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"You're awfully quiet tonight."
Leon slowly blinked at his plate and then looked across the small square table to his wife. Layla was making notes in her interior design journal as she chewed on a piece of broccoli. He had been thinking about lunch that afternoon and then how the rest of his day seemed to have zoomed by like a thin cloud in the wind.
"No more than you," he calmly replied.
That made her look up from her notebook. In a moment of sass, he lifted his fork of rice pilaf in a mock salute and then put it in his mouth. She quirked a brow. She hadn't expected that. She capped her pen and then closed her book.
"You're playful."
He paused in chewing. He could have sworn he heard an approving tone in her voice. Her chair was pushed back and she slowly walked over to his side of the table. She leaned against the table, her hip close to his hand. He noticed everything, even the expectant look on her face.
He wiped his mouth and then folded his napkin. "Now you want me."
She tilted her head, some blonde locks falling over her shoulder. "There's time." She leaned over to kiss him.
He let her.
His eyes closed as his hand went up to her chin, his fingers lightly brushing her skin. She always felt like satin to him, sliding over against him and then falling completely away from his grasp.
Tonight was no different.
She pulled away to see his face. His eyes were still closed. He didn't want to open them. She frowned a little and then stood up, picking up her notebook and then leaving the table.
"I'm going to the studio," she crisply told him.
When he heard the front door open and then close, he opened his eyes. He looked down at the hand that had touched her and then fisted it.
For a couple of crucial seconds, it was not Layla he wanted to touch.
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When she came home, Leon was still up.
She was surprised to see him drinking some scotch. He rarely drank from that decanter.
"We need to fix this," he murmured.
She put her purse down and crossed her arms. "Fix what?"
"Us."
Layla stared at him long. Then, she sat down on the couch across from the armchair he was sitting on.
"We can't fix this." She rubbed her arm a little. "Not right now, anyways."
He put the glass down on the table. "We can try when we go on vacation."
"Leon, we're not going."
He frowned. "What do you - "
"I refunded our tickets. The vacation's off." She looked up at him. "We need some time apart."
"Apart?"
She nodded. "I need to think things over. Recall what it is that I want in life."
He ran a hand over his face. "Is this about your masters? I told you I can support both of us while you studied."
She lightly rolled her eyes. "With what income Leon? We live in a house a relative left you and we're still paying off the car loans and undergrad loans." She stood up. "No, Leon. I cannot continue like this."
Despite the fact that he really didn't want to, he blurted out, "I'll look for another job. Something that pays better."
She slowly shook her head. "It's too late for that."
He looked down hard at his wedding ring. "Do you no longer care for me?"
When she stayed silent, he gathered the courage to look up at her and almost immediately wished he hadn't. She looked at him like a stranger pitying a beggar on the streets.
"I'll get my things tomorrow morning."
She went into their room and he barely noted through his shock that she came out fast. She must have had a bag packed already and hidden in the closet.
He sat back on the chair, feeling his world spin into disaster.
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AN: He tried. Poor baby. :(
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