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“So, what was all the yelling about?” Nick asks.
“Ben put the bowls too close together again.”
Nick laughs.
“It’s not funny. It upsets Tyler.”
“Kid’s too soft. He could use some toughening up.”
Dani decides not to argue. “I see you found your iPad.”
He nods.
“Where’d you find it?”
“Bathroom.”
“So, I was right.”
“I guess. Is that really so important to you?”
“I just don’t like bein’ accused….”
“Nobody accused you of anything. I just asked if you’d seen it.”
“No, you asked where Iputit. There’s a difference. And you shouldn’t be correctin’—correcting—my grammar in front of the kids.”
Nick shakes his head. “Look. I don’t have the time or the energy to argue with you right now. I have a full day ahead of me and I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night….”
“Why didn’t you sleep?”
Another shake of his head, causing several strands of the same golden-brown hair as Tyler’s to fall across his eyes. “I don’t know. Some stupid bird kept squawking. I was tempted to go outside and shoot the miserable thing. And…” He stops, pushing the hair back into place.
Don’t ask,she thinks. “And?” she asks anyway.
“Well, I hesitate to say anything, because you seem to be in a mood….”
“I’m not in a mood—”
“But you’ve got to do something about your snoring, babe,” he interrupts. “I know you don’t do it on purpose….”
Dani sighs. They’ve been through this before. There’s no point reminding him that he also snores, or that he could at leasttrythe earplugs she bought him the last time he complained about her snoring.
“Anyway,” he says, “let’s drop it. I have a tough enough day ahead of me.” A third shake of his head. “I have to tell a man his cancer has spread and we’ve run out of options.”
“I’m so sorry.” Dani feels immediately guilty for giving him such a hard time.At least your patients have the good grace to die,she thinks, feeling even guiltier. When did she become so insensitive to the suffering of others?What’s the matter with me?
“I’m sorry, too,” Nick says, surrounding her with his arms, drawing her into a tight embrace. “Ididimply you’d moved my iPad. You had every right to be pissed. And I had no business correcting your grammar in front of the boys,” he adds without prompting. “That was wrong. I’ll try not to do it again.”
“Thank you,” she whispers as he withdraws.
“I love you,” he says.
“I love you, too.”
He tweaks her nose. “But you really must do something about that snoring.”
