The Wife of the Luckiest Man

[Christian Jay]

She was holding the rental video in her hands, reading the cover and smiling fondly as he casually rounded the corner of “Sci-Fi Thrillers” and “Romantic Comedies.”

 

When he was an arm’s length away, she absently thumbed the belt loop on his hip, gently pulled him close and softly spoke, “This video reminds me of our week in Jamaica, honey, sunning on the beach, shopping for souvenirs, cocktails in the hotel.....the fireworks in the bedroom,” and pressed against him as the last few enchantingly spoken words hung in the air like a puff of sweet perfume.

 

Instantly he became nervous, and he couldn’t tell if it was because public displays of affection always freaked him out, or if it was because he didn’t remember anything about the week in Jamaica except scurrying secretively away to score some ganja, gorging on cheap food, and, well, ok yeah, at least he did remember fireworks in the bedroom- that he did remember - and tension melted from his shoulders as he released an unintentionally held breath.

 

“Hmmm,” he replied simply, trying to match her timbre and sincerity, and she set the movie back on the shelf, turned to face him, and looked up at him as she went to wrap her arms around his waist.

 

He hesitantly reached out to return her embrace and their eyes locked for a half second - hers filled with love and undying passion; his stunned as he witnessed the arresting beauty of her essence - when her eyes widened and with a sudden bolt of realization exclaimed, “Oh, I’m so sorry, I thought you were my husband!!” and she immediately distanced herself, flushed, and hurriedly went in search of her true mate.

 

He stood, now alone, arms still half outstretched in empty space, abruptly saddened beyond belief by the knowledge that he had never - and most likely never would - experience a fragment of the comfort, the confidence, the acceptance and devotion, or the plain and simple want of another, that he glimpsed in the instant his gaze locked with hers, and as he heard her voice trail off in the distance, “...and he even wore the same cologne as you, honey, it was so weird...,” he shuffled away from “Romantic Comedies,” retreated past “Sci-Fi Thrillers,” brushed by “Family Favorites,” and headed out the door in favor of “Bill’s Tavern.”

 

 

[Toby Tucker Hecht]

Great story.  I didn't see that twist coming and you pulled it off beautifully.  Even when she said, "I thought you were my husband," I saw this going in a totally different direction, that is, that he WAS her husband and she discovered he wasn't the man she thought she knew.  (I thought this because his wife must have been in the store or else why would he have thought she was his wife?)

[Kristine_ES]

what could be worse than telling a woman "no honey, i really don't remember that weekend you loved so much in jamaica" and crushing her passion, so you have to lie about it with a "hmmmm" trying to match her timber and sincerity  (is that an unwritten rule?)..  but to have your own spark put out by reality, which was...it didn't happen anyway and the fear you would never experience it ever?   damn, quite a thing here.

[Angela]

This was superb.  The arc of a relationship that never happened.  Imaginative and enjoyable read.

[Robert Crisman]

Well done.

[jkdavies]

interesting twist :)