The Slap That Ended Everything

his name on the screen until it stopped.

Then came a text.

Please don’t do this.

A second one.

We can fix it.

Then:

Call me before you make this uglier.

I laughed at that. Not loudly. Just once.

As if uglier was a future tense.

I looked out at the wet street, at women barefoot in evening gowns hurrying to black cars, at a valet dragging a cart of centerpieces continue reading …