Kelly met Frank on a snowy night in January because Megan kept her late at Patrick’s bar. “Megan, it’s snowing. We need to go.” “Just one more,” Megan pouted like a kid, her lips full and red. By the time… Continue Reading
My body is decomposing. It starts to peel away like an onion losing its skin, only to reveal a shriveled core beneath. I must not let him witness this transformation. Since I assumed the role of Madame Wang, I have… Continue Reading
Fifteen years and three children ago, George met Dorothy #1 at the wedding of a friend. Theirs is a relatively happy marriage, rather unremarkable, the matrimonial equivalent of vanilla ice cream, no sprinkles. Predictable, reliable. He works as a tax… Continue Reading
She looked good in sundresses. But then again, what girl doesn’t? Z. was a woman of enormous appetites (for breakfast she took eggs Benedict with grapefruit and half a bottle of Gaston Chiquet) who lived in a garlanded townhome halfway… Continue Reading
At 6:42 a.m. she steps barefoot onto the bathroom scale. In two months, she gained five pounds. She presses a fist to her mouth and pretends not to cry. Underneath the sink she keeps her special pills for this type… Continue Reading
The room is dimly lit. The woman who just impressed you by gulping her Budweiser in one of those craft-brew bars is now asking if you have children. Before this, she’d liked the way you won the game of pool… Continue Reading
Abbie rose from the couch when she heard the key rattle in the lock and the thump of Troy’s boots hitting the floor. It was two in the morning. Troy staggered into their apartment, mumbling a slurred story about pub… Continue Reading
In that dreary mid-March, mid-semester time, Larry found it hard to get up. Long after his wife, Cheryl, left the house for her student sewing circle and after his own alarm sounded, he lay awake. He listened to a dragging… Continue Reading
It was her birthday and Bob went all out. He spent a fortune on Evette’s dress and half a year’s salary on the dinner party. He mentioned the dress several times during the meal which embarrassed Eve to no end.… Continue Reading
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Nathan asks. He sounds hurt. My foot traces figures of eight in the water. We are sitting on the jetty leading out to the lake. It’s still warm. There’s a pair of spotted ducks gliding… Continue Reading