The Way She Sliced Her Pear

Monroe

MONROE

Reese could barely contain her excitement. Pregnant with their second child! I couldn't be happier for her. She would have twenty kids if Kane allowed it.

"I just can't wait Monroe!" Reese said "I have everything picked out already for the nursery." "I even have the perfect boy's name."

"You want to know?"

"Of course."

"Bruce" "Do you love it?" Reese said

"I love it if you love it Reese." "What if it's a girl?" "Do you have a list of names for girls?" I asked while trying to hold the phone with my shoulder and bouncing Millie on my right hip.

"No, it's going to be a boy, I just know it."

There was no talking her out of it.

Dexter walked in the back door with a beer can in his hand and dried mud that fell from his jeans onto the hard wood floor. It never failed, no matter how many times I told him to undress downstairs in the basement where we kept our washer and dryer he still would walk into my clean kitchen. It made me cringe every single time.

"Congrats again, but Dex just walked in I gotta go."

I hung up the phone, watching Dex carelessly walk about the kitchen floor. Hearing the sound of sand make friction between his boot and the floor. He had no idea how many times a day I swept or cleaned. Within seconds a dirt trail was made from the backdoor to the pantry.

"Could you please change into something that isn't covered in mud Dex" I said with frustration.

Without saying a word he opened the back door. The mud room door being just off the kitchen, I assumed he went downstairs to the dryer for a pair of shorts of some kind.

He returned to the kitchen already looking for something to snack on when it was clear that I was in the middle of making dinner.

"How was your day?" I asked. "Did you get everything wrapped up with the Miller project?"

"Yea, it just seemed like nothing was going my way today." Dex said as he sipped on his beer. "It was windy and cold, and Jeff couldn't get his shit together to be able to run an excavator" "I still don't understand how he has a brain" "You would think after about the tenth time with me in his face yelling at him he'd get the point."

"Why don't you show him how to properly use one instead of getting all furious at him?" "You know Dex, some people don't take that kind of criticism well."

Dex took another sip of his beer. Then rolling his eyes he says, "I just don't have that kind of patience Roe."

"All I'm suggesting is maybe try reasoning with him and see it from his perspective."

I opened the oven to check on my cornbread while turning down the top burner where my pork loins had been nicely simmering for the past ninety minutes.

"Hope you're hungry, this will be a fabulous dinner, minus the half dozen times I was interrupted by your boys fighting outside." I said

"We all took a really late lunch today around three so I'm not that hungry, I'll just have a bowl of cereal later."

Of course Dex never took into consideration how much effort I put into my day being at home. I made him home cooked meals that he came home to every night and raised our kids to the very best of my ability. For him to turn down a meal that I'd been putting my time into was almost a weekly thing. Previous boyfriends that I had were all so appreciative of my cooking abilities and made sure to praise me for them.