Mack worked a variety of jobs for a couple of months until the mayor came up with a position for him—primarily handling interpersonal conflicts and tricky social situations that have always come up fairly regularlyin a town this size. The mayor himself is a good leader and strategic thinker, but he has only limited patience for managing people’s feelings, and Mack is better at that than anyone else. So the mayor gave him a job, and a few months ago when elections came up, he nominated Mack for the official position of deputy mayor.
He was voted in almost unanimously.
He’s been doing great with his new responsibilities, able to keep helping the larger community without always being put in dangerous situations or physical conflict.
When he finally releases me from the hug, he takes my face in both his big hands and kisses me softly. “Let’s go to bed, wife.”
I can’t help but laugh. “Okay, husband. Let’s go to bed. But it was a good day, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah. It was a good day.” He keeps his hand on my back as we walk toward our bedroom.
In our bedroom, we go through our normal nightly preparations. I climb under the covers first and wait for Mack, who’s gone to check that the windows and doors are all locked and barred. When he returns, his face softens as he gazes at me in bed waiting for him.
“What’s that expression for?” I ask him.
He gives a little shrug. “Sometimes life can still be really good.” He walks over to the bed completely naked.
Before he gets under the covers beside me, he leans over to turn the switch on the nightstand lantern until the light goes out.
