I was thrilled when Sarah and I had our bid accepted on the house in the development. Yes, the house was in a development and we only had a couple of floor plans to choose from, but this was our first house.

We didn’t plan on staying in it forever, just until we’d each earned a promotion or two. Particularly for Sarah, who traveled so much for work, it would be a few years until she would be able to move into an office-based position and we could start a family.

I work from home as a coder. There was no reason for me to be in the office save for a couple of meetings every month. That is another reason this house is a great find, as it is a smart house and has networking facilities already built-in. Perfect for my work and for those days when Sarah is working from home for those international video calls.

The development also has a gym, a pool, and about everything you’d expect from a modern development. Our realtor also said there were several men who did similar work to mine already living here and she joked that I should start a support group.

As we moved in, our neighbor came out to say hi and give us a hand. He is in his late 50's, very handsome and rugged, with quite a gleam in his eye. Sarah and he seemed to hit it off well and he was generous with his time and effort. 

We collapsed into bed quite late that night. Sarah had one more day off, so we got started early and had the house looking pretty good by mid-day. Our doorbell rang and we noticed our neighbor on our steps with some muffins and coffee. He only stayed for a bit, asking me intelligent questions about my work -- I was impressed at his knowledge even if he was a little vague about what he did. After he left, we put on some gym clothes and went to try the gym.

It was surprisingly well-appointed for a development’s gym, my muscles ached just looking at the free weights but Sarah was enthusiastic about it. She even noted there were spin-type classes both here and online that we could participate in.

It was more of a sampling day rather than doing anything specific, but I had a pretty good idea of what the gym offered. When we got home I did some research on different programs I could design for myself while Sarah was showering. Or at least I was doing research when I heard Sarah call me from the bathroom inviting me into the shower with her….

She was off to work the next day and I got back to some work projects. I was testing and working with our UX team on a tricky piece we’d been working on for the last week. I kept noticing a buzzing that I couldn’t locate. It seemed to come and go, and when I couldn’t find anything specific, I attributed it to work being done outside.

As the work team seemed to be close to a breakthrough, we pushed on for a couple of additional hours. I didn’t even hear Sarah come in and she startled me when she walked into my office. She laughed at my jumpiness and how deeply I concentrate on my work.

She ordered some delivery and I signed off for the night. We’d have an early meeting tomorrow and my colleagues elsewhere would pick up where we left off tonite. After dinner and some reviewing of our days, we cuddled on the couch. I noticed Sarah was wearing some new shiny tights, which were different for her. I didn’t complain and spent the time she was talking about her day lightly stroking her thigh. I was disappointed for some reason when she took them off as we were getting into bed, but she made sure my disappointment was short-lived.