Wearing an Emerald Green Dress on My Birthday Cost Me My Husband

from the quick, impatient stride I had listened to for twenty-five years.

I stayed at the kitchen table, watching the steam rise from my mug until it stopped.

Upstairs, there was the faint sound of dresser drawers sliding open and shut, then the hangers in the master bedroom closet clinking together. I did not go up to help him find his socks or his continue reading …