Ridiculous. This whole argument was absurd but we were going to have it anyway.

"If you heard it, why didn't you pick it up?"

She looked honestly confused but it seemed obvious to me. I scowled at her. "Why is this such a big deal? Yeah, I heard you drop it but I didn't know it was meant for me."

"Did you think it was trash?" Exasperation now threaded her voice and her arched eyebrow told me there was no way I was going to win this one.

"Well, I certainly didn't think it was some super-secret message that I should use my decoder ring to translate." Ah, Sarcasm: the last bastion of the spouse on the defensive.

"You just let it lay there?"

I shrugged. "I assumed whoever it was meant for would be along to pick it up."

Shaking her head, she blew out a short breath in exasperation and gently cupped my face in her hands. "Why can't you just take a compliment?"