“I’m going to get some water.”
“I need to check an email.”
“My back hurts. I think I’ll sleep on the couch tonight.”
One evening, I made a special effort.
I bought a new nightgown.
I fixed my hair.
I even wore the perfume Georgi had loved when we were younger.
When he came into the bedroom, he looked at me for only a few seconds.
I smiled. kertati
“The children have had homes of their own for years,” I said softly. “Tomorrow is Saturday. You don’t have any reason to rush to bed tonight.”
He wouldn’t even look me in the eyes.
“Elena, please. I’m exhausted tonight.”
I pretended it didn’t hurt.
That was the first night I allowed myself to say out loud the thought I had been fighting for months.
Maybe he simply didn’t desire me anymore.
The following week, I suggested something else.
“Just one night,” I said. “You and me. Like we used to.”
Georgi laughed.
Not cruelly.
Not loudly.
But enough.
“Come on, Elena. At our age?”
Those words stayed with me.
After that, I started looking at myself differently.
My wrinkles.
My body.
The gray hairs appearing around my temples.
