Chapter 9

Awkward to Angry

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George grinned as he watched his wife continued to read the story. Her cheeks were flushed quite a bit and she was biting her lower lip; if he wasn't mistaken, he heard her whisper at one point, "... have to try that..." which made his mouth light up into a highly amused smirk.

When Teresa finally finished the short story, she didn't know quite what to say. "I didn't know you could write that." She read the last few several paragraphs again, and said, "Wow... I can't believe you wrote this. I mean, did you used to read romance novels or something?"

"Nope," George replied back, grinning further.

"Still, I don't think this is what Henry was asking for."

George ignored her, and asked with a smug look, "So, are we going to discuss our stories?"

Teresa did a bit of a double take; this certainly wasn't something they discussed every day, let alone in the living room while the sun was still up and shining through the window. "I guess," she replied, quite a bit out of sorts, mostly still in shock from George's story. Trying to take back control, she asked, "What did you think of my story?"

"It was good," George replied, clearly eager to get on to discussing what he wrote.

"That's it? It was good?" Teresa's ordinary self had returned, and apparently a bit of her ire as well.

George rolled his eyes. "Harry still didn't seem like himself. He wasn't really 'guyish', but it was a lot better than the last story - the Dead of Night."

"The Dearth of Night," Teresa corrected. "He seemed pretty guyish to me." She couldn't resist, and added, "I could make him more clueless - would that help?"

"Haha," George replied. "Ok, obviously we need a 'Men 101' lesson for you. Harry, or any guy for the most part, would not sit for two hours doing nothing with Ginny sleeping against him. Or, if he did, he wouldn't view it as pure bliss."

"Oh, give me a break," Teresa replied harshly. "How many movies did we see when we were dating where we'd do that exact same thing? And I'm pretty sure you enjoyed it, because whenever we started watching a movie you'd coax me into it! Or how about last Christmas during the party at the Brickmans? While the other three couples talked about the football season, I napped against you and you certainly looked happy to me."

"That's because there was something happening. A movie to watch, a conversation to follow - something. Don't get me wrong, but if you're expecting us sit or lie like that for more than five minutes, you either have to talk with us or have something else in the background for us to focus on. Two hours? Harry would've been bored silly, sitting absolutely still, with nothing to do, not able to even move."

"You don't enjoy holding me?" Teresa asked, a bit of vulnerability in her voice.

George sighed. "Of course I enjoy holding you. But it has to be more than just sitting there doing nothing."

Teresa looked a bit hurt by that, and quickly changed the subject. "Well, I don't think Ginny was very 'girlish' in your story, if we're talking about that. I mean, I don't think anything that... um, you wrote... well, would be for her."

"I don't know," George said, grinning, "It certainly seemed like she was happy to me, especially there towards the end..."

Teresa shot her husband a look. "He didn't even say anything to her through the whole thing."

"Talking is definitely overrated," George replied, shrugging. "I like to let the... the actions talk for themselves."

Teresa narrowed her eyes. "Men 101 lesson? How about a Woman 101 lesson? No, this is a heck of a lot simpler than 101. How about a Woman 01 lesson? Women enjoy hearing their husband tell them what makes them special, how much they care for their wife - especially when being... close. And women enjoy hearing their husband say 'I love you.'"

"Harry and Ginny aren't married," George pointed out, not quite connecting everything fast enough.

Teresa's stare withered George a bit, and she said in a caustic voice, "Well, let's hope they never do, so Harry won't have to say a word!" With that, she angrily stormed away out of the living room.

"I love you," George called after her, a slight bit of desperate apology in his voice.

Its reply was a bedroom door being slammed shut.

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