Zandra parked her car alongside Emmett’s work stuff, gripping the steering wheel almost hard enough to crush it in her fingers. Why the garage thing was such a big deal to her, she didn't know for sure but she understood now the meaning of being so mad that her blood boiled.

"We are going to fix this." She pushed open the door and stumbled blindly to the back to drop the tailgate.

Elfie hopped down but Fiyero came over and stuck his soggy jowls into Zandra’s face.

"Oh, hi, Fiyero!" She ruffled his ample cheeks for a few seconds then pulled him to the edge and helped to lower him to the ground. It had only been the last couple of weeks that he’d needed help getting in and out of the truck.

No sign of Emmett in the driveway. She didn't want to go inside and be all cooped up for the conversation that was coming, so she led the dogs to the front yard and plopped down on the grass beneath the huge oak tree in the center of their yard.

Fiyero went to water the bushes briefly, then plopped himself down alongside Zandra while Elfie sniffed the entire front yard to see if anything had changed since she'd done her inspection earlier that morning. Fiyero automatically began licking the wound on his front ankle, so Zandra distracted him with some good petting. She wasn’t imagining it, that wound was worse than it had been.

How did this happen? Wasn't Zandra a good wife and a good woman? She took care of the house – cleaned it, did laundry, even worked in the yard keeping everything looking nice. The meals she cooked for Emmett and herself weren't always her favorite but they were what Emmett loved for the most part. There was no problem in the bedroom, as far as she knew. No couple was 100% compatible, right? Emmett’s appetites and tastes in that department were sometimes a little bit more out there than what Zandra would choose, but she thought they had it figured out and had a pretty darn good compromise going.

Sure, there wasn't as much cuddling and kissing as there had been early on, but that had to happen to every couple. Emmett did seem to get bored with kissing if things didn't escalate quickly enough, but wasn't that the difference between men and women?

Elfie, content with her scan of the yard, came and sat on the grass near Zandra. She didn't slump down and surrender to the day like Fiyero had. She never really did. It was as if she had to keep an eye on things, just to make sure everything was safe and, Zandra tried to put a name on it – organized? Even now she looked around with her head high in the air, eyes going to her son, who appeared to have fallen asleep again, as often as they went anywhere else.

Like the sheepdogs in the cartoons but with a much sleeker coat and regal bearing, she was the sentinel and she took her job seriously.

"Relax." Zandra's voice must not have been very convincing because Elfie pushed herself up to do a lap around Zandra and sniff Fiyero like a mother who was checking to see if a diaper needed to be changed. Zandra couldn't fault her for her stress today; she had to be picking up on some of what Zandra was feeling.

If Emmett took much longer to get home, she'd have to come up with some options that didn't include sitting here and waiting for him.

No sooner had the thought made it through her mind than Emmett’s tires on the gravel of their driveway reached her ears. Both dogs’ ears perked up but they obviously recognized the tune of his tires and the hum of his diesel because neither of them chuffed like they did when any other car encroached on their driveway.

"Don't worry, pups. Things are going to get better. Watch this, I suspect you're going to see a human looking like a beaten dog in just a sec."

Emmett positioned his truck in the accustomed spot just outside of the garage. After a very loaded pause, the door flew open and Emmett popped out of the truck. His head was high and his shoulders and back were straight as he walked over to Zandra and the dogs. Man, he was good-looking, with his dark hair, dark eyes, two-day stubble and designer work clothes that fit him oh so nice.

Maybe the stubble was the problem. She couldn’t take the sandpaper kisses for nearly as long as she’d like. A clean shave would be a good place to start, after they got through this talk.

There was no beaten dog to his walk as Zandra had expected and she got the feeling there was more work ahead of her than she'd thought.