May 19, 2023 - “They’ll be getting hungry inside” by Elizabeth Lerman

You shut the shower off and stomp the cigarette into the wet, wooden floor before crouching down to shove the orange butt between the boards, pushing it with your pinky until it drops somewhere it won’t be seen. You stand, take a shaky breath and smell dusk setting in, bringing with it a weak, briny breeze from the bay. They’ll be getting hungry inside, you think. He will order a pizza, you decide, he will order a pizza from the one place in town and the three of you will sit together and try to talk. After dinner, you’ll look through photo albums that have never asked to be opened, you’ll find the sweetest scenes and show them both, you’ll pass the pictures down the couch and say something like, they look so happy here.