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“That’s really not what I’m worried about here, Marshall,” Elsie says, blank-faced when I glance over.

“Then what worries do you have?”

“Look, I know I asked you to quit your job. You know I don’t like you going out to the middle of the Gulf for weeks at a time like you do or being gone so much. But it is your job, and it’s part of who you are. I am trying to come to terms with it. This feels sudden. Surely, you don’t intend just to become a stay-at-home dad.”

I continue to drive without response.

“Oh, my goddess. You do. You really do.” She says, mouth agape. “Marshall!”

“We can talk through the details later, but my mind is made up, Elsie,” I say sternly.

I know she won’t ultimately fight me on it, but she still pouts in the passenger seat for the rest of the trip back to her office, where lunch is waiting for us.

Silence continues through our lunch, and then Oliver knocks at the door.

“Reminder that your meeting about the site tour is in fifteen minutes.” He interrupts, relieving some of the pressure in the room.

“Oh!” Elsie says, finally looking up from her papers and food at her desk. “Pregnancy brain’s a bitch sometimes. Thank you, Oliver.”

“Welcome.” He says, backing out of the room and closing the door behind him.

“What’s this for?” I ask, curious about her work.

“A client we’re courting wants me to go out and do a visit with them on one of their rigs that we’re surveying.” She explains.

“What?” I ask, bewildered.

“Yeah. That’s what we do. Or at least the first step.” She continues going into the science, oblivious to my mounting frustration. “The Gulf of Mexico is known for its rich deposits of crude oil and natural gas. It’s created the perfect environment for coral reefs to thrive.”

With every word, my pulse increases, and my hands grip tightly at the seat beneath me.

“Salt deposits in the Gulf rise up on the ocean floor, which creates pockets of crude oil and natural gas where companies build their offshore rigs.” She explains. “You should know this, Marshall.”

She chuckles, and not even the music of her voice calms me down.

“So, these deposits rise high enough in many cases to create the perfect environment for coral to receive just the right amount of sunlight. Plus, due to the distance from the coastline, they can maintain the perfect temperature that saves the coral in heat waves which bleach many other ecosystems.” Her words start to muddle together in my ears. “We go out and evaluate different rigs to see if we can basically manually start reefs up around these rigs.”

I stay silent, unable to say anything for fear of hurting Elsie with my words.

“Marshall? Are you okay?” She asks, finally looking at me and away from her papers.

“I want you to give up doing site visits,” I say firmly.

“What?” She squeaks.

“You heard me.” I take a deep breath. “You don’t like when I’m out on rigs? Well, I don’t like you being out there anymore. I want you to stop doing site visits for work. Hire someone else to do them. Hell, I’ll do them for you.”

“Marshall.” She starts.

“No. Hear me out, Elsie, please.” I glance over at her, where she sits across from me in her high-backed desk chair. “You and la pequeña ciruela azucarada mean more to me than anything.” The little sugar plum.

“That doesn’t mean I can stop doing my job, Marshall,” Elsie says, her defenses rising.

“I’m not asking you to stop doing your job, Elsie. I’m asking you to hand off doing this one thing. No more travel. That’s all I’m asking.” He pleads. “When you asked me to quit my job, you said it was because you didn’t want our kid sitting on the porch steps waiting for their father to come home. I’m asking the same thing. I don’t want our family to have to worry about you every time you leave on a trip. I don’t want our child to grow up with that fear. And I don’t want to live with it myself.”

Her expression flashes through so many emotions that I can’t keep up with them. I can see her wanting to fight me, and my shoulders don’t relax even when I see the moment when she makes her decision.

“Okay. I’ll see what I can do.” She sighs. “There may be times when I’m unable to get around it, but I’ll do my best.”

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