Jackson C. Frank - "You Never Wanted Me"

When Edmund told his first wife that he loved her they were driving through a wooded highway, the trees like thin sentinels, still and stoic, on guard. Shoes were off, and the hood of her sweatshirt hid all but the most important parts of her face. She was squished into the corner between the seat and the door, and making up a story about what actually happened to Kurt Cobain, and then he said it.

When Edmund told his second wife that he loved her she'd been crying. It was her father's death that had brought them together, and it was on the third day that they knew each other. She smiled and said I thought so.

When Edmund told his third wife that he loved her it was dark and she gasped.

And now Edmund looked down at his phone, that third marriage over and gone, at a text saying: "I'd really like to see you tonight," and he thought in rapid succession about his first car, the way an IV feels in your hand, and the kind of elevator nausea you get from anything important. [buy]

(painting by Michaël Borremans)