Maxine called, again.
She always did, mostly on Tuesday mornings, right when I sat down to process the weekend’s wedding photos. I had rituals—Monday off, Tuesday to Thursday behind the screen, editing faces that smiled for others.
“You don’t need to do that now,” she said, pushing like always. “Come for coffee.”
I declined, again.
It wasn’t about coffee. Maxine didn’t want conversation. She wanted confirmation—that I was alone, that she might still be in the running. Her voice lingered longer than it should, wrapping around my neck like a scarf I didn’t ask for.
I gave her the line I always did. “I’m working.”
She didn’t believe me.
She never did.
There was a storm in her too—a volatile mess of red wine and unmet expectations. Her friendship, if that’s what you could call it, was transactional. If I couldn’t be hers, then I’d better not be anyone else’s.
But I had Nina. And Maxine knew it. That’s what stung the most.
As I hung up, I stared at the monitor—at someone else’s perfect wedding. A fantasy captured in sharpness and light. Love, they say, is forever. But only in photos.
In real life, it’s interference. It’s pressure. It’s a voice on the phone reminding you what you’re running from.
[From SEETHINGS, downloadable and free for a limited time]
Discover more from Michael Forman – Author of Dark Fiction & Drama
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.