Page 55 of Breathe Again

“I’ll think about it.”

“Here’s something else for you to think about. How about we go away for a night, just you and me? We’ll leave Olivia with Willa or Dean.”

New plans usually shook me up a bit, but this was one I could really get on board with. “I’d love that.”

“Great. Find a weekend. Let me know, and we’ll make it happen.” He lifted away from me. “Your man’s tired. Let’s go to bed.”

Zale

Mara was already half asleep when he went into the bathroom to get ready for bed. He sat down on the closed toilet, his elbows on his knees, one hand dangling between his knees, the other wrapped around the back of his neck, his head bent low. Work was a fucking mess, Olivia was in meltdown mode lately, and Mara, his Mara, was in a world of pain. One thing this diagnosis explained was why she was so often sad.

Worry swirled.

His dark eyes burned with fatigue.

Something had to give.

A Good Start

Mara

I am wallpaper.

Background.

You might notice if I was suddenly removed, but I could easily be replaced.

I am water.

You lean over to peer at me and see only your own reflection.

You try to hold me in your hand, but I slip through your fingers.

Ilack substance.

I am a mirror.

I reveal to you who and what you are to me, and how I see you.

I am nothing by myself.

I have no skin.

My existence is defined by those around me.

Should I lose one of you,

I would cease to exist as I am.

I am vapor.

I fill the empty space of the vessel that contains me.

I morph and shift to fit its borders,

I am whoever you need me to be.

I put my journal down and went back to studying my research papers, going over the diagnostic criteria yet again, striving to assimilate the new information.

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