The defrosted fridge
Rough Prompt Fiction
By Lauryn Lambert
“Hey.”
“Hey?” Lara barely glanced at Tony, she was halfway through cleaning out the fridge and she was in no mood to talk to her ex at this time.
“Can we talk?” He shuffled from foot to foot and peered over the door at her.
“Can you wipe this out with vinegar while I listen?” She kept scrubbing, not expecting a reply from him. He had a track record of doing absolutely nothing.
She jumped when he appeared on the other side of the fridge hand outstretched.”Yeah I can.”
She swiped a stray hair behind her ear and passed the cloth and spray bottle over. Lara blinked at him, curious to see if he would actually do any of the work.
“I can see you have been working hard.” He nodded to the living room, “you deserve a break.”
When Tony had left, Lara had channelled her energy into cleaning. She hadn’t realised how much stuff of his she had accumulated, and once she started her joy started coming back. She even let go of a lot of her own stuff too. She had donated her things that were in good condition, but she maturely boxed up his stuff for him to decide about.
“So these past few months that we have been separated, I have been doing a lot of thinking.”
Lara nearly spat out the water she was drinking. It was Tony who had left, deciding that they needed time apart, and that she should think about whether or not she wanted to be in this relationship.
“Alright.” She wasn’t brave enough to take another sip.
He sprayed the fridge down and began scrubbing. “There was a lot of junk, a lot of built up crap, and I was taking our relationship for granted.” His head disappeared into the fridge and he grunted. “I wasn’t taking any time to care for you and I was belittling you for taking care of yourself and trying to take care of us.”
Lara couldn’t make a sound. How had he come to this conclusion on his own? Was this a set up? Tears welled in her eyes.
Tony peered up over the fridge door. “I blamed you for my problems, but I think in the end what I needed, was like this fridge, I needed to be defrosted, clear out all the excess ice, and then things might work a lot better.”
“You are a defrosted fridge?”
He shrugs, “Maybe, a little. I know it’s going to take some time, and some reorganisation, but if you can forgive me, I’d like to try again. With you.”
Lara pressed her lips together and let out a long slow breath. “We can try.” She raised her eyebrow at him, “but it’s going to be slow.”
A smile broke across his face, “Thank you,” he said, before ducking back down to finish the job.
With eyebrows still raised, Lara toasted herself with her glass of water. Their second relationship was off to a promising start.
