Soap Suds and Absentmindness: Maddie

As she was setting the table, there was another knock at the door. Feeling comfortable in her situation she called "Come in." She assumed it was Liz and Fred. She was wrong. As the door flung open, she gasped and dropped one of her tea cups with a crash, shattering to pieces across the wood floor.

"I am so sorry. I didn't mean to startle you." said the strange middle aged man in overalls, dark brown hair, similar to Tim's, holding an ax. What is a grown man, holding an ax doing in her house? "Oh I am sorry again, I forgot I had this in my hands." he said lifting it up then setting it outside on the porch. "I'm Dan, Chloe's husband. She mentioned you were staying here. I was chopping some firewood. I finished up and noticed that you had some wood that needed some chopping, thought I'd come and see if I could do that for you. I really didn't mean to scare you. I guess I am a little absentminded, and forgot about the fact that I was coming in 'armed.' Here let me help you clean that up."

"Don't worry about it. I am just a little jumpy and clumsy." Maddie said as she swept the shards into her dust pan. Will entered to see if everything was OK.

"Hey I heard a crash is everyone alright" he asked.

"Yes, sorry I am Dan, and totally scared the poor lady half to death. I live next door."

Reaching out his hand to shake Dan's, Will noticed that black soot covered it. He pulled his hand away, wiped it on his leg and said "oh sorry charcoal" as he lifted to show his hand. "It is nice to meet you, I am Will. A friend of the family, more or less."

Maddie cleaned up her broken tea cup, while the guys chatted a bit. Tears began to poor down her face. "Oh no, not again." she thought. She felt like she was her own personal sprinkler system, set on a timer to water ever few hours, for a few hours. As their voices faded in the back ground she flashed back to a day a few weeks into her marriage.

They had just finished up a meal, that was not at all what Tim had wanted. He was mad that she had baked chicken instead of grilling it. The silence during the meal was ear numbing. After Tim's last bite, he shoved his plate towards Maddie, pushed away from the table, and as he headed towards the living room to catch the evening game he said "Don't ever fix that **** again." Maddie cleared the table. After she poured a little Dawn in the sink, she turned the water on. As the sink filled with soap suds, she began to sob, wondering how she had gotten herself into this mess.

With her head down staring at the bubbles, she felt the warmth of Tim's arm wrap around his neck. He pulled her into him, too tight. So tight she was having a hard time breathing. He kissed her cheek, which made her cringe and her whole body tighten. Reflexes made her head turn away from him. He grabbed her face and spinning her towards him. "I am sorry." he said, "you worked hard on making this dinner. I have had a long day at work. I am tired. Can you forgive me?" He seemed to verbally want to make things better, but everything in his body language said something different.

Laughter. Who is laughing. 'Oh I have company.' Maddie remembered as she came to the present. "I am glad to see you getting along so well." she said as she stood up from the floor with a dust pan full of glass and some dust bunnies. She headed over to the garbage can to dump her mess along with her recent memories of a time she wish she could forget.

"Dan, tell Chloe Hi for me. And thanks for chopping my wood. We will see you around I am sure." Maddie called as Dan headed for the door.

After the door shut, Will walked over to Maddie, who was barely standing on her own by the trash can. "Are you ok?" He reached over to brush a tear off her cheek, to which she recoiled.

"Yes. I am so embarrassed, but these were my grandmother's favorite tea cups and I am just sad that I broke one." she sort of lied. It was mostly the truth but not what made her cry. She hadn't known Will long enough to share with him her pathetic sob story. Though she surely felt like she had known him forever. Too bad he never came out to visit his aunt and uncle when they were younger. He was only a year or two younger than her.

"Maybe we can find one on E-Bay. You really can find anything on there." Will try to cheer her up, figuring he couldn't really pry any more.

"I wonder what is keeping Liz and Fred." Maddie changed the subject. The door knocked once more.

"I'll get it. I don't think we can afford any more broken tea cups." Will said as he headed to the door.

With a smile on her face, Maddie chimed, "Very funny." She liked how easy Will made her smile. It really had been too long since she had been around anyone that made her feel at ease and happy for that matter.

Will opened the door, and let in Liz who was carrying a trey of chocolate chip cookies, that must have just come out of the oven because their aroma filled the room, faster than the warm spring air. Will grabbed the cookies from Liz, snatching one and shoving the whole thing in his mouth. He put the trey down on the table. Fred meandered in with a pitcher of lemonade. He never was in a hurry. His motto "slow and steady wins the race."

"Sorry we are late, with my arthritic fingers, it took a long time to squeeze all these lemons." chuckled Fred, as he held up his pitcher of juice. His foot caught on the threshold of the front door, tripping him. Luckily he regained his balance before spilling his lemonade all over the floor. "That was a close one." he said. He headed towards the table and set his pitcher down.

"Wow this place hasn't changed in years." Fred said as he looked around. "You know if you are looking to do some updating, or remodeling, Will is the guy for you. His dad ran a hardware store and did construction on the side, and young Will here was his apprentice, before he decided to go off to school and get one of those fancy degrees. That's alright we will forgive him." Fred playfully slugged Will in the gut, a little harder than he had intended.

Will blushed a little. "I figured I'd better get a degree and some student loan debt to fit into the world a little better. What else needs to be done before lunch?"

"I think it has been awhile since the steaks have been checked on." Maddie said, pointing to the smoking more than normal BBQ grill.

"Oh man, so much for my showing off my grilling skills." Will said as he ran out the patio doors.

"What can I do to help you Maddie." Liz offered as she limped over to the kitchen. She instinctively, filled some glasses with ice and set them on the table before Maddie could tell her everything was fine and that she should just go and have a seat.

Will brought in his not totally burnt but well done steaks to the table. "At least none will be mooing for lunch." he said as he set them down. He pulled out the chair next to Maddie and joined the rest at the table. As he pulled himself into the table his legged brushed against Maddie's. She didn't move away from him, or cringe or shutter.

"Everything looks good. Thanks for joining me for lunch. Let's eat." Maddie said as she put her napkin in her lap.