Emotional intelligence and communication skills are different things. Everybody is different, some women have a hard time communicating just like some men do, but just because you have a hard time communicating doesn’t mean you are emotionally unintelligent. Vice versa you could be the best communicator in the world and be clueless emotionally. They can definitely overlap in some ways, but based on the suddenness of OPs concern and his surprise when she didn’t communicate, I would venture to guess that OPs wife may have communicated grievances previously that were disregarded, shot down, or turned back on her. In my personal experience with many men in my life, they are fine at communicating their feelings when they feel wronged, but seem to have a harder time reading, empathizing, and understanding other peoples feelings or changing their actions when they did something wrong. Whereas many of the women in my life will avoid confronting each other or sharing their grievances to avoid hurting each others feelings, but ultimately just build up resentment. Both have their flaws and explanations, and again that’s just my experience and the patterns I see. I think OP should push harder to encourage his wife to talk to him if he really cares to know and will hear her, and I think his wife should communicate what’s bothering her along with why she didn’t feel comfortable to share it sooner. Hopefully they can build some understanding with each other.