“Goodnight, wife.""Goodnight, husband.”

“Wife? Are you sure you're ready to not call retreat? Right now?"I'm butterflying positive.”

“I lie back on my pillow and think back to that day. The day that I fell for my wife.”

“Wife,” I say, staring straight into her eyes. “Think what you want, but there isn’t a single woman in this whole damn universe that I could ever love like I love you.”

“I tilt my head and ask “What firsts have wealready passed?”“The easy ones,” he says. “First hug, first date, first fight, first time we slept together,although I wasn’t the one sleeping. Now we barely have any left. First kiss. First time tosleep together when we’re both actually awake. First marriage. First kid. We’re doneafter that. Our lives will become mundane and boring and I’ll have to divorce you andmarry a wife who’s twenty years younger than me so I can have a lot more firsts andyou’ll be stuck raising the kids.” He bring his hand to my cheek and smile at me. “So yousee, babe? I’m only doing this for your benefit. The longer I wait to kiss you, the longerit’ll be before I’m forced to leave you high and dry.”

“People can't cry forever. Everyone eventually falls asleep.”

“God Layken. How do you do it? she says. She blows her nose and grabs another tissue out of the box. How do I do what? I sniff as I continue to wipe the tears from my eyes. How do you not fall in love with him? The tears begin flowing just as quickly as they had ceased. I grab yet another tissue. I don't not fall in love with him. I don't not fall in love with him a lot!”