Fighting Words

All they did was fight, but never for a common goal. It started out over petty arguments about who took the trash out, or what to name the dog. Eventually those petty arguments began to snowball into bigger issues.

Will you re-locate for my work?

Are we going to have kids?

Do you still love me?

Six years into the relationship and all Remi Asher wanted was normalcy. The jet setting, gala attending, designer clothes wearing lifestyle was fun at first. The things she sought out at 25 were vastly different than those at 31.

“I just don’t understand why we’re having this conversation, again.” Tom huffed as he haphazardly threw clothes into a suitcase.

Remi sat beside the suitcase, picking up each piece of clothing tossed and neatly folding it. “We’re having this conversation again because it seems that you decided not to listen the first three times we had it!” She placed the last t-shirt in the suitcase and stood from her spot on the bed. Remi ran a shaking hand through her hair and let out a frustrated sigh. “I can’t keep doing this with you.”

Tom’s eyes snapped up from the pair of jeans he held in his hands, “Do what? I’ve told you a thousand times that I love you and want to be with you forever. What more do you want from me? I’m sorry I’m never home but you knew what it would be like from the beginning!”

“Saying and doing are two very different things, Thomas.” His full name rolled off the tip of her tongue with such venom as it did when she was angry with him. Remi shoved her hands in her pockets in the hopes of stopping them from wrapping around his throat. “You leaving for work isn’t the issue here and you know it.”

Tom couldn’t help but roll his eyes at the sound of his full name. He tossed the pair of pants into the suitcase and zipped it shut before angrily pulling it off the bed allowing it to hit the floor with a heavy thud. “I don’t have fucking time for this, Remi.” He ripped open the top drawer of his bedside table and pulled out a neatly wrapped gift, “I was going to wait until Christmas to give this to you, but who knows if we’ll fucking make it until then.”

He tossed the box at Remi and grabbed the handle of his suitcase. The brunette caught the box and looked at her boyfriend with doe eyes, “Is this what I think it is?” Her voice became quiet and wavering.

Tom ignored her question and stormed past her. As he made his way down the hallway toward the staircase, he shouted over his shoulder, “I’m spending tomorrow and Christmas Eve with my son before I leave for America. I’ll either see you or I won’t. It’s up to you.”

Remi watched as Tom huffed and puffed his way down the narrow staircase with his suitcase in hand. She ran an unsteady hand through her chocolate locks before taking a deep breath and burying her face in her hands. How could things have possibly gotten so bad?

“Too stubborn for his own damn good.” Remi mumbled to herself. She allowed herself to wallow in self pity for a few minutes before brushing it off as she did.

The brunette straightened up the bedroom before heading down to the kitchen to fix herself a cup of tea. As she waited for the water to boil in the kettle, Remi couldn’t help but lose herself in a trance as her eyes became fixed on the view of the garden through the kitchen window.

“How much longer?” Remi asked anxiously. She had been in the car for nearly an hour with a soft velvety blindfold over her eyes.

Tom looked over from the driver’s seat and smiled to himself at the sight of his girlfriend’s tiny fists clenched in her lap, “Only another minute or two my love.” In moments, a quite traditional English cottage came into view. Tom pulled the car into the driveway and killed the engine.

Remi felt the car beneath her stop, “Can I take this off now? Are we here?” Her hands moved to remove the blindfold from her eyes until she felt Tom’s larger, calloused hands stop them.

“Have patience, dear.” The actor pressed a kiss to Remi’s cheek and removed himself from the car before running around to the passenger side. He opened the door and unbuckled her seatbelt before grabbing her hands and gently guiding her out of the car. Tom placed a reassuring hand on the small of Remi’s back and helped her navigate the gravel beneath her feet. They walked about 20 feet before stopping.

Tom reached down and untied the blindfold, “Open your eyes. We’re home.”

Remi blinked a few times to adjust to the sudden sunlight before gasping. “Are you… Is this… How did you…” Sentences became obsolete as Remi’s eyes went crazy taking in every inch of the beautiful home before her. Her eyes lit up bright enough to rival the sun as her eyes landed on the garden… her garden.

The sound of the kettle whistling brought Remi back to present time. Her eyes began to refocus and dropped down to the garden, or what used to be the garden. After the first year at the cottage, Tom began working in leaps and bounds, jet setting and being invited to all types of events. Of course wanting to show face and support her partner, Remi had taken a lot of time out of her own life to be a part of his. One of those sacrifices made was with the garden. It had taken a backseat as Remi’s life became more and more Tom’s life.

Remi allowed her tea to steep for a moment before tossing the tea bag in the trash. She took a sip as she made her way into the study, allowing the hot liquid to nearly burn her throat on its way down. Remi opened the vintage secretary, a birthday gift from Tom for her 30th, and sat down. She put down her tea and thumbed through a few of her favorite letters from her partner, smiling as her fingertips slid across the grooves in the paper from the ink.

Pulling out a fresh piece of paper and a pen, Remi began to lose herself in the words. It was a known fact that the well known actor and his partner preferred the art of the written letter opposed to texting. Of course the media being the media made it seem like the couple didn’t even understand the concept of cell phones. Remi, of course, knew on those long shoots she couldn’t accompany Tom to that the modern tech and capabilities of cell phones surely came in handy.

The brunette sat in silence, writing her letter before folding it up and stuffing it into an envelope. She then threw that in her back pocket, abandoning her tea, and retriever her already packed suitcase from bedroom.