“She was a woman who was a wife, doing what she had to do, whatever the cost.”
******
“She’s pretending – Lana gauged her young daughter’s face. She rides a horse that doesn’t exist, and she’s pretending her father doesn’t, either.”
******
“‘You fought in the war?’ she asked.
‘I did. Then I came back.’
She gazed at her new husband – ‘But you must have been a hero.’
He shook his head – ‘I survived. Sometimes living’s heroic enough.’”
******
“James rounded the corner and headed down Main Street, pausing in front of Andy’s dad’s hardware store. Andy had been at baseball practice with James until Andy’s mom came and dragged him off for a haircut, Andy scowling and yelping the whole way he was about to be scalped. James grinned, thinking about Andy. He caught the grin in his reflection in the hardware store’s window. He looked different when he smiled. He looked good. Maybe that’s why Andy always made him laugh.”
Relationships – we’re still ourselves in them, whether we recognize ourselves or not.
—Excerpts from “Asked For”