“I was hoping you’d be here tonight,” Greg said with a tired smile. He waved away the unneeded menu the waitress only half-heartedly offered.

“I’m always here, you know that.” She cleared away the extra table setting she knew he wouldn’t need. “The usual then?”

“With a whiskey and Coke,” he agreed.

With a smile she was off, hair swinging behind her to get back to the half full bar. He watched...

You say there’s just never enough time. Somehow there is always something more urgent to do - work, bills, errands.

But somehow when the urgent business is done and you find yourself with a few seconds, minutes, hours to yourself - something easier comes along. But you deserve that time you tell yourself. The time to unwind with a glass of wine and a movie. The time to relax with a book, instead...

Jani reached back to grab her sister’s hand, “Be careful where you step, Reke. Magic has seeped into much of this land.”

Magic. What an awful thing. It was debatable which of the two women hated the word more. Reke had her husband snatched from her, a hidden spell that killed him in an instant, years ago. But Jani...Jani had her daughter taken from her.

Both women sighed in relief when the bla...

“I swear to god, Henry, if you don’t get me a Kit-Kat bar soon you’ll be on the couch for a week!”

“Like you aren’t begging me to get in that bed every night nowadays,” he smirked. But seeing the fire flash in his wife’s eyes he quickly backtracked. “Not that I mind, sweetie.”

“You’re lucky my feet hurt too much to come over there and beat you up,” she grumbled, leaning her head back on the c...

My ex always told me I think too much. That I over analyze everything. That I sucked out all the joy since I can’t “be present.” And thanks to those oh-so-thoughtful parting remarks, my ass was now parked on the damp ground listening to clicks and snaps as every other person in the group takes endless pictures. These people had to document everything - from the stem of a flower to the birds so hig...

They say that when you marry a woman, you marry her whole family. Now, I had nothing against joining myself to the entire McDougal clan when I married Cynthia. But I should have taken them more seriously when her father took me aside after the ceremony to say, “You’re family now. And when family calls, you answer.” I guess I should have taken the iron grip of his handshake and the piercing eye con...

“Hey Brownie, get over here a sec. I think we may have to pull IF 274 from his assignment.” Gege, an IFS (imaginary friend specialist) on duty called to the supervisor.

Brownie came over to inspect the 25 screens on Gege’s desk - each screen showed one IF (imaginary friend) and the child in their charge. “Alright, what seems to be the problem?”

“Well, to start with, this child whose name is,” G...

The silence filling the car was even more concerning than the whines I had expected.

“Don’t worry baby we’ll be there soon,” I reassure, reaching over to put a hand on the carrier. Car rides were never Solembum’s strong suit, and he usually filled the journey with his many cries of protest. Not being able to hold him or even pet him when they had to travel was so incredibly frustrating - for bot...

“I can’t believe you haven’t seen my new place yet,” Tina said as she slides her key into the lock and gives it a twist.

“We’ve both been busy,” Kayla shrugs, following her friend inside. “Besides, you and John just had to move to as far from me as possible.”

“Yeah yeah, I get that enough from my mom. Nevermind the fact that I’m only 25 minutes away. Anyway, this is the place,” Tina spreads out ...

I can feel the tears streaming from my eyes, over my temples, and into the hair that I had not managed to corral before leaving the house. The wind was blowing into my face as I strode across the parking lot, its whistling in my ears almost loud enough to drown out Will’s voice. Almost.

“C’mon will you slow down and talk to me!” He called at her over the noise of the wind and the traffic.

I wh...