how close we’d been.
I heard pieces of his life through people who still knew his family. He and Margaret had a child, and he built a career.
Eventually, the
updates stopped too.
I have never been married. I dated and had relationships.
Some were good.
One almost became serious.
The updates stopped too.
But whenever people asked why I never settled down, I gave them the easiest answer.
“I just never met the right man.”
However, that wasn’t entirely true. I had met him at 17.
***
Last Tuesday, I turned 60.
I live in my childhood home now.
I never settled down.
After my parents died, I kept the house. I’d spent so many years moving from one apartment
to another that coming back felt right.
That evening, I had dinner alone and cut myself a piece of birthday cake.
At 9:17 p.m., the old landline rang.
Almost nobody called on it anymore.
