When Martha Jensen walked into Dr. Collins’ office in Billings, Montana, she looked completely defeated.<\/p>\n
The doctor had known Martha and her husband, Frank, for years.<\/p>\n
“So,” Dr. Collins said gently, “what brings you in today?”<\/p>\n
Martha let out a long sigh.<\/p>\n
“It’s Frank.”<\/p>\n
“What about him?”<\/p>\n
“He hasn’t shown the slightest interest in romance for almost two years.”<\/p>\n
Dr. Collins leaned back in his chair.<\/p>\n
“Has anything changed? Health problems? Stress?”<\/p>\n
“Retirement,” Martha replied. “Ever since he retired, all he does is drink coffee, watch old westerns, and complain about the weather.”<\/p>\n
The doctor smiled.<\/p>\n
“Have you talked to him about it?”<\/p>\n
“Oh, dozens of times.”<\/p>\n
“And?”<\/p>\n
“He says he’s just tired.”<\/p>\n
After asking a few more questions, Dr. Collins explained that many things could affect intimacy and that Frank should schedule his own appointment for a proper evaluation.<\/p>\n
Martha laughed.<\/p>\n
“Doctor, that man won’t even come in for a cold.”<\/p>\n
Dr. Collins chuckled.<\/p>\n
“I’ve got patients like that.”<\/p>\n
She leaned closer.<\/p>\n
“He won’t even take an aspirin.”<\/p>\n
The doctor smiled mischievously.<\/p>\n
“Well… I can’t officially recommend giving someone medication without their knowledge.”<\/p>\n
Martha laughed.<\/p>\n
“I figured.”<\/p>\n
“But if he ever decides to see me, we’ll figure out what’s really going on.”<\/p>\n
They both laughed, and Martha left.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately…<\/p>\n
Patience had never been Martha’s strongest quality.<\/p>\n
A few days later, while organizing the medicine cabinet, she found an old sample tablet Dr. Collins had once given Frank after a routine checkup years earlier\u2014one Frank had never taken.<\/p>\n
She stared at it.<\/p>\n
Then at Frank’s favorite coffee mug.<\/p>\n
“This is probably a terrible idea.”<\/p>\n
Five minutes later…<\/p>\n
She did it anyway.<\/p>\n
The next morning they stopped at their favorite Starbucks before running errands.<\/p>\n
Frank took one sip of his coffee.<\/p>\n
His eyebrows shot up.<\/p>\n
He looked at Martha as though he’d just remembered why he’d fallen in love with her forty years earlier.<\/p>\n
“Martha…”<\/p>\n
“Yes?”<\/p>\n
“You look…”<\/p>\n
He couldn’t finish the sentence.<\/p>\n
He suddenly swept the napkins, sugar packets, and coffee sleeves off the table.<\/p>\n
Patrons turned to stare.<\/p>\n
Before Martha could react, Frank pulled her into a dramatic embrace.<\/p>\n
“I’ve missed you so much!”<\/p>\n
He kissed her passionately.<\/p>\n
Someone gasped.<\/p>\n
Someone else applauded.<\/p>\n
A barista dropped a tray.<\/p>\n
Frank wasn’t paying attention.<\/p>\n
Neither was Martha.<\/p>\n
For nearly a minute, they forgot they were standing in the middle of a busy coffee shop.<\/p>\n
The store manager rushed over.<\/p>\n
“Sir! Ma’am! This is completely inappropriate!”<\/p>\n
Only then did reality come crashing back.<\/p>\n
Martha’s face turned bright red.<\/p>\n
Frank looked around in horror.<\/p>\n
“Oh… my…”<\/p>\n
Without saying another word, he grabbed their cups and practically dragged Martha out the front door.<\/p>\n
They drove home in complete silence.<\/p>\n
Finally, Frank looked at her.<\/p>\n
“That was…”<\/p>\n
“…unexpected.”<\/p>\n
Martha burst into laughter.<\/p>\n
Within seconds, Frank was laughing too.<\/p>\n
“So…” he asked.<\/p>\n
“Anything you want to tell me?”<\/p>\n
She slowly confessed.<\/p>\n
“I may have… encouraged your morning coffee.”<\/p>\n
Frank stared at her.<\/p>\n
“You what?”<\/p>\n
She explained everything.<\/p>\n
He listened quietly.<\/p>\n
When she finished, he sighed.<\/p>\n
“Martha…”<\/p>\n
“You should never give someone medication without telling them.”<\/p>\n
“I know.”<\/p>\n
“I’m sorry.”<\/p>\n
“I was desperate.”<\/p>\n
He reached over and squeezed her hand.<\/p>\n
“I understand why you were frustrated.”<\/p>\n
He smiled.<\/p>\n
“But next time…”<\/p>\n
“…let’s just talk to the doctor together.”<\/p>\n
The following week they both visited Dr. Collins.<\/p>\n
After a proper medical evaluation, the doctor discovered Frank had an untreated health condition and was also taking another medication that could affect intimacy.<\/p>\n
Instead of guessing, they came up with a safe treatment plan together.<\/p>\n
Several months later, their relationship was happier than it had been in years.<\/p>\n
They laughed more.<\/p>\n
Talked more.<\/p>\n
Held hands again.<\/p>\n
One Saturday morning Martha suggested grabbing coffee.<\/p>\n
Frank grinned.<\/p>\n
“Anywhere but Starbucks.”<\/p>\n
She laughed.<\/p>\n
“Still embarrassed?”<\/p>\n
He nodded.<\/p>\n
“I’m fairly certain they have our picture in the employee break room.”<\/p>\n
As if on cue, they drove past the same Starbucks.<\/p>\n
The new manager happened to be outside.<\/p>\n
He recognized them instantly.<\/p>\n
Smiled.<\/p>\n
Then pointed to a small sign taped inside the window.<\/p>\n
Please keep public displays of affection… reasonable.<\/strong><\/p>\n Frank covered his face.<\/p>\n “Oh no.”<\/p>\n Martha laughed so hard she had tears in her eyes.<\/p>\n Years later, whenever friends asked how they managed to rekindle the romance after forty years of marriage, Frank would smile.<\/p>\n “We learned two important lessons.”<\/p>\n “First…”<\/p>\n “Always talk honestly with each other.”<\/p>\n “And second…”<\/p>\n He’d glance at Martha with a grin.<\/p>\n “…find a coffee shop where nobody knows your name.”<\/p>\n They never did go back to that Starbucks.<\/p>\n Not because they weren’t welcome.<\/p>\n But because every time they drove by, they couldn’t stop laughing at the memory of the morning they accidentally became the most unforgettable customers the caf\u00e9 had ever seen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When Martha Jensen walked into Dr. Collins’ office in Billings, Montana, she looked completely defeated. The doctor had known Martha and her husband, Frank, for years. “So,” Dr. Collins said … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":104101,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-honglay"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/honglay168.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/honglay168.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/honglay168.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/honglay168.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/honglay168.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=104100"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/honglay168.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104100\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":104130,"href":"https:\/\/honglay168.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104100\/revisions\/104130"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/honglay168.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/104101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/honglay168.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=104100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/honglay168.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=104100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/honglay168.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=104100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}