With the whole Oklahoma affair now behind him, he was once more preoccupied by his marital troubles. Within a couple of months he was like a teapot on the verge of boiling. Just a couple more degrees and he would be screaming. Lisa could tell something was bothering him, and asked him about it on numerous occasions. But, by then Lovelle was completely determined not to confront her. He believed that the time for dealing with the issue properly was long past. He realized that it was his own fault, and was again determined to just deal with it. Mistakenly, he looked at this as an act of benevolence, as if he were acting to spare her. But, in reality, it was a terribly selfish act. Rather than raise the issue in hopes of resolving it, and taking his due lumps for keeping something this important from her in the first place, he instead forced her to share in his misery. Lisa not only had to live with a sometimes insufferable grump, but, had to watch the man she loved sink into a self-imposed state of depression.
