They were getting off the highway when the light blinked on. “Goddammit,” Jeremy said. “The light's back on.”
Anna leaned over from the passenger seat and glanced at the dashboard. “Okay,” she said, “We’ll call Pat tomorrow morning. See if he can get it fixed before the weekend.”
“Sure, let’s go and pay him fifty bucks, then we can pay him another fifty bucks two weeks from now when something else goes wrong with the car.”
“I know you hate spending money but-”
“I hate spending money on stupid shit.”
There had been a time, Anna remembered, when Jeremy’s frugality was charming. He was saving up for the future, their future, she had thought. But now it seemed like he didn’t spend money because he didn’t want to spend it on her.
“Maybe if you weren’t so wrapped up in your job, you could take the car in.” Jeremy said. “But no. God forbid you take a day off.”
Anna looked down at her ring finger. It had become a habit of hers: argue with Jeremy, look down at the finger where she had long been expecting a ring, stew about both Jeremy and the absent ring, repeat.
“Well what the hell do you want to do about it, Jeremy? Do you want to just drive around with the light on until the fucking car blows up?”
“I’m just saying, how many times are we expected to try and fix the damn thing before we give up?”