The Move

“So tell me again why we’re here.” Veronica stared down the long gravel drive, then back towards the car. “I feel like we’re nowhere.”

Shane didn’t answer. Veronica was grumpy. Shane could see it on her face. She always looked grumpy, but even more so when she spoke. As far as Shane could figure, Veronica had been grumpy her entire life. She was grumpy on their wedding day. He figured she was grumpy inside her mother’s belly. He loved her anyway.  

All that grumpiness, in his opinion, surely came from her mother. Someone who preferred their language to land blue would probably be a little more descriptive in describing her grumpiness. Shane had thought those things about her mother, but never said it out loud. He certainly had thought it. A lot. 

“This place is horrid.” She sniffed the air as they walked into their new house. “What is that?” It wasn’t really their house. Shane’s company had rented it for the summer. Four months in all, actually.  

As far as he was concerned, it was a very nice house. It wasn’t too far from a tranquil lake. He could fish there, collect his thoughts, and be one with the world. Work was only thirty minutes away.  

The house had some solitude to it. This summer was supposed to change everything. It was supposed to be different. He thought some time apart from Veronica would...somehow help things.

Shane had an opportunity with his bosses to show them he could be a corporate trainer. When he found out they were opening a new factory in Illinois he jumped at the chance to go. He really didn’t think Veronica would come with him. He knew she’d hate the idea. Yet somehow, here she was sniffing the air which would have smelled like freedom to Shane, was it not for his wife’s sniffing nostrils and the grumpy face that was attached to it.

“It’s fresh air, V. It’s nice!” He looked around. “This place is fantastic!”

“I don’t know. Why’d you do this to me?” She was picking at paint on the wall in the hallway. Shane forced a smile. Even her hands were grumpy.  

“You didn’t have to come,” he said as he inspected the cupboards, “but I’m very happy you did.” He smiled at her, this time it wasn’t forced. He loved her.  

The guy in HR said the place would be furnished and he wasn’t wrong. He grabbed a plate down and showed it to Veronica, “Look, they have horses on them!”

“I’m not eating off somebody else’s plates.” She turned and walked out of the kitchen. Shane sighed and returned the plate to the cupboard. He could hear Veronica heading upstairs. He followed after her and found her in the hallway.

“There should be three rooms. One furnished and two empty. I can make one an office.” He opened a door. “This one. And I thought…” he went to another door and opened it, “maybe you can set this one up to paint in. You said you wanted to start painting again.” She disappeared into the third room as if she hadn’t heard him. It was completely dark. He could hear her sniffing the air.

“When did I ever say that?” She found a window and opened the blind.

“You just said it the other day.” The room lit up as he came into the room and looked around. This was the bedroom. He immediately threw himself on the bed and gave it a bounce test. “Hey, this is great!”  

She paid no attention and stared out the window. He stopped bouncing and pulled himself off the bed. He walked over to her and put his arms around her. “Seriously, an art room, V. You’d like that wouldn’t you.”

“I never said I wanted to start painting again.” She stared out the window as if nothing was there.

“That yard is fantastic,” he said as he held her tighter. “Remember, it was when we were eating at the O’Neils. You told Cheryl that you’d like to have a go at it again.”

“That was three years ago, Shane. I was drunk.” She shook him off and looked towards the bed. “I hate that comforter.”

Shane happened to like it, but he walked past her and pulled the comforter off the bed. “Oh, it’s wretched!” He balled it up and threw it to the floor. He looked at her with a smile. “Wanna take it out back and burn it?” He could see a slight twitch to her lips. This was her tell that he had made her laugh, but only on the inside.

“That would be ridiculous.” Her twitch didn’t go away. She didn’t smile often these days, but it was her smile that would kill him. She had a crooked smile. The left side of her lips would lift up and her eyebrow would go with it. He truly did love her.

“That may well be.” He went to the window and opened it up. The fresh air came in with a breeze and he let it flow over him, then retrieved the comforter and forced it out the window. He watched as the comforter plunged to the ground and yelled after it, “Good riddance and stay the fuck out!”  

Veronica laughed behind him, but he didn’t dare turn around. He wanted to bottle that laugh. The laugh that came less and less these days, but always made his heart smile when it poked its head out. He slowly turned around, afraid that a quick motion might scare it away.

When he finally looked at her, it was there. That crooked smile that killed him. “So what do you reckon? We just throw everything we don’t like out the windows.”

She approached him and rested her head on his shoulder. She kept her arms to her side. He gave her a hug. “That would be ridiculous, Shane.”

“Right now, I’m okay with ridiculous.” He held her tight and she kissed him on the cheek. She looked him in the eyes.

“I’m going to hate it here.” She put her head back on his shoulder.

“I know, but I’ll love it enough for the both of us.” He kissed her on the top of her head. Maybe this summer would change everything. Maybe it wouldn’t. But he knew he’d still love her.