The No-Show

by Beth O'Leary

“I don’t think he necessarily gets me, but he doesn’t try to change me.” She breathes in deeply; the air smells faintly smoky, that wintery morning smell. “I think it’s me, really. Maybe I don’t take him as he is as much as I should, you know, maybe I have too clear an idea of how he should be in my head. My grown-up guy who’s got his life all sorted. And really he’s . . . human, I guess.”