2021 theme: RUPTURE

COMPROMISE Amanda Nida Sean’s wife kissed him softly on the cheek before she left for work. He pretended not to wake up and only squeezed an eye open after he heard her car drive away. Today was the day. He was leaving town. Consequently, he was also leaving Maggie.

He jumped out of bed and began gathering up his clothing. He didn’t have much time to pack, but he hadn’t wanted to start early and perhaps alert Maggie to what he was planning. He glanced back at the purple comforter he had tossed aside. It was a choice of Maggie’s, covered in a bland pattern of interlaced lowers. He hated that blanket. It was almost as bad as the bed it lay on, a blocky monstrosity that was a wedding gift from Maggie’s parents.

But no more of that. In only a few hours, he would be on a light across the country to Orlando. A short connection to Key West and he’d be on a beach with Francis. No return light had been booked.

Stacking his shirts in his dusty suitcase, he could still smell hints of his wife’s perfume wafting from the bathroom. It was the slightly chemical jasmine smell of the Chanel perfume he’d bought for her birthday ive years ago. She still wore it every day. Her bottle was almost empty. I need to buy her another bottle, he thought.

But no, he’d be long gone. He shouldn’t need to remind himself. There would be things like this that he would miss; the routine of home or whatever.

Christmas wouldn’t be the same without snow, but Sean liked the idea of palm trees strung with lights.

The early morning light in the room was still dim. Outside he could hear his neighbors heading out the door and on to work. That wouldn’t be him, not anymore. He couldn’t stand his job. He’d always wanted to be a writer, and had even written in his spare time…or at least he used to. But for the last twelve years he had worked as a consultant at an insurance company. The work paid well enough but it was dull. Once he got to Key West, though, Sean was determined to set himself up as a writer, to get back to his passion.

He zipped up his suitcase and set it upright before heading to the kitchen.

Maggie’s cofee cup and toast plate were still sitting in the sink. He licked the tap on and began rinsing them but then froze, the plate still in his hand.

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