You and I

bésame mucho

Frida took a cloth and opened the oven door, the turkey was ready. She turned off the stove and looked at the clock, it was 4 minutes to 5 in the afternoon, although it had already gotten dark. It was December 13, 1984, she was waiting for Benny to get home from work, he usually did by 5:00 p.m. Their lives changed quite a lot after ABBA decided to split up as a group in 1982, exactly two years ago, a decision they made after a terrible marital crisis that almost cost their marriage, they were about to divorce.

Dwelling on her thoughts and trying to get the turkey out of the oven, she didn't notice that she grabbed the pan with an unprotected finger and burned herself; she jumped from the impact and cursed, "damn!" She exclaimed as she felt her finger relax and then the sting came.

Frida took a deep breath and put her finger in her mouth trying to relieve the desperate feeling of burning herself, she went to the refrigerator, took an ice cube, a kitchen towel and covered the cube, then fixed it on her finger, it didn't help much but at least it helped ease the pain. "Focus Frida," she whispered to herself and went back to what she was doing.

She took two plates and brought them to the table, which was already set. She brought potatoes, lingonberry jam and a bottle of white wine that she bought the day before and wanted to try. "I'm home," she heard her husband say from the other end.

"I'm in the kitchen," she responded, removing the ice cube that was still on her finger.

Benny walked in and went to her immediately, holding her waist from behind and planting a kiss on her cheek. "How are you?"

"Fine..." she replied affectionately rubbing his hand that was still on her waist. "Dinner is ready, go wash your hands," she ordered.

Benny nodded and moved away from her a little, to do as she asked. Frida watched him walk away from her and smiled, she was lucky that he still came home every day to be and have dinner with her. The days were varied, they usually ate dinner at home, yes... she enjoyed cooking, doing things for both of them, but once in a while during the week, one, two or three days, depending, they went to restaurants for dinner or to friends' houses, but what they enjoyed most was being alone and having conversations with each other.

•••

Five minutes later, Frida was already sitting at the table waiting for her husband to return, she looked at the finger, a blister had already formed on it so quickly and it still hurt. "Smells delicious," Benny said walking over to the table and sitting next to her, this time placing a kiss on her lips so as not to lose the habit.

"Could you cut the turkey for me?" She asked and showed her finger. "I burned myself taking it out  and I already have a blister," she explained.

Benny frowned and took her hand in his, "ouch. What did you use for it?"

"Nothing yet, just ice to soothe the burning," she replied.

"Hmmm..." he thought. "I'll go find the ointment to put on you and then I'll cut the turkey."

"It's not necessary, cut up the turkey so we can have dinner now, later I put the ointment on it, I can seriously take the pain," she suggested.

"Sure?" He insisted.

"Sure," she nodded, then Benny placed a kiss on her finger again.

Benny began to cut the turkey, Frida took advantage and opened the white wine serving in the two glasses, then sat down again and they both began to eat. "How was work?" She asked interested.

"It was good, you should see how much we've already made Chess in concert a success across Europe, we want to get the musical as ready as possible for an early premiere," he smiled very excited.