Written by PBMAXCA
She eased around the house, took a steadying breath, then peaked in the window.
She found them making dinner. Ron was standing at the stove stirring something in a pot and Gabrielle was sitting at the table fiddling with an orange cloth napkin that matched the orange and brown and light colored stripped place mat. When she moved towards Ron at the stove and leaned to kiss his cheek she took a deep breath and bit back tears. They were always so cute. That night they were both dressed in jeans and t-shirts.
Relaxation was clearly the theme of the night. This was the way things were supposed to be.
Relaxed, easy, normal. It all looked so domestic.
The sliding glass door was open with the screen door shut. She watched Gabrielle move from next to the stove and turn on some music. A dreamy piano soundtrack came out of the stereo and out to meet her on the porch.
She was going to ruin their evening. She hated that.
"That's great," she heard Ron's voice as he motioned towards the stereo. He smiled widely at Gabrielle then turned back to the pot stirring it with one hand while reaching for a wine glass with the other.
There was a long tension filled pause then Gabrielle moved towards him, bringing her wine glass with him. She set it on the table then rested a hand on his lower back, which made Ron turn and look at her. Hermione felt a stab of pain in her side and a tingle on her back just at the location where her hand was on Ron's back.
Her husband used to touch her like that. He used to pull her to him and hug her and kiss her. That hadn't happened in a long time.
"You're avoiding the subject."
Her head tipped to the side as she watched the couple move around.
It was a strange thing to be on the outside looking in like this. It was as if she was watching a movie. She was a voyeur and she wasn't sure if she liked being one even if she knew the conversation would give her a lot of insight into the atmosphere she'd be entering into if she finally stepped out of the shadows and moved towards the door to talk to them.
"The subject." He said it as if to show Gabrielle that she was being too technical in the conversation. He tended to use a mocking tone sometimes to get that point across.
"You know what I'm talking about."
"The subject?" Ron was playing dumb. It was so obvious that he was trying to avoid the subject. She didn't yet know what it was, but it seemed to be of utter importance to both of them. Clearly more important to Gabrielle than to Ron.
"She hasn't called you in three weeks."
Ron put down the spoon he was stirring the pot with and moved away from Gabrielle towards the refrigerator. He opened it and turned his attention to a block of cheese which he soon pulled out. "She'll call when she wants to call."
Gabrielle moved to another cabinet and pulled down some crackers before she turned and leaned against the counter, next to the stove.
The crackling of the package seemed to make him smile as she fumbled with opening it up. "You know her well enough to know that she's not calling because something is wrong."
She shivered hearing her say what she had been thinking for the last few weeks. It used to be that Ron would call her all the time and check on her. Even if the call was disguised in the form of an inquiry about if she'd watched a certain Quidditch Match that he knew she always watched anyway.
Ron moved across the kitchen and produced a cutting board and a knife and soon was slicing cheese and piling it next to the bigger piece he was cutting. "She's a big girl."
Gabrielle moved next to him, bringing along with her a plate and the crackers. She started to arrange them on a plate. "Ron."
"She doesn't want my help," he said slapping at Gabrielle's hand as she moved to grab a piece of cheese. "Not yet."
"Sorry," he said and popped the cheese that she'd stolen into his mouth.
"So are you going to call her?"
Another long pause.
"She made that clear at the party--"
"You're so stuck on that party." Gabrielle took her glass in her hand and sipped it as if she needed the wine to calm her temper. She always loved the way she was such a calming influence on Ron. She'd wished that she'd been there the night at the party. If she had, she wondered if she'd be in this position now. She would have been able to make that call and get his advice and the friendship that she knew she really needed right then. "I thought we'd all gotten over that."
"I'm not stuck on anything." Ron took the moment to grab his wine glass again. "She has made it clear that I have no say in what happens in her life." He held his glass up and looked to be asking Gabrielle to make a toast.
It took her more than the normal amount of swallows before she moved out of the shadows so they could see her. "I don't care about the party."
She didn't expect to scare them so badly but soon Ron was sliding the door open and Gabrielle was cleaning up the shattered glass from Ron's broken wine glass before she even opened her mouth to speak.
Ron immediately hugged her to him. "What's with all the tears?"
She gulped a few times and she heard a little bit of a snicker from him. "Tough isn't it?"
"What?" she asked.
"Trying to figure out the right words."
She nodded.
"Does it help that I'm sorry about the party?"
She nodded.
She swallowed a few more times then licked her lips and staring at the wet mark on his shirt from her tears she finally got up enough courage to speak. "He doesn't love me above and beyond the moon and the stars--" She burst into sobs and fell against him. She didn't like to show this kind of vulnerability. She was still recovering from the incident at the party.
Ron didn't say anything. He knew how to play this game. He knew that he didn't need to say anything and that with time things would work themselves out. He knew when to speak and when to just let things flow. She guessed that he had learned something over the years about acting.
"Please just promise me one thing."
Ron moved back and wiped off her cheeks. "Anything sweetie."
"Please don't tell me that you told me so."
"Never."
(c) 1999-2007 Pit Pat Productions