"We Can Do This!"

"We Can Do This!"

"FWEET"... The whistle blows, indicating it was 5 pm. It had been a long day, and Roscoe Tate was so ready to go home and shower, eat and crash on his big sofa and not move all weekend. He has been exhausted for the past seven months. He hung up his apron and helmet in his locker as soon as he had clocked out. Walking out the door to the parking lot, he noticed a bunch of the guys talking at the end of the sidewalk. Cutting across the grass to avoid them, he sees Jeremiah Hamilton waving to them and walking towards him.

Hey, Roscoe, what are you doing tonight, asking Jeremiah if some of the boys are going down to Dixie's and grab a bite to eat. Do you want to come along? It's been a very long week."

"Naa, got plans tonight, Ruby has a special dinner planned tonight for us, she said. So, I best be getting along, she's doing some candlelight thing tonight. I don't want to hurt her feelings; she's been planning this for weeks."

"Well, if your sure, the boys were just wondering."

"Glad to hear that everything's back to normal," he said as he slapped Roscoe on the back and strutted off to his truck. Back to normal, if only it were, Roscoe thought to himself as he climbed into his Ford F250. Nothing had been typical for Roscoe and Ruby Tate lately. They were so close this time, almost made it. It just wasn't in the cards for them, he guessed.

When Roscoe comes home from work, he's hoping the house isn't a disgusting mess. He was hoping that his wife Ruby, of 7 years had happened to her senses and cleaned the house and cooked him his favorite meal. It had been six months since she lost the baby and went into a depression. He needs her to snap out of it and become human again. He stopped the truck in the driveway and stared at the house. They had moved there five years ago when he started work at the Steel factory.

Ruby was going to stay home to raise their children. It had been their plans during high school. Ruby was Roscoe's sweetheart, and they had married when Roscoe had gotten out of the Army, and he returned home to find her still there waiting for him. He had figured she would have found someone and moved on. But, she hadn't, even after the blow-up, they had the day Roscoe left. He never wrote to her to tell her where he was. Just wasn't much of a writer, himself, and had always regretted doing that to her. He has always loved her.

He hears the TV blaring as he turns the key in the lock. The tension was now shooting through his shoulders. He pushes the door open and hit by a wave of smell from the garbage she said she would take it out last night. He had cooked fish, and the smell was horrendous, you could hardly breathe. "How in the world can you sit there with that awful smell, woman? I thought you were taking out the trash this morning?"

But, Ruby sits there staring at the screen. She has been watching TV all day instead of fixing dinner, like every day. She is just sitting there, occasionally flipping the channels. "So, I guess this means you didn't cook again!" he shouts at her. She starts to get up and gets angry with him when he notices the mess.

"How dare you yell at me," screaming back at him.

"What else do you want me to do? I'm tired, Ruby, and I need your help here. I can't take this mess anymore."

"Then, leave, like everyone else has, I don't care anymore." Ruby stares at him, piercing him to his core. What has happened to his sweet Ruby? Roscoe's shoulders slump, letting her know that he is defeated and can't go on anymore like this.

"How can you do this to me?" He sounded lost to her at that moment. Tears were pooling up in his eyes, one sliding down his right cheek. She turns away, so she doesn't see it. He reaches out to her and wraps his hand around her wrist.

She pauses, shakes her head no, and replies, "Don't touch me, Roscoe! Why do you still love me? After I have lost our child, How can you want me? Knowing that, she struggles to get the words out, I can't give you a child, that they all have died. How can I go on?"

Roscoe walks up behind her and takes Ruby in his arms. She goes limp, and he eases her back onto the sofa. Bending down on his knees, he tilts her chin up to look into her eyes, and he sees the tears forming in her eyes. "Babe, please come back to me. I need you, and I need you here with me now, please," he pleads with her. She wiggles in his arms at first, looking up at him she sees the tears slide down his cheeks. At that very moment, she blinks as if something jarred her free of the darkness that had consumed her for the last six months.

"Why are you crying, Ros, darling? "I miss our baby, too, ya know?" he says. She stiffed again at the mention of their child.

"Please, don't Ruby, let me help you with it. Let us help each other. I need you, too." Ruby stared deep into Roscoe's eyes. She knew then the pain he was going through as well.

She wiped the tears away from his face with her small hand that always comforted him in the past. He places kisses upon her soft cheeks taking away the tears that had been there. "My sweet, Ruby, I will always love you. You are my life. Don't you know that by now? I could never imagine it without you ever."

He sits down on the sofa, taking her into his arms and sitting her onto his lap. Taking his finger and placing it under her chin, then tilting it up to smile at her. "Here, I tell you what, let me order Chinese food, all your favorites, and I'll clean up while you take a nice soak in the tub, bubbles and all, okay.

Placing a hand on Roscoe's chest, she shakes her head and smiles at him. "Egg rolls too, don't forget the egg rolls, hun," she whispered in his ear as he hugged her close, their foreheads pressed together. "It's going to be alright now, you'll see. We can do this together."


Word count: 1162

Prompt:
When Roscoe comes home from work, the house is a disgusting mess.
His wife, Ruby, is angry when he notices the mess.
Ruby watches TV instead of fixing dinner.
Roscoe orders take-out and cleans up the mess.



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