"Narvel, I told you not to leave your dirty laundry all over my house." Reba scolded her lazy husband that was sitting on the couch eating a bowl of potato chips.
"Honey, honey I'll get it right after my show."
"Narvel c'mon you're worse than Shelby!"
"I said I'll get it." he said in a tone that Reba would not accept.
"Excuse me?" she dropped the laundry basket on the ground.
"Hold on one second. That's all I'm asking."
"I'm trying to keep this house in line, and trying to clean up and you're sitting here getting potato chip crumbs all over our livin' room, not picking your damn clothes up, and I'm sick of treating you like high royalty, and me slaving all over you."
"Damn it Reba give me a break, okay? I'm tired, I wanna rest, please forgive me." Narvel rolled his eyes and returned his gaze at the TV.
"You piss me off." she said picking up the basket and storming out of the room.
She went downstairs and reorganized the bills and changed the curtains of their home.
"Mama, you wanna play a game with me?" she heard her sweet little baby say.
"Aww honey, I'd love to but mommy has a lot of cleaning to do, and just can't right now. Go on and ask ya daddy." she gave him a little push.
"But daddy said he's too busy to play with me right now." he said trying to make out just the right words.
"Of course he is." she mumbled to herself.
By that time Shelby had already moved to the playroom, and begun to play with his little toy cars.
"Wait Shebly, come here a second!" Reba sweetly yelled.
"Yeah mama?"
"Go see if Brandon wants to play with you."
"Brandon's not home right now, I already looked." Shelby looked down at his shoes.
"Oh that's right, he's at his mama's. Never mind honey. Sorry bud, I thought he was home. Go on in the playroom, and I'll play with you when I'm done with everything." she smiled.
Shelby's little feet pitter-pattered on the kitchen floor, and Reba just giggled.
By then she had everything on her mind. Ronnie, cleaning, the bills, and lastly Narvel.
She missed the whole unconditional love thing they had just about a year ago. She missed the surprise flowers, the letters, and the sweet morning kisses she'd awaken to every morning. She just misses when their marriage was young and fresh. Now it only feels like they're just getting by with each other.
Now she has a whole other thing to think about and that was Ronnie. But that was awhile ago, you don't think he could still have chemistry with her, could he? I mean he cheated on her, and left her. It's not possible.
Reba continued to gather her thoughts and chores as she walked past Narvel.
Narvel knew that things weren't the same as they were when the two first got married. It's different, and he understood that, and he got used to it. Hell, they had a child, Reba's career, and it seems like the last thing on that list was their marriage.
Maybe it was normal, I mean that's what happens with age and when a marriage gets old. He thought to himself. She can't expect me not to be tired, or to be bored. It's the same old thing, every same old day. There's no surprises anymore, we don't try to impress each other any longer...
But that doesn't mean I can't try to. Finally regaining his thoughts, he took out a piece of stationary paper, and a pen and started writing a note.
He started with the basic "Dear Reba..." and continued from there with every stroke of the pen pouring his feelings into the piece of paper.
