Day 3: What you put your time and effort into, becomes what is most important. How are you supposed to care for something if you’re not invested in it? Along with not saying anything negative, buy your spouse something that says you were thinking about them.
Later, at the fore station, Eddie’s on the phone.
“Hi, I need to buy a bouquet for my husband.” A beat, then, “No, I don’t care about that.” Pause. “Okay, and how much is that?” Pause. “65? Do you have anything cheaper?” Pause. “Yeah, that sounds better. I’ll do the 30. What about some butter cookies? How much would that cost me?” Eddie winces. “Yikes.” Then, “Okay, that’s more like it. Okay, what about a small stuffed bear?” Pause. “Okay, forget that. So how long is that going to take to throw together?”
Later, when Buck comes home, he finds a vase of some pretty sad looking flowers, along with a tin of butter cookies. Out of curiosity more than anything else, he looks at the note, which only says, Thinking of You.
Buck rolls his eyes, because a vase of flowers and butter cookies don’t cancel out what’s been happening. If Eddie paid any attention at all, he’d know that.
With that, Buck leaves them both exactly where they are.
The next day, Buck’s talking with Hen and Marge at the nurse’s station when his phone suddenly goes off, so he steps a few feet away to answer it.
“Go for Buck.”
“Hey, it’s Eddie. Just wanted to call and check on you. ”
Buck’s face becomes bewildered in an instant, “You wanted to check on me? Why?”
“Uh, just, you know, to see if you needed anything. ”
Which only leaves Buck even more confused, “You called me to see if I needed anything?”
“Yeah. You want me to grab something to bring home for you? Or grab something in the morning? ”
Buck’s more than suspicious as he asks, “Eddie, not once have you ever asked me that. What the hell’s going on?”
“Nothing. I just wanted to see if you needed anything.”
Buck’s not sure if he fully believes that, so he just says, “No, I’m fine.”
At the fire station, Eddie just replies, “Okay. Well, then, bye.”, hangs up, “Day 4, done.”, and leaves the locker room.
But Buck can’t let what just happened go, so he goes back to the nurses station, where Hen and Marge are waiting.
Seeing Buck’s confusion, Marge asks, “Hey, Buck, how are you?”
Buck’s shaking his head, “I am completely confused. Eddie’s been really weird lately.”
Hen asks, now curious, “Why? What’s he doing?”
Buck tells them, “Past few days, he’s made me coffee, bought me a really pathetic bouquet of flowers, and just a moment ago, he called me to see how I was, see if I needed anything.”
Hen’s not sure what to think, “Okay...”, but Marge definitely does, “Oh really? I have a pretty good idea what he’s doing, if that’s the case. He’s buttering you up right before you start the divorce process.”
Neither Buck or Hen fully buy that, “No, that’s crazy.” “Yeah, why would Eddie do something like that?”
Marge explains, “Right before my sister got divorced, her ex did the same exact thing. Acted all nice, then before she could blink, he took everything right out from under her. Won’t even talk to each other anymore. Do not let yourself fall for that bullshit.”
Hen still doesn’t fully believe that, but to her dismay, it definitely looks like Buck’s starting to.
Buck shakes his head, pissed. Of course. Why didn’t he see it before?
When Buck finally gets home, miraculously Eddie is too, on his laptop while keeping out a ear for Chris.
When Eddie hears footsteps, he quickly closes the window.
Neither of them say anything for several seconds, then Buck asks, “Did you clear your browsing history?”
Eddie turns around, “Huh?”
“Did you clear your history, so nobody would see what you were doing?”
Eddie doesn’t even reply, because he knows that would just lead to him saying something negative, so he goes back to typing on his computer.
That’s fine with Buck, who’s been gearing up for another fight as he tells Eddie, “I don’t buy what you’re doing for one second, Eddie. I know exactly what your ulterior motives are, with the flowers and you calling me when I’m talking to Hen.”
Eddie doesn’t bother turning around this time, and just asks, “Oh yeah? And what would that be?”
Buck tells Eddie calmly, as he sorts through the mail, “I’m meeting with a lawyer next week, and if you honestly think for even a second I’m going to let my guard down because of this whole nice guy routine, you are sadly mistaken.”
That leaves Eddie confused, turning his head slightly, “What the hell are you talking about?”
Buck stays calm as he tells Eddie how it’s going to be, “I’m not letting you take a dime more than I deserve. Once this is all finalized, I’m taking what’s mine.”
Here, Buck stops to make sure he has Eddie’s attention, then says, voice leaving no room for argument, “And I don’t care how pissed off you are at me, or what names you call me behind my back. You are not for one second turning Chris into something to be fought over like property. Whether you like it or not, he’s our kid, has been since I adopted him, and he deserves two parents in his life that love him more than they hate each other.”
That gets Eddie to finally stand up moving closer, “You seriously mean to tell me that’s what you think I’ve been doing?”
Buck does the same, “No, I know that’s what you’re doing.”
Eddie snaps, “You’re wrong. Dead wrong. Why can’t you stop to think for a second I might actually be trying to do something nice? Something loving?”
“Loving? ” Buck repeats, like he’s not sure whether to laugh or spit on the word. “Then what were you just looking at, Eddie? What was just on the laptop? Was that something loving? Seriously, who are you trying to convince here? You want to know why all the little sweet things you’ve been doing amount to nothing? Because that’s the kind of guy you really are. The guy you’ve turned into. When you’re by yourself, you just go back to that same default. And there’s nothing loving about any of it.”
With that, Buck storms off towards Chris’ bedroom, while Eddie goes back outside.
This time, he sees a baseball bat, so he grabs it and starts beating the trash can with it. He knows how childish this is, but right now if he doesn’t let it out somehow, he’s going to do something he’ll regret.
Then he throws the bat off to the side somewhere, where once again, the neighbor is watching.
Embarrassed at having been caught again, he just nods at the man, then pulls his phone out to call his abuela.
YOU ARE READING
Noncandescent
RomanceIn the wake of a bad call, firefighter Eddie Diaz realizes the extent to which he has failed as a husband. In a desperate attempt to save his relationship with his husband, Buck, Eddie turns to "The Love Dare," a Christian self-help book recommended...
