A Beauteous Flower

Chapter 43 - The Night of Mixed Signals

The next three weeks passed slowly and peacefully. Too peacefully for Madison's taste. A blandly polite rhythm settled in between Daniel and Madison. They ate meals together and talked quietly about the same nothing they had discussed the day before. Daniel took his showers at the same time every morning and always took a change of clothes into the bathroom with him, so Madison never saw him without something on. He never gave her any indication that he wanted to discuss the situation or offered anything that might be considered a thaw in the polite distance that pervaded every second they were in the same room. The only time that things felt a little relaxed between them was sometimes in the evening they would sit together on the patio and just listen to the wind in the trees, and Daniel would platonically hold Madison's hand. He never made a pass at her or even looked at her in any way that suggested more than friendship.

Any attempt on Madison's part to broach the subject of the party, or Steve the Oaf or the current state of their relationship, brought only studious silence from Daniel. In short order, those topics became strictly taboo and any mention of them resulted in Daniel's hasty retreat to the cabin. While part of her was disappointed, another part wasn't entirely sure that was a bad thing. The divorce still menaced their relationship, but Madison didn't dare bring that up. Daniel's reticence on the topic was a double-edged sword.  Its existence made Madison uncomfortable, but the thought of a discussion of it made her just as uncomfortable.

A few things returned to a normalish state. They still exchanged "I love you's" although Madison was quicker and more liberal with her expressions of love, and they sometimes exchanged brief hugs or kisses. Daniel always kissed her on the forehead and allowed Madison to kiss him on the cheek. Those episodes of touch weren't "bad", but they weren't "good" either. They just kind of "were".

Soon, the polite, mundane, and almost ritualized interaction became alarmingly routine. This was not at all what Madison had expected or wanted. While she knew things would never be like they had been, she didn't want this current situation to settle in as the new normal either. There were no ups and downs. Just a flat, steady line. Their relationship was in stasis. No progress. No regression. No nothing. It merely idled in the same place day after day. Madison waited for Daniel to explode with anger or burst into tears, but he never did. Instead, the days passed with calm politeness with Madison alone in the house and Daniel holed up in the cabin.

Neither Madison nor Daniel went out much. Madison didn't want to go out alone because she didn't want to arouse any suspicions about where she was or who she was with. She didn't really know why Daniel didn't go out, but he didn't go out. He had always been a homebody anyway, but he a cancelled business trip and that was totally out of character. She hoped that might signal that he wanted to talk, but nothing came of it. So, there they sat and lived like two neighbors that were politely separated by a good fence. It was pleasant, but it was unpleasant at the same time, like a comfortable slipper on the wrong foot.

A very few times they went out together. Twice, when the food ran low, they grocery shopped. Madison enjoyed that time as things seemed almost normal between them. In public they both slipped into their role as a young married couple. While they cruised up and down the aisle of the grocery store, Madison flashed Daniel her best smile, and Daniel smirked back. They bantered amiably about the relative merits of types of ice cream and Daniel's wit gave them a few shared giggles about other various nonsense.

However, Daniel still studiously steered their conversation away from any sexual references, which vaguely frustrated Madison, especially on the second grocery run when Madison took a mild chance as they stood in the checkout line, and licked a lollipop in the dirtiest-sweet way she could muster. Daniel noticed, but he didn't say anything about it, so her effort in that direction stalled and they went back to their discussion of tabloid headlines.