It's a Love Story

by Annabel Monaghan

in both hands and take a sip. “Love happens over breakfast.” Cormack smiles at Reenie. “If you want to know the secret to a happy marriage, that’s it.” Reenie places her hand over his for just a second. And I wonder how much information transfers between them through a single touch like that after all of these years. “What does that mean?” I say. “If you don’t mind me asking. ‘Love happens over breakfast.’ ” “It’s just something Cormack said when we were first married. Romance happens over dinner. The candlelight, the wine.” “Everyone looks a lot better than they usually do,” Cormack says and laughs. Reenie rolls her eyes. “Well, yes,” she says. “That’s the romance of it. But at breakfast everything’s just as it is, in the light of day. No one wears lipstick to breakfast. And this is where you talk about your day and the part of the roof that might leak this fall. You bring your real self to breakfast.”