Romance in marriage often looks a little different than it does on TV, even for country stars like Carrie Underwood. For her, it’s not so much a bed full of rose petals or candle-lit dinners ... it’s unloading the dishwasher.

“I’m the kind of person that’s like, ‘Aw, you changed the light bulb in the bathroom. Thank you.’ Or ‘You took the trash out. Aw.’ ‘Oh, my gosh, you emptied the dishwasher, yay! I don’t have to do it now.’” she explains in an American Idol-dedicated issue of People. “I like that stuff. Everyday stuff."

Small gestures mean husband Mike Fisher is thinking about what they would mean to her, she says. After all, life as a superstar singer-songwriter, mom to a toddler and a committed wife does not allow for much leisure time.

“Somebody’s thinking, ‘I’m going to do this’ … gives me free time,” Underwood adds.

Fisher and Underwood have been married since 2010 and had their first child, Isaiah, in 2015. She’s talked about their relationship in the past and often posts photos of herself with her husband, once noting that the couple who “slays together, stays together.” She has also said her most recent No. 1 single, “Heartbeat,” reflects her approach toward their romance.

“I’m the kind of person, I just want to be alone with him, and be one on one,” Underwood says.

The superstar is on her sold-out Storyteller Tour with Easton Corbin and the Swon Brothers through the end of May. With the recent chart-topping of “Heartbeat,” she earned her 23rd career No. 1 and her 13th as a songwriter. She performed the song alongside Sam Hunt at the Grammy Awards this year as part of a medley with him, a fitting pairing considering he sang background vocals on the original recording of the tune.

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