Above all, be decisive.

The salad plate hit the table with a harder thud than usual. Murph looked up from his potatoes julienne to observe the manner in which his wife retrieved the next plate. She returned to the table, delicately placing the next plate in her own spot and sitting down to eat. Murph wondered if this was about the trip to her parents' house. It had gone well, but he was called away for work and left a day early. The meat on his plate was juicy and sub par, bought at a discount price and frozen for long-term use before being grilled. Murph considered asking her what was wrong, but knew from experience that doing so would only exacerbate the inevitable fight. All he could do is make an educated guess and attempt damage control. If it wasn't about the visit to her parents' house, it may be the fact that her birthday was coming up and he hadn't gotten her anything yet. Money had been a little tight, and her birthday was a few days after his next paycheck. He thought he could cut it close. She'd be watching the credit cards for a large purchase since she balanced the checkbooks and payed the bills. Maybe she was upset because he didn't do enough work around the house? He couldn't remember the last time he picked up a cleaning rag or payed a bill, but he and she had established a long time ago that she wanted to keep up with the housework since he was the one bringing home paychecks she would be the one cleaning the house. It had only been a brief problem after moving into their first house, as both were adjusting to the idea that only one of them was doing the cleaning. It took a while for Murph to learn that the things he'd left strewn about the house yesterday weren't lost tomorrow, simply put away in places unfamiliar to him. Murph contemplated helping out more for both his and her convenience.

Dana wondered why it was taking Murph so long to ask her. She could never understand why men wouldn't outright address problems anymore. Not like her father, who would outright attack her mother if his drink was a little too sour. She knew he knew, he knew she knew he knew, why wouldn't he just have at her?