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“Hey!” Audrey says brightly. “Welcome home. I’ve been waiting for you.” Her hair’s tied up from her face. She’s leaning over the stove, an apron tied to her waist. There’s something boiling in front of her and she’s holding a wooden spoon in her hand.
“You have?” Percy asks, sliding his bag off his shoulder and hanging it neatly on the rack by the door. He winces as he does so; his shoulder has been hurting more than usual lately.
“Yep. Did you pick up the cabbage?”
His wife looks him up and down, and her smiles dims a little. Percy’s empty handed except for the coffee cup. “Is that Tilly’s?”
“Uh, yeah.” He says, feeling irrationally guilty for some reason. “I had, uh, you know the punch cards. Get a coffee, get a punch and when it’s full you a free coffee?”
“Punches.” She says, her smile dimming even more. She sets the wooden spoon down on the counter. “And how many coffees do you think you need to drink to get that free one?”
“I-, I don’t-,”
“What are you trying to tell me, Percy? Just spit it out.”
“I don’t know.” He finishes. It’s better to just admit he’s wrong then carry on like this. He sets the coffee cup down and unclasps his bag, pulling out the savoy cabbage he had picked up earlier.
“I got you the cabbage just like you asked. For the garbure.”
She eyes it like someone would wampus shit.
“Well, thank you for the cabbage,” she says tightly. “I just don’t know why you’re acting like I’ve never done anything for you before. You picked up the cabbage, sure but how often do you go out to Tilly’s and get coffee for yourself? How much are those specialty coffees? Five pounds a drink?”
Percy blinks, a bit bewildered. “That’s not what-, I just stopped for coffee after getting the cabbage for supper.”
She sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose. “Surely, Percy you’re not that thick, are you?”
Percy’s stomach churns and he feels suddenly very itchy.
“I’m not sure what you mean. What did I do wrong?”
Audrey leans over the stove and turns the burner off. She picks up the wooden spoon again and gives the soup in the pot a stir.
“It’s fine. Can you hand me the cabbage?”
Percy hesitates for a moment. There’s something clearly bothering her, and it’s bothering him. But she very clearly doesn’t want to talk about it.
“Percy!” she exclaims, raising her voice a bit. Percy flinches in surprise and wordlessly hands Audrey the cabbage. She inspects it carefully and pulls off some wilted leaves and hands it back to Percy.
“Can you wash this?”
“Sure.” Percy says. He takes it to the sink and carefully spreads the leaves before rinsing them off well. Audrey fetches a cutting board and knife and accepts the now clean cabbage. She turns her attention to cutting it into small, manageable pieces.
He’s not sure where they stand, now. She’s acting like nothing had just happened. So, he busies himself with getting the girls up from their afternoon nap and getting them ready for supper.
When they’re all at the table, eating, (or in Audrey’s case, eating. In Percy’s case picking, and in the twin’s case getting more of their meal on the floor then eating), Percy keep looking up at his wife from under his eyelashes. Was she still upset?
She catches him looking at her and gives him a mild smile.
“What?” she asks.
“Nothing.” He says quickly and goes back to his food. “It’s just- are you still upset about the coffee?”
She blinks at him curiously. “Hmm? Coffee?”
“From earlier, when I got the cabbage?”
She continues to glance, confused and curious at him. It’s obvious she has no idea what he’s talking about. Had he just imagined the whole thing?
“I-,” he starts, wondering how on earth he’s supposed to bring up an argument that she doesn’t even seem to recall having, and decides against it.
“Nothing. Nevermind. How was work?”