The Ten-Year Nap

by Meg Wolitzer

mostly they had to take pleasure in the moments that no one else would ever witness.

Their life together, which had its distinct rhythms and drama, was generally invisible to everyone else; sometimes she thought they were like performers in a flea circus between shows, doing their microscopic tricks only for each other.

But mostly, though, he knew that if you longed for what you did not have, then you would be one of those unhappy people you could find anywhere in any setting, the ones who couldn’t appreciate what they had as long as they saw something they did not have.