Christian set down his plate on the old coffee table, while keeping his gaze on me. The firelight danced in front of me and over her face, the flames casting a red glow around my head. I pulled my legs to my chest and rested my chin on them as I stared into space. I hadn’t eaten much this past couple of weeks, but I managed to finish my toast. Christian polished off all the eggs and ate both my apples. He said we’d replace them, and more, in the morning. He kept staring at me, and I knew he was dying to ask all the questions on his mind, whatever they were.“What would you like to do, Hazel?” he asked.I turned my face toward him. “Hmmm?”He ran his knuckles down my cheek, tenderly. “Tomorrow. The next day. The one after. Tell me what you’re thinking.”“I don’t know.” I whispered softly. It was the truth. I didn’t know what I wanted to do anymore.“How long did you want to stay here? Or do you want to go home?” He paused, with a pained look on his face. He suddenly looked breathless an

I woke up, the fluttering of panic fast in my chest when the spot beside me was empty. I sat up, throwing the blanket back and striding out of the bedroom. I relaxed when I spotted Hazel on the beach. She stood, facing the water, holding something to her chest. I glanced over, confirming the fact Sandra’s urn was gone from the mantle.My wife was saying goodbye.Returning to the bedroom, I grabbed my pants, tugging them on. I picked up my T-shirt and yanked it over my head as I hurried outside, crossing the beach. The weather system they had predicted was already making its presence known. The waves were higher, hitting the sand with loud slaps. The wind was picking up, and I knew, soon, the rain would follow, and the storm would make my wife nervous.I reached her side, enveloping her in my arms.“I was waiting for you.” She said.“You should have woken me up.”“I wanted a little time. I knew you wouldn’t be far behind me.”“Are you sure?”She smiled up at me, the glimmer of tears in

THE PASTCHRISTIAN, 5 YEARS AGOI sat stiffly at the table in the overly fancy restaurant my assistant had booked, wanting to be anywhere but there. A flurry of conversation and laughter continued around the table where the company staff sat with me, enjoying the vibe and their dinner. The sounds of cutlery and the occasional clink of wineglass against wineglass accompanied their satisfied laughter. I normally wouldn’t do something like this. I was perfectly okay with paying for the dinner and having them go enjoy themselves on their own—I figured they would even be more comfortable without me here— but Grandfather thought it was good rep. He thought I needed to bond with the staff outside of the office, and somehow, he managed to convince me to have a group dinner with them. On the bright side, I’d expected them to be all awkward with me being there, but they seemed to be genuinely enjoying themselves. Me on the other hand… my head was clouded with thoughts of her. Hazel…It was one

CHRISTIANI jolted awake with a start when I heard a noise. I’d been sleeping, but I was pretty sure whatever that noise was had been going on for about fifteen minutes now. It had started as a quiet rustling noise, and then quickly progressed into scratching and I could hear things being knocked over. I pulled out my hand from underneath Valerie who was sleeping soundly nuzzled between me and Hazel, groaning at the pain that shot through it. Hazel mumbled a few incoherent words and switched over to lay over on her other side, but she didn’t wake up.I sat upright and listened for the noise again. I could hear the distant shuffling of feet, and another item was knocked over. I immediately went into defense mode. I shot one quick look at the bed as I slipped my feet into my slippers and got out of bed. They still slept peacefully. I tiptoed over to the door, being careful enough not to wake them, then I quietly opened the door. I walked over to the gym and grabbed the metal baseball ba

It was getting closer to December. The temperature had dropped considerably lower and it was officially jacket, coat and gloves season. Snow peppered the roads and buildings in a beautiful white coat. I sat in the driver seat of my car and reflected as I drove. The day at the office had gone by pretty fast, I had a ton of meetings, and the whole time, my mind was clouded with thoughts of my beautiful wife. If someone had told me at the beginning of the year that I would become this obsessed with her, I would have most definitely laughed in their face, yet here I was, completely smitten by her. I couldn’t wait to get into the warmth of our home and linger over a warm, hearty supper with my daughter and wife, watch a movie and crawl into bed with my wife, with full intentions of not sleeping.A small smile stayed on my face the whole way home. I parked in the driveway, not even bothering to go into the garage. I felt the snow crunch under my shoes as I walked into the foyer and shook of