The Thermal Bath Weekend – Part 2: Night Bath

They went back at night.

The bathhouse glowed under floodlights, the yellow walls warm against the dark. Steam billowed from the pools in great luminous clouds. Snow fell thick and silent. The crowds had thinned to a few late bathers, who floated like ghosts in the mist, murmuring.

Anna and Tamas slid into the hot water. It closed round them like silk. They drifted to a corner of the pool, hidden behind a curtain of steam, where a stone ledge ran under the water. They sat on it, shoulder to shoulder, up to their chins.

"This is the best idea we've ever had," said Anna.

"We have had very few good ideas."

"We had the children."

"That was your idea."

"Ours."

The snow fell on their faces. His arm slid round her shoulders. The water lapped at their ears. Overhead, the sky was a vast dim orange, and the statues at the pool's edge wore little caps of white.

"Can I ask you something?" said Tamas.

"Yes."

"Do you think we've changed?"

"Of course. We're older."

"Do you like the people we've become?"

She turned to him, her wet hair in curls, her cheeks pink. "I love the people we've become," she said. "I loved the ones we were, but these are better."

His throat worked. "May I kiss my wife? In a hot bath in the snow?"

"Yes," said Anna. "And if I say stop, you must book the next one."

"I'd book the next fifty."

He kissed her, slow and warm, steam curling around them. She kissed him back with eighteen years of tenderness, her wet hands on his bearded cheeks. Snowflakes landed on her lashes and melted. The water cradled them, hot and bright. In the corner, an old man moved a chess piece, and sighed.

When they parted, both of them were smiling.

"Green?" he asked.

"Green," said Anna. "Very green."

They go back every February. The museum has never once been visited.

More married couple romance: The Cruise · Couples Retreat · The Second Honeymoon