She didn’t bother to keep track of the days as they flitted by. It could’ve only been a few days, it could’ve been a week. It didn’t matter to Dinah; however long it was, it was too long for her to be perched in their bedroom, keeping to herself, tiptoeing around her own home to avoid running into her own husband. The house may have been nauseating to her, but she didn’t have anywhere else to go—except, of course, the picturesque European cities carved in her dreams.
Instead of being in Paris, she was on their bed, getting her fill of vapid entertainment from the television did she hear shuffling in the hallway. Dinah didn’t think any of it, assuming that it was Etta, and then she heard him speak.
Dove. Dinah would be lying if she said the use of her pet name didn’t have any affect. When was the last time it slipped past his lips? She glanced at the locked door separating them. She was level, calm, even. She didn’t expect anything to come out of this interaction, and therefore couldn’t be disappointed by what he did—or didn’t—have to say. “Why should I?”
"Because I want 'ta talk 'ta you." His tone was soft as he leaned his forehead against the door. It wasn't quiet to where he was simply speaking to the wood, but blatantly different compared to the tone he had used on the sidewalk, which prompted her reclusive nature. He was still wary; still upset about the lack of trust that was brewing between them, but the feelings were set aside to address the matter at hand: he was angry, but she was angrier. As a husband -- her husband -- that didn't set right. At the end of every evening, and the beginning of every morn, he still loved her.
With his pride falling to the least of his priorities, even if it were only for that conversation, he fished for more words to say. It would've been easier if he saw her; if he could settle his blue eyes on the skin he missed, believing everything would then come naturally, but he wasn't given that option -- yet. Consequently, he tried, "One chance. You want 'ta kick me out after, go 'head, but until then, I don't wanna speak 'ta a door; I wanna speak to you."
