She wants to meet on Friday at a restaurant.
We have to talk.
About what I wonder.
Could it be that after all these years she has had enough?
Enough of buying groceries and cooking you delicious meals
Enough of walking in the park
Enough of trimming my beard with an electric razor when it gets unruly
Enough of throwing my dirty laundry into the wash
Enough of playing chess
Enough of going to see live music together
Enough of being a sounding board
Enough of watching my back
Enough of stuff a gentleman does not write about but always appreciates
Enough of doing random stuff—together
Enough of talking through problems
Enough of the things most couples do.
Enough.
She wouldn’t be the first but she might be the last. In the first place I did nothing wrong. But maybe I haven’t done enough right.
There are forces at play driving us apart and it’s not what I want but what does she want?
Probably not me.
Not anymore.
Not anything new to anyone who has been around.
Things change.
So do people.
Love is hard sometimes.
The rules and expectations change over time.
We haven’t spoken this week.
I’m hoping she changes her mind but I don’t think she will.
I can’t read her mind but I can read the tea leaves. Exit visas are imminent.
There is stuff to do. As there always is.
Air conditioners need new filters.
Bills must get paid especially when you get termination notices in the mail.
The bill has come due on this relationship and I don’t know if there is enough good stuff in the bank to save it.
Flowers won’t do the trick and I’m an old enough dog by now to know there are no new tricks I can try.
When a woman says I don’t love you anymore. It’s over.
They say it in a number of ways.
They don’t light up like a firefly or reach for your hand and hold you in their arms.
They do what they do without you and when they say, “meet me at a restaurant on Friday we need to talk”,…It’s never a good thing.
It’s a final thing.
A last nail in the coffin of a relationship that has had a good many years with plenty of laughs and love and that should be enough to be very grateful for but right now it is hard to feel anything but sad.
No new mantras or rationale will make it better.
Waiting for Friday.
But I know what she is going to say already.
This is not what I want. I want to travel like my friends. You never want to do anything. You are always in crisis.
I don’t love you anymore.
Banner Image: Love hearts from pixabay.com. pastel coloured heart shaped candies with romance messages stamped into them
Images: women fading away into the background by the author
literally stories 
Hi Adam,
This is a style that when you read it you think, ‘I could do something like that.’
It’s a damn sight harder than it looks. When someone makes something look easy, you can bet your life on it not being so.
You are an absolute master at sparse writing. (You make it look criminally easy!)
I would add something onto this and hope that it makes sense – This is a sort of linked subject prompt writing!
All the very best my fine friend.
Hugh
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Adam
The She and He works of art are fantastic! The decided eyes, the dropped countenance. They match the lyrics perfectly.
Leila
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Very well judged in terms of pace and content. One that hits home!
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This is incredibly sad – Poor bloke, maybe she just wants to talk about their Christmas plans – nah – that’s not it. How sad. Great art work. Thank you – dd
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I thought the same thing. We need a new refrigerator, where should we go on vacation?
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Kluger
This is heartbreaking, relatable, and true.
The images are beautiful and William Blakean, and they illustrate and match the prose poetry perfectly. I love Hugh’s phrase “sparse writing” for this, and the pictures have a maximalist power through their minimalism, too. You are a fearsome talent.
God bless.
DWB
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The minimalist style works well. My favorite line is “In the first place I did nothing wrong. But maybe I haven’t done enough right.” More good artwork to enjoy, too.
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The story might relate to any and all couples. I’ve written and extended version of perils of a long term relationship (ended ambigously). My editor could be the one who proclaimed we have something to talk about. Long suffering would be an understatement.
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Adam,
I love how he knows without knowing. Makes you think perhaps he needs a new, something-something himself. Noone knows these things. Love and life is unknowable, mostly. Oh well.
Lovely!, — gerry
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Hi Adam,
I feel this piece. It strikes a chord, pushes and pulls us and we know it’s true. A good piece of writing and format, thanks. Also like your art work and the funny candy hearts with messages in Dutch and English !
my best,
Maria
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I like the flow and narration.
It took me through my own relationships.
Hot and cold like stock rising or falling.
The writing style is very lean which I appreciate.
It doesn’t bog the reader down.
It seems my comments are emulating the prose style.
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The anticipation of the end. I can relate! I get the sense, or maybe I’m projecting, that a vast chasm is opening up. “I hope that she changes her mind” is the closest to knowing how the narrator feels as we receive the kind-of-dispassionate statements which make the piece and the edge the narrator’s falling off even sharper.
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As others have said this somewhat staccato style gives a sense of urgency and the repetition a sense of being stuck. It brought to mind Bukowski’s poems for me.
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