Forbidden Extras

Worthy

One Year Before Epilogue

Jasper has been avoiding me.

He won't admit to it, but it was completely obvious. It began two weeks ago when he came home from work and went straight to his office without so much as a greeting. It was very unusual behavior for him, so when I went to check on him I wasn't all that surprised to see him typing away at his computer with a troubled expression. Normally he was like this when he was working on something very big or had a rough time at the university. However, when I asked him about it, he quickly shut the topic down saying there was nothing wrong and not to worry. It was hard for me to believe, but I tried not to over analyze the situation so I let it go.

The next morning didn't help when we ate our breakfast in silence. The entire time he kept his eyes trained on his food avoiding my own. It took everything I had not to reach across the table and shake the issue out of him. But before I could bring the topic up again, he slid out of his seat, gave me a quick kiss on the forehead, and left for work. I had hoped that maybe things would get better after a few weeks.

They didn't.

Even now at his celebration party for his latest published book he remained distant from me. The ride here was mainly silent minus the sound of him fiddling with things in the car, but he never once began a conversation. Whenever I asked if he was okay he would again assure me everything was fine and gave my hand a squeeze. Nothing more, nothing less. He must not have remembered that I know him well enough to know when he's lying.

Now sitting at a table in the corner I would try to catch his eye from across the room, but as usual he was preoccupied with talking to some coworker. I could understand this and not be troubled by it, but what did trouble me were the times when our eyes would connect and he gave an uneasy smile. When that happened, I could almost feel my heart crack in my chest.

I didn't understand any of it. What caused him to be so distant all of a sudden? We haven't had a huge fight in months and even then he didn't treat me like this. So what is it? Is he still mad that I got onto him for not closing the cereal box before putting it away? Surely not. He's never been the type to hold onto things like this. So what's going on through his mind lately?

When the answer didn't appear within the next few seconds I sighed and averted my eyes to my drink in front of me. I hardly touched it all night, but it's starting to look like it might make things a little more interesting.

"Paisley Grace! Stop playing with the flowers," Jade tore the white petals from the six year old's hand. "Those are for decoration, not to play with."

Paisley pouted as her mother put the petals back on the table. "But, Mama, they are so pretty."

"I know they are pretty, but they have to stay where they are," she informed. "Someone worked really hard to make sure this event looked nice and you have to respect that by not touching anyth--don't touch that either!"

I gingerly sipped my drink watching the two bicker back and forth in front of me. Paisley would touch something, Jade would have a conniption, then Paisley would touch something else, repeat.

I take it back, this is pretty entertaining.

When Jade was finished putting everything back together she turned to me to ask, "By the way, I probably should have brought this up awhile back, but who's barn are we in, exactly?"

"The director of the English department at Ridgefield. I think his name is Austin?" I informed.

"Huh," she looked around the large wooden walls, her lips pursed. "Isn't this supposed to be used for farming?"