Brave
For as long as I can remember, since I knew how to speak even, there have been words that I wanted to say, but could not. There were things that I felt, things that I thought. But I never shared those things. And everyone thought that I was just shy. I remember going to restaurants with my mother when I was 10 years old. She’d hand me the kids’ menu and we would sit quietly while she decided what she wanted to order. When the waitress ...
soulmate
My wife Claire fully believed in the power of counseling. “When you can’t do something yourself, you consult a professional, right? If your plumbing is blocked up, you call a plumber. If you need a new transmission, you get a mechanic.” she’d say. “And we’ve been trying to get our marriage straight for the last 2 years. It ain’t working. We need help.” She said those words so tacitly, not even bothering to make eye contact with ...
I Married Him Instead
I’ll never forget the first time that I saw you. It was way before you even noticed me. I was the new girl, all long limbs and with a mess of interlocks in my hair. That afternoon, I had finally built up the courage to join the track team after my mother had been hounding me for weeks about “putting myself out there” and “meeting new people”. “You’re a great girl,” she’d tell me. “I’m sure that anyone that meets you will ...
Marry Him
I realized today that I don’t want to marry him. But I’m going to do it anyway. I mean, we are pretty deep into this thing. Tom and I grew up together. Our parents were the best of friends, and we lived next door to one another. I suspect that a lot of that friendship was due to convenience since they fought like cats and dogs, but I didn’t care as long as I had Tom around. When we’d run out into the fields and play hide and seek, I’d ...
Rewind
I woke up on December 31st struggling to find the strength to get out of bed. Just like all of my days in recent memory. The dreams (or nightmares) hadn’t stopped plaguing me. It seemed that every night my subconscious mind was reaching into the abyss of my memories to find the reason for my current predicament. And all that had accomplished was laying out how terrible of a husband I had been. Everyday, I called Jasmine to plead my case. All ...
Dancing
All of the lights were turned off, except for the Christmas tree lights of course. And I watched as they flickered on and off, rhythmically dancing across the tree and creating my own little light show. It was Christmas Eve. 11:30 PM. I sat on the couch, leaning against the armrest with my head balanced on my fist. And I was alone in a house that was meant for me to share with my family. Last Christmas was a dream come to life. It literally ...
Brown Sugar
Mattie’s kitchen wasn’t much to talk about. The appliances were past their prime a decade ago. The linoleum tiles that still remained were either faded or cracked. And at first glance, you’d be hard pressed to see how more than three adults could squeeze into the tiny space. But with her years of experience, she’d mastered churning out delectable dishes running the gamut from culinary classics to southern delicacies to gourmet masterpi...
Fortune Cookies
Franklin had been watching Sophia for weeks now. He was starting to feel like a stalker. But he knew he wasn’t. He was infatuated with her, sure, but it only becomes stalking once that infatuation moves to an unhealthy place. And Franklin had decided that patiently waiting for her to come into Starbucks every morning at 7:35 sharp wasn’t unhealthy. He would come in around 7 and order a venti black coffee every morning. He rarely deviated ...
Breaking Up With L.A.
It really was a beautiful day. It was a balmy 75 degrees outside and an intermittent cool breeze blew past in seemingly perfect intervals. The beginnings of autumn leaves fluttered to the ground, adding green and brown hues to the otherwise lackluster sidewalk. It was the perfect day to enjoy being outside, but I just wanted to get home. From point A to point B. I was speed-walking to my car from the Agoura Hills office I had been holed up in ...
Dead-Beat
Tony sat at his desk feverishly awaiting a call from his daughter. In his cubicle, decorated in shades of gray, Tony had assigned a place for everything. Scissors, notepads, rulers, and an entire array of office supplies neatly hung from push pins in the corkboard. A system of filing trays was positioned immediately to his left, with labels hanging from the lip of each. Outgoing. Incoming. In Process. The bottom tray was left unlabeled because ...
