Jane hurled clothes from their closet onto the bed in sheer frustration and Fred wisely said nothing as he dodged the outfits hurtling toward him. He watched as random weekend wear piled on the bed, what was an unorganized random collection of clothes clearly had a purpose for Jane. He could hear her muttering under her breath but wisely decided to keep his mouth shut.
“Who does he think he is? I invite him over for advice and help and all that pompous windbag can tell me is that he will have to look into it!”
Fred grunted his agreement and smiled to himself as George scampered for cover under the bed. Jane paused and finally took a breath, turning around to glare at her husband.
“Are you grunting in agreement with me or with Gordie for taking the safe, academic road?” There was a hurt tone in Jane’s voice.
Fred stayed on the bed, comfortably leaning back into the excess of pillows and ignoring the bait tossed at him by Jane. He smiled quite contentedly, admiring how incredibly attractive his wife was when she was flustered and in a tiff about something. Her violet eyes lightening up, her black hair in wild disarray, and her chest heaving from exertion and frustration.
Jane glanced up and caught the admiring gaze of her husband and she burst out laughing. She flopped onto the bed next to Fred and snuggled into his chest. The familiar warmth and breathing of his comfortable presence enough to wipe out the frustration she had been so haphazardly venting mere moments before. “Oh I’ve created quite a mess haven’t I?” There was laughter in her voice.
“You seem to have tossed enough clothes on the bed for at least a week. Are you running away from home forever?” Fred was laughing as he spoke.
Jane’s reply was lost in his chest as she fell asleep where she lay. Fred let her sleep, unwilling to disturb her nap when he knew how little restful sleep she had gotten in the past couple of weeks. The responsibility of the journals and the creative drive was keeping her up at night. Usually, Jane would crawl into bed and fall sleep to an Old Time Radio program long before he was even thinking about heading to bed, but lately he would come to bed to find her wide awake staring at the ceiling. She would eventually drift off to sleep once he came to bed but she was always up before the sun each morning. He would often find her sitting amongst the journals lost in the lives of the people from long ago.
Eventually, Fred slipped from the bed without waking Jane. Softly closing the door behind him he went in search of the workmen. The office addition was taking longer than expected and Fred was determined that barring a major outbreak of rain the office would be finished within the coming week. The foreman stepped forward and before he could speak Fred held out his hand to stop him.
“I’ve had a conversation with your boss and before we have yet another discussion about impending delays due to this or that, let me be perfectly clear. The job will be completed and approved this week to my satisfaction or your company will be replaced and reported. Your boss is aware of this and before I hear one more conversation on why something cannot be completed.”
The foreman stopped in his tracks and stared for a moment before nodding his head and turning around. There was construction dust everywhere and tools scattered about like children’s toys. The office was about half done and looked like a complete mess. He shook his head and went to grab a beer.
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