3D – Gossip

“Hey, good lookin,” Jonathan said as he walked past his wife.

She was taking out the trash and noticed him coming from the garden. “You’re tending the flowers at this hour?”

“Nah. Planting new ones.”

She didn’t like the sound of that. “Oh?”

“Yeah.” He sighed.

Usually, she could tell when something was troubling him, but this one had gone undetected. Perhaps they were too busy for her to notice.

“I feel like we’re not getting anywhere, you know?” He looked across the street at Viviana’s. “It’s good that we’re watching our spending and all, but we’re not saving any more than we have been. We need more coming in.”

She grabbed his arm and brought his attention back to her. “Jonathan…I know you keep telling me not to worry about things, but I can help! We don’t have babies demanding our attention anymore. I can spend more time painting. Let me help!”

Skyla was pleased to see the wheels turning in his head instead of the usual immediate shutdown. She appreciated he didn’t want to burden her with their financials, but she wasn’t a helpless trophy wife who was only good for producing gorgeous children. Additionally, they weren’t living the legacy life with tons of money at their disposal. Most normal families had two working parents. Jonathan and Skyla worked, but they weren’t in a position to take a salary from the restaurant yet. The flowers were the only income they had. They served them quite well, but not well enough, according to Jonathan.

He started to answer her, but something in the corner of his eye caught his attention. The sight was so shocking, an awkward laugh escaped his lips. “Is that Maya on the treadmill?”

Skyla peered over her shoulder. “Huh…it sure is.” She thought it was great.

Jonathan couldn’t take his eyes off her like she was some rare display at the art gallery. “She complains about loading the dishwasher! How is she jogging on the treadmill…and smiling about it?”

Skyla joined him in gazing upon her. “I wasn’t going to say anything, but she is looking slightly thinner. I’ve never seen her out here, so I thought she was just eating less.”

The proud parents stood there silently for a few moments and watched her run not considering she could see them or not.

Jonathan turned to Skyla. “Do you think there’s a new guy?”

“Hmmm…not sure. She hasn’t said anything. How do you think it’s a guy?”

He raised his eyebrow and cocked his head. “This is Maya we’re talking about. There’s always a guy.”

Skyla slapped his arm. “Don’t be bad.”

He snorted. “You know it’s true! But think about it…she’s exercising…she randomly got a job…”

She knew what he was getting at but didn’t like his tone. “Her friend Penny got her that job.”

“Yeah, I know, but it was still random! I mean, how do you go from not showing an interest in working to getting a good job? Public relations? Come on.” He shook his head. “Something is up.”

Skyla still felt the need to defend her daughter. “She has a great personality for it!”

“Oh! Most definitely. It’s still just so random. There has to be a reason…and it’s a dude,” he said matter-of-factly.

Skyla rolled her eyes. “Let’s go inside. We’re terrible parents for gossiping about our daughter while she’s within earshot.”

“Pffft. Like she doesn’t gossip about us.”