Waiting in an Empty Hotel Room

Her plane is late, delayed in Akron
winter storms pushing back departures.
Our tryst is in Newark, just the two of us
pleasure delayed is not sweeter really
it’s more of a nuisance than frustration.

She enlivens the room on arrival, soon,
something to anticipate and hold onto
rubbing my feet together on the bed
as I read the paper and sip Jameson
from the bar downstairs- and wait.

Displaced home base for months
hardly home enough to do more
than recycle her laundry, clean
places I invariably missed somewhere
and head back out on stand-by.

Here we are alone, no kids, no pets,
no dusting or cloroxing or sanitizing;
just a hotel and a mall walking distance
where she can get an ice cream treat
even in snow at 26 degrees Fahrenheit.

Here we remember who we are
to each other and to ourselves
and she just called, she’s landed!