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Done.

The word seemed to weave in and out of her consciousness even while Laylee slept. The house is finished. At last. The end was irritatingly anticlimactic. Almost depressing after all this time.

She clung to the two damaged tiles in the playroom bathroom like driftwood; let their brokenness fill the gaping holes in her mental schedule. Must call the decorator we should probably redo the whole floor obviously those tiles weren’t what I ordered… Still something to do.

Wispy morning light filtered through her bedroom window and the curtain fluttered gently. Laylee awoke with a start. She was used to dreaming in textiles. Fabric and color design and patterns blueprints and placement and perfect stitching. She’d even dreamed the dress she wore to Binny’s wedding sketched it upon waking sent it off to her seamstress triumphantly.

But the dreams about the house had been gray since moving in. Drab. Monochrome. She yawned loudly wondered if the sudden colorlessness was an ominous sign. As she sat up she noticed her phone vibrating loudly on the nightstand. Oh calm yourself it’s barely even morning... what could possibly be so urgent?

The answer wasn’t long in coming. After a few minutes of heated typing Laylee ran downstairs to find her husband.

“Gavi we have a problem.”

“Hmmm?” he murmured still reading the news.

Laylee was used to being noticed. Even as a young girl she possessed a unique gravitational pull. People were dazzled by her confidence her eyes her smile. And her clothing. Always her clothing. She found Gavi’s ambivalence to her presence exasperating.

Waiting for him to look up a thought tickled her brain. Good wives don’t interrupt. They wait patiently for their husbands to look up. They sip their hypothetical coffee peer over the top of their mug and wait. Laylee drummed her fingers tapped her foot listened to Cassandra shuffle upstairs to wake the girls for school. Then she interrupted. “I just can’t believe this is happening to me ” she said attempting to set attractive bait.

“I’m going to need more details in to put on a realistic show of sympathy” Gavi said distractedly. “Wait… wait let me guess. That thingy didn’t come in on time for the other thingy and now that room looks terrible ’cuz it’s lacking so many thingys… am I right?”

“No Gavi. This isn’t about furniture. This is about the Zika virus” Laylee said quietly.

Gavi’s set down his phone his brow furrowing. “Laylee” he said slowly eyes betraying a trace of fear. “What are you talking about?”