Pillow Talk

"Neil. Are you asleep?"

There was a short pause before she heard him take a deep breath, or was that a heavy sigh? She wasn't sure. She lay in the dark waiting.

"I was," he said as he turned slightly toward her. He was dead tired from a hard day at work, and he had fallen asleep as soon as his head had hit the pillow.

"Why do you do that to me?" she began. "I get one chance in our hectic evenings to really have a good conversation with you, and you go right to sleep. You know that annoys me."

"Excuse me, Lana, I really forgot myself this time. Please forgive me for being so tired that I couldn't stay awake long enough for you to tell me about your day at the grocery."

Lana could feel Neil's baby blues glaring at her through the dark, but rather than being sorry, it caused her more indignation.

"So you think all I do all day long to keep YOUR house running smoothly is grocery shop or other trivial things? Maybe you should stay home and keep the house and let me go back to work. Maybe then you'd have a different opinion of what all I do."

"Oh, God help me," Neil murmured a sarcastic plea and pushed himself up on his elbows. Lana flicked on the lamp on her side of the bed. Neil yanked the cover up over his head for protection against the blinding light.

"I've told you a thousand times. Anytime you want to go back to work I'll be glad to stay home and take care of the house. Just say the word, Gorgeous."

"Don't change the subject."

"I'm not changing the subject! You brought it up!" 

"Now you're yelling at me," Lana's voice was also rising, so Neil made a quick decision to lay back down and try to get back to sleep. He was too tired to get into any kind of spat with her. But just as quickly Lana was leaned over his body and almost in his face.

"Oh, no you don't, mister. You're not getting out of this that easily. We need to talk, and it can't wait until tomorrow night. Do you want some coffee or something?" Lana started to get out of bed, but Neil stopped her.

"Coffee? Are you nuts, woman? I don't want coffee! I want sleep! I want to be left alone so I can go back to sleep and be a rested, intelligent manager that doesn't yell at his employees because he's dog tired!" Neil's voice was an octave higher at the end of all this than it was in the beginning.

"Wow. What's WRONG with you?" Lana drawled.

"Now you sound just like Carol," her husband groaned. "Please let me go to sleep."

"I will. Just as soon as we talk first."

It was no use. This woman was going to have this conversation whether he wanted it or not. He might just as well get it over with.

"Okay, babe." He sat up, punched his pillows twice and propped himself up against the headboard. He folded his hands in his lap, looked up at her and said, "You're on."

Silence.

"Babe," he urged.

"I can't believe it. Now you're making fun of me," she said quietly and articulately.

"Oh, God please," he almost cried. "I asked You nicely for help. Can't You shut her up just this once? I promise I'll be good. Just, please tell her to be.....quiet." A man could take only so much of this when he's tired, and he was almost done taking. "Lana, please tell me what you want to talk to me about so I can go to sleep."

"All you can think about is sleep. I want, need, to communicate something to you, and all you can think about is sleep. And to top it off, you have to make fun of me in the process. Not to mention making snide remarks about how I take care of YOUR house. Wait! Where are you going? I'm not done talking. Neil! Where are you going?"

Her tired husband grabbed two pillows from the bed and a blanket slung across the chair. He didn't bother to take his alarm, he could set his watch.

"I'm going to the guest room. Don't bother to follow me. I can't talk. I can't listen. I'm too doggone tired to breathe. Please. We'll talk tomorrow when I get home, but right now I'm going into the guest room and I'm going to close the door, and you are not going to come in. Do you understand? I need to be alone. To sleep. Away from you."

With that, Neil shuffled his weak and bent over body down the hall and into the next room. He closed the door, rather loudly, Lana thought, and she didn't hear anything more.

Wow. Lana couldn't remember when she had ever seen him this grouchy. He must really need a vacation. A week or two at home was just what he needed. There were lots of jobs around the house to keep him busy, and they could have so much fun just hanging out together. There would be of time for their talks then.

Well, I guess our little talk will just have to wait until tomorrow. This is so disappointing. But, I can hardly wait to tell him my news, that I got the new puppy to sit. He's going to be so surprised.