was warm and quiet, the bread cooling by the window, the city noise drifting up from the street.

When they parted, she was breathing a little faster, and laughing softly against his shoulder.

"Green?" he asked.

"Green," said Camille. "Julien, it's green. Very green."

"Good," he said, and kissed the top of her head. "Then let's go to bed, and you can tell me the rest there."

Later, in the soft lamplight of their bedroom, she read him the next page of the diary, out loud, without blushing, and he listened with his whole heart, and asked her, one by one, to tell him more.