Generations: The Long Game

Winter's Worries, Autumn's Anxiety

He hadn't told her how many doubts he had over the past few months. He wasn't worried they couldn't do it. He had worried her grief would take over their whole life. Stop them from dreaming. Stop them from truly living their lives the way they had always planned. Everyone thought they were an odd couple. Mismatched. He knew they were wrong. He brought out the soft Autumn and she brought out the sassy fighter he had only just began to understand when they met. His emotions helped hers to surface. Her fighting mentality gave him strength. They complimented each other in ways people seldom understood.

He threw his keys in the skull dish on the table in the foyer. It was black and accented with various shades of grey. She had created it on a paint and sip night with Marjorie years ago. Most people didn't know it had a Picasso blue base because Marjorie couldn't be stopped after two glasses of wine. As he wandered the the rooms, he realized she must be upstairs. Heading that way he stopped at her study and knocked just in case. No answer.

Bounding up the stairs he heard the music before he turned the corner. "My love?" She looked up with a smile. My sweet would you care to give me a hand?" He really didn't want to. He knew how this would go. Baby furniture always ended up in the same fight as the frustrations built and the instructions were never quite clear enough. He gave in right away and sit across from her on the floor as they pulled the pieces of the cot clear of the cardboard. "You already have the instructions?" She nodded with a smile. It always started out this way. Happy and confident they could manage it together. "What tools do we need? I can run down and get them." Anything to remove himself from the storm that was coming. She picked them up from the floor and waved them a bit. "Grabbed them before I came up. We bought the same cot as Ben's so it should be easier this time around." He didn't want to bring up the fact that Mia and Reece had put it together after they fought with it, and over it for two days.

"So, part A and B are nearly identical. The head and foot of the cot, but these little braces go this way, with the grooves down." He looked as she pointed to the grooves. As she showed him the step on the instructions, he weighed the options. He could tell her now she had gotten it wrong or wait for it to become apparent. Neither option was appealing, but as he opened his mouth to warn her, she gave him the don't test me look. Now, he thought to himself, the situation was worse. If he told her now the bickering would start at once. If he waited, she would ask later why he hadn't said when he obviously questioned it to begin with. Never one to back down to a parent or co-worker, his wife was a force to be reckoned with. "Aut, I think maybe you've looked at the instructions incorrectly. Maybe those grooves go up. She looked at the instructions again and smiled. "I see. Yes, your right. Thank you my sweet."

Astonished by the result, he shook his head and chuckled. "I was sure you were about to shout at me." She rolled her eyes and tried to maneuver the pieces into place. "Why would you think that? I wouldn't shout at you for seeing my mistake." He raised an eyebrow and then looked away. "No of course not my love." He felt the shift before she stood. "You know what Winter why don't you just get Reece and Mia to do this then. I thought we could do this together this time, but your right. I don't want to even be in the same room with you." She moved down the hall faster than he could catch up and slammed the bedroom door just as he got to the threshold. "Autumn? Come on. You know I wasn't trying to upset you. It is just ..." He sighed and walked toward the stairs when he heard the door swing open again. "It's just what Winter?" He turned back to face her. "It's just that these sorts of things usually end exactly like this. Us arguing over something and not even understanding how it started. How part A of a cot or a bookshelf or whatever else it happens to be has always brought us to the point that your brother and sister eventually have to come and finish because we haven't managed it ... again." She pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes. "Winter, I can't believe you. Again? Again? You act like this happens every other day." He shifted uncomfortably on his feet. "Not that often, my love, but every time there is something to build this happens. Either we get the directions wrong or match the wrong part or something that annoys or irritates you and then we are right back here." She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes again. "So, it's always me, is it? Is that how you see it? Because as I recall with Ben's cot you ended up on the floor in tears because you couldn't fit the spring in correctly." He looked away rocking back and forth on his feet and fidgeting with his wedding ring. "You said you were never going to bring that up again." Rolling her eyes she stepped back into the room. "I never thought I would have to." As he stepped forward, she slammed the door a second time. This time he heard her engage the lock and he stood there for a few moments feeling the guilt already creeping in.