CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Blair
Then
Over the next several years, Scott and I seemed to be drifting further apart from each other. I felt like we’d gotten a rough start to our marriage anyway, and things seemed to be going worse now.
The kids were getting older. Sutton and the twins were at the elementary school, and Sophia was walking now.
Scott had been spending more and more time at work.
He came home late often now. He’d arranged to have longer hours on certain days of the week to accommodate more of Indigo Falls’ working population.
He’d also added Saturdays twice a month.
When he was home, he was often preoccupied. He would go for long walks, work out at the gym, have his face buried in his phone, or research new dental techniques in his home office. Truthfully, we saw each other very little.
He seemed more than fine with it. If I suggested we watch a movie or a show we used to like, he’d come up with an excuse to avoid it. On the rare occasions he did spend time with me, he’d act antsy, distracted, and like he didn’t want to be there.
So, I quit trying, too. I channeled my energy into my creativity. I’d been an interior design and architecture major in college before dropping out. I’d always been interested in design, and I knew I could draw well enough that I’d impressed my teachers throughout my life.
I couldn’t exactly enroll in school right now, though. But after watching many, many seasons of The Great British Baking Show while folding laundry, I decided to use my skills in a different way than I’d ever thought of.
I wanted to design and hand-decorate gourmet sugar cookies. I’d spent months researching and trying new things. I’d finally learned how to flood the icing to give the cookies their perfect, shiny smooth finish. I’d experimented with flavors. I’d come up with specialty designs.
I’d even had the Georgia Department of Agriculture come out to do an assessment before I could get a cottage food license. I’d really researched this whole enterprise. I’d worked long and hard on it, and I was just about to officially start selling my wares.
My company name was ‘That Cookie Lady.’ I’d wanted to go for ‘Cookie Momster,’ but I’d been vetoed. They’d said it didn’t go with my gourmet aesthetic. I wasn’t totally sure ‘That Cookie Lady’ did, either, but at least everyone seemed to like it.
They were probably right, but I was a little bummed. I’d envisioned myself dressing as a cute, Mom-style version of Cookie Monster and visiting the schools in town.
Instead, I designed a logo that was very high-end. At least for Indigo Falls. It would just look normal in Atlanta. I’d even ordered huge magnetic clings of my logo for the doors of my SUV. It worked for both advertising and delivery.
I’d mentioned it in passing to Scott, but he’d barely seemed interested at all. So, he didn’t really know what all was going on in the house. He spent all his time away from it, even when he was actually there. In his mind, he always seemed a million miles away.
If it wasn’t for our fantastic sex life, we would barely have a marriage at all.
He had his life; we had ours.
And, sadly, I didn’t see that changing anytime soon.