The man sat, defeated, on the sofa with his head in his hands. He looked up at the woman seated across from him on the love seat. "So... This is it, I guess."
She nodded her head up and down, and cleared her throat, "Yes, I guess it is."
Her eyes were slightly swollen from the emotional day, her hands tightly clasped on her lap. The woman cleared her throat again, "Did you...."
"Grab the box from the spare room?" the man finished for her. He nodded his head yes.
He had cleared out every single one of his belongings. Not a trace remained that he had ever lived in that red brick house.
They had been married for four years, it had been quite a bit of packing and weeding. The man would not take the things that would remind him of her and she would not keep them. So off to the dumpster his belongings went. At this point, it didn't even matter to him. He was losing his wife and that was all he could think about.
He had agreed with her request to divorce. It wasn't that he thought this was a bad idea. On the contrary, he felt that it was the one smart decision they had made together in the past year that made sense.
He knew they had grown apart because of their differences. It was because of their differences that made him certain their marriage could not continue.
The man wanted a family with this woman. To grow old together and watch their children become adults, then maybe have children of their own.
All those dreams had been dismissed though. His wife did not want children. She was very adamant about it. As the months progressed, he realized that she would not waiver on this decision. She loved him, but she would not, could not, give him a child. She was not maternal, she said, it was not in her nature to be a mother. She could not fathom having a human being to take care of. "A human being?" he had argued. It would be their child, not some burden. But no argument would change her mind.
He respected her decision. Well, he tried to, at least. But resentment was in his heart, and they grew further apart. He found solace in his running. The woman working longer hours, constantly arriving home later and later.
The thing of it was, he would miss her. His wife had been his partner in crime. There were so many great memories between them, inside jokes, shared holidays.
The man snapped out of his reverie and stood up. "well, I'm going to go I guess."
The woman nodded in agreement.
He walked towards her hesitantly, then leaned in to kiss her cheek.
"Goodbye, Elizabeth." And he turned to walk out of the red brick house.
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