How Could You?

“I can’t believe this,” April shouted at her husband Brian from their kitchen. “How could you?”

It was late in the afternoon and April had just gotten home from doing volunteer work with kids at their town’s library. Meanwhile, her husband had been home from work for about two hours. He always has a weird schedule, but April had noticed that it was even weirder now that they had a baby on the way. When she questioned him about it last week, he told her that he had started taking as many shifts as possible in an effort to acquire as much money as possible for them. 

“What?” Brian shouted with confusion in his voice. He had just got out of the shower and was now in their master bedroom, which was on the opposite end of the house from the kitchen. He hadn’t spoken to his wife all day, therefore he couldn’t imagine what on earth she could be shouting about. He was tempted to go over to her, but he could already hear her heavy footsteps heading towards him, so he decided to stay put. 

“I hope you’re happy with yourself,” April burst into the room with so much force that the doorknob left a slight dent in the wall. Her surprising strength startled them both, but she did not let that distract her from her anger. The wall was an issue that could be fixed later. This, however, was an urgent matter from the way April was acting.

“What did I do?” Brian frantically replied with a tone of confusion in his voice. He stopped brushing his hair and turned to face her as she stood in the doorway.

“You know what you did.” 

“No, I’m afraid I don’t?” Brian answered, his voice maintaining a steady tone of confusion.

“I hope you enjoyed it,” April looked as if she would burst into tears. “I hope it was sweet... I hope it was worth it.” She paused for a moment in between her sentences, as if she couldn’t believe she was having this conversation

“What the heck April? What did I do?” Brian raised his voice slightly, which seemed to take April off guard.

“Don’t play dumb with me!” She walked over to her side of the bed and sat down, looking at Brian with immense hate in her eyes as he stood in front of their mirror, which was on that same side of the room. She began to rub her stomach as if she were consoling the unborn baby that she was carrying. “While I’m pregnant with your child too. How could you?”

“April honey,” Brian lovingly began, “I can assure you, I haven’t done anything wrong.”

“Liar!” She exclaimed with passion, “Why did you do it?”

“Do what?” Brian was growing angry now. Her refusal to answer him was pissing him off. Not only that, but he was exhausted. All he wanted to do was relax and watch a movie. This argument was the last thing he needed right now. Especially since he was feeling much more pressure than usual, considering he was about to become a father. 

“Did you do it for fun? For the pure thrill or temptation of it? Did you think I wouldn’t find out?” She paused her frantic questioning for a moment before continuing. “Did you think of me while you did it? Or did you not care at all?” 

“Huh?” Brian replied. “Honey, take a minute to calm down.” He did his best to refrain from anger and speak calmly. He knew that she was feeling a wide variety of emotions, due to the fact that she could have their baby any day now. He walked over to her as she was sitting on the bed and placed his hand on her shoulder.

“Calm down? You want me to calm down?” April was growing infuriated now and took his hand off of her in disgust. She was so angry that she didn’t even want to look at him.

“Sweetie, please tell me what’s wrong.” Brain pleaded. He was grasping at straws, and she was not helping him a bit. It was driving him crazy not knowing the cause of this uproar. It seemed so odd to him. As far as he knew, he hadn’t done anything wrong.

“Please tell me why you did it,” April replied, persistently. This woman was not letting up, which made Brian even more frustrated. 

“I don’t even know what I did! Please tell me what I did!” Brian shouted. At that, April began to cry. “I’m sorry honey, don’t cry,” he said in an attempt to console her.

“You know what you did,” she managed to say in between sobs. “I found the evidence.”

They were both silent for a moment as the heaviness of her words settled in the air. “Evidence of what?” Brian replied quieter as he nervously began to search his memories for what she could be talking about.

“In the kitchen-” April managed to quit crying and began to speak to him in a fairly normal tone. She started rubbing her pregnant stomach again.

“The kitchen?” Brian questioned. What on earth did she find?

“I found the wrapper in the trash,” April said solemnly, looking down at the floor.

“What?” Brian managed to mutter, as his mind raced with a mix of anger, confusion, and concern. 

“How could you?” She was quieter as she said this, almost as if her anger had now subsided into sadness. A single tear slid down her cheek. She didn't bother to wipe it away. She let it fall into her lap as she stared at their dark green carpet, avoiding eye contact with her husband.

“How could I do what?” Brian matched her quiet tone and looked at her with concern. He sat down beside her. “What was the wrapper from?”

“An ice cream sandwich,” April finally confessed. “You ate the last ice cream sandwich! You knew that I was saving it for myself!”