He will open the door, already knowing it’s her, because she told him so half an hour ago. On the phone, he said nothing. She’ll never know if he nodded or silently shook his head at her suggestion until she had to ask, with a shaky voice, Are you okay with me coming back? And he said Yes.
He will let her into the sitting room and offer her coffee like a guest. When she suggests moving into the kitchen, he’ll say Of course. The children will be with his parents tomorrow because they both agreed this would be better. They thought they would use the time alone to talk. But they will not. When the children return, they will hug their mum and tell her they’ve missed her. Their dad will look away.
For weeks and months, they will feel awkward. In the tiny kitchen, they will squeeze past each other to get to the fridge or the oven or fetch the plates from the cabinet, and they will smile, their tummy tucked in. When the children notice the pillow he forgot on the sofa bed, one morning, they will go back to sharing the same bed, each one carefully keeping to their side, sometimes dreaming of each other but never saying.
More than once, she will want to reassure him that nothing really happened, but he will stop her. He will say he doesn’t need to know; he’s just happy that she’s back.
Slawka G. Scarso works as a copywriter and translator. Her words have appeared in Mslexia, Gone Lawn, Ghost Parachute, Best Microfiction Anthology and Scrawl Place among others. She was shortlisted for the 2023 Bridport Flash Award and for the Oxford Flash Fiction Prize. Her debut novella in flash All Their Favourite Stories is available from Ad Hoc Fiction. She lives in Italy. More words on www.nanopausa.com
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