You Deserve Each Other

by Sarah Hogle

I love these things about the man. But I do not love the man.

“You stopped seeing me, Naomi. You stopped wanting me. You’re going to figure out one of these days that I can tell when you’re starting to disassociate, and it’s the most heartbreaking experience I’ve ever had. It’s nonstop. It keeps on happening. I try to bring you back to me every time you go to leave, off into your own head where I’m not allowed.”

“I just want you to care about me,” he implores, gesturing with both hands to the space between us. “I want you to listen. I want you to give a shit about my feelings.”

“What are you doing home?”

“You missed me.” “You came home because I missed you?”

“Relearning you has been the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

It’s not enough for you to be my girlfriend. I need you to be my wife.

“I say it all the time, I just say it very, very quietly. I tell you when you’re in another room, or right after we hang up the phone. I tell you when you’ve got headphones on. I say it after you shut the door behind you. I say it in my head every time you look at me.”