Fiction

Your mother’s tight-lipped, anxious expression says that you have let her down. You weren’t the only one who had big dreams for yourself. Well, she’s let you down, too, and…

Lena and I have our routine down now. We are blobs of color bouncing and dancing in a lava lamp. We are in space, weightless, floating, floating up. We are…

I wonder if I should leave it here, or cast it into the sea. If I keep it, I must remind myself that once upon a time, she might have…

Dad steps closer to inspect the pictures, close enough that I can smell his espresso, distinguish the light and dark whiskers on his long, unshaven cheeks. As usual, he looks…

She pictures herself alone at a café table with an overpriced latte. She racks her brain for a necessary errand, comes up with nothing. Who will give her a reason,…

I stand at the counter, blinking at the bright fluorescent overhead lights. The white cupboards; the fridge, still decorated with grainy gray and white ultrasound photos; ceramic mugs ringed with…

“Holy crap your feet are tiny, Mom!” he bellowed like a sultan, lording it over her, just like a man. There was a time he’ll never remember and she’ll never…

The blueberry pound cake. Mel’s favorite. She could bake it for her again, another day. She might even tell Melanie what she’s been telling them all. Enjoy every moment of…

“I disagree to disagree!” That was almost his parting line. The box he’d checked, filing for divorce, was “Irreconcilable differences.”

Before she goes, she will make a list. Two lists, actually. The first list, to help her keep her courage, will be a list of reasons that they will be…

Ben wiggled himself free of his uterine hotel, evicted by a stream of contraction-causing drugs. So much for the “he’ll come when he’s ready” wisdom from my mother. Instead, “he’ll…