After a significant snowfall, I came home to a cleared driveway. I have a chronic back injury, and I’d been dreading the shoveling. Seeing it already done was an enormous relief.
I assumed my wife had taken care of it. Things between us had been rough, and this felt like a small, practical sign that we were turning a corner. Inside, I thanked her and told her how nice it was to come home to that. I felt appreciated. We ended up being intimate for the first time in a while.
The next day, she stopped by my workplace to drop something off. My coworker Ana greeted her and asked how our night had been. I said we’d finally gotten to relax because my wife had handled the snow like a sweetheart. I kissed my wife on the temple and said it seemed like a sign of good things ahead.
Ana didn’t correct me. My wife left, and we went back to work.
Toward the end of the day, another coworker asked whether my driveway had been cleared. When I asked how he knew, he said he’d heard Ana talking about paying someone to do it. He hadn’t known whether she’d gone through with it.
I asked my wife whether she’d actually arranged the shoveling. She said yes. When I mentioned what I’d heard at work, she suggested she might have mixed up the dates. Eventually, she admitted she hadn’t done it.
I’ve never known her to lie like this. That’s what has me stuck. She accepted my thanks at home, then stood there while I praised her directly in front of the person who apparently deserved the credit.
I don’t understand Ana’s silence, either. She could have corrected me or mentioned it privately. She did neither, and I’m left wondering what that conversation at work must have looked like to her.
I told my wife I thought she should apologize for taking credit. She said Ana clearly didn’t consider it a big deal, since she hadn’t said anything, and that bringing it up would only make things awkward.
Maybe it would be awkward. But is asking my wife to acknowledge someone else’s favor really what would make it awkward?
