I came home from work to find my girlfriend, Melanie, on the floor packing her bags. I figured maybe something happened, or she planned a last minute trip for us. Or herself. Or something.

A suitcase was packed and ready to go, placed in front of the open bedroom door. She was placing all her necessities into a smaller bag.

“Melanie, what’s going on? What are you doing?”

I went down by her side, and when she looked up, I noticed her eyes were all puffy, her cheeks red, and she was chewing on her lip as if to hold back any noise.

“I can’t do this anymore, Michael.”

“What? What can’t you do?”

“This.” She got up from the floor and sat on the bed. “I know you get up to leave in the middle of night. I don’t know when you get back, but I know it’s late. I know there’s times you get off of work late, but surely you wouldn’t need to work overnight. I just wonder where you go.”

“Melanie-“ She cut me off.

“And you cancel on our dates, you give me no explanation.” She wiped a tear that ran down her cheek.”

“Melanie, I’m sorry.”

She looked over at me.

“Is there somebody else?”

“What?”

“Is there somebody else?” She asked more sternly this time.

“No, no of course not.” I sat down on the bed next to her. “I promise you.”

“Then what is it?”

I thought about this for a second, looked around. And then looked back at her.

“Well. Well, I-. It’s complicated.”

She scoffed, sighed softly, and got up.

“Wait, Melanie. Please. Please don’t go.” I grabbed her hand.

“You’re giving me no choice here, Michael.”

“I’m a superhero.”

She stopped and turned around to face me.

“What?”

“The long nights I’m away, the canceled dates, the unexplained long days I’m not home. I’m a super hero. And I know that sounds crazy-“

She interrupted me, looking away from me to look at the floor. “It does.”

“- And you probably don’t believe me-“

She looked back up at me.

“I do.”

“-And I’m not sure what else to say to make-“ I stopped. “What?”

“I believe you, Michael.”

“You do?”

“Of course I do. Sure, it sounds crazy and unbelievable, but it also sounds amazing.”

I smiled at her, and she returned one.