Nora Goes Off Script

by Annabel Monaghan

What if I could just serve dinner to the sound of people laughing?

I cannot be casual. I cannot find my normal voice.

“Well, this is new,” I say. “It is,” he says and takes my sweaty hand. “I mean, it’s a nice change from my old loop.” “I mean, you’re the first person I’ve ever been in love with,” he says. Just like that. It’s a Wednesday, I think, but I’m not even sure.

I’ll tell him when he reaches out to me. That’s what a normal, not obsessed, girlfriend would do.

Arthur smiles from the inside, a smile that tells me that he knows who he is and he knows he can do things. The basic truth of parenting fills my heart: If your kids are okay, you don’t really have any problems.

Monday, I go for a run without my phone, sure that if I leave it in the kitchen, I will return to multiple missed calls from Leo. A watched pot and all that.