Ending a loving relationship, particularly for the second time, is more complicated than disconnecting a phone call. Over the previous thirty-plus years, memories of Gaynor had frequently popped into my mind. Something or somewhere - a smell, a sight, a...
memories
The Lighthouse
"The loneliness of the lighthouse keeper"
I watch the waves crash against the rocks, feeling the spray on my face, It's nice to stand here, to listen and contemplate in this deserted place. The sky is blue and grey, the sea reflecting its angry stare like...
The place Gaynor selected for our late lunch was only a few minutes drive away, a quaint country inn with thatched-roof, low black beams, leaded windows and highly-polished hardwood flooring. Prints of hunting scenes, highlighting red coats and dappled dogs,...
Sing me tuneless comfortCradling my painHelp me bear the sadness Burdening my brain Hold me while I rememberWhat can no longer beThe unthought thoughts I dailyTry so hard not to think And while you act as sentryI can bear to...
Traffic was light that Friday evening and I made good time. It was 7:01 when I parked the car in the garage and switched off the engine. I removed the phone from my pocket, preparing to text Gaynor, when it...
Thursday night I hardly slept. I was like a child on Christmas Eve, excited and desperate for morning to arrive so that I could open my gifts. But I wasn’t a child. I was less than a month from my...
I arrived home only minutes before Veronica, and I helped unload the shopping bags from her car and carried them through to the kitchen where the kettle was already boiling. I made tea for Veronica and a mug of instant...
I could have cried, or at least roared out in pain and anguish. I wanted to beat my chest and bellow to the skies, howling out my frustration. The e-mail from Gaynor stabbed at my heart, sliced me open and...
Over dinner - one of Veronica’s casserole creations which pleased the taste buds but left me in the dark as to all of its ingredients - she suddenly asked, “Do you miss having sex?” My wine glass was at my...
It had been another warm Tuesday and I’d played a reasonable round of golf, followed by a steak meal in the clubhouse. The company was good and the conversation, as usual, light. Occasionally, politics and finances reared their ugly cantankerous...