Third floor apartment

August 23, 2014January 6, 2015 ~ Tara R. ~ 4 Comments

Beneath the oak tree was the perfect spot to watch his apartment. Under the leaf-thick branches, looking down from the third floor, she was hidden from view. The coffee cup in her hands wasn’t for the caffeine, it was only a prop in case someone walked up, and questioned why she was there.Their affair ended … Continue reading Third floor apartment

Muscadine wine

August 15, 2014 ~ Tara R. ~ 5 Comments

I kicked up tiny puffs of grit as I walked down the sandy path, getting the fine silt in my shoes. As I wandered deeper into the woods, my mind went back to our argument that morning. Once we calmed down, it was clear we both wanted the same thing. That’s how it was lately. Fighting … Continue reading Muscadine wine

Tying the knot

August 13, 2014November 20, 2014 ~ Tara R. ~ 6 Comments

Our lives are inextricably entwined. Some days I don’t know where he ends and I begin. I feel like a shade, just a silhouette without any substance. Flickering between real and imagined until he puts a name to me, and gives me a voice. There is nothing I do or say that I don’t first … Continue reading Tying the knot

Behind the curtain

July 9, 2014January 5, 2015 ~ Tara R. ~ 7 Comments

She imagined that deep inside his chest a tiny transistor battery powered his heart like in her old Zenith radio. The tick-tock of his artificial mechanisms drowned out his rote homilies, his analytical effort to dissuade her. Encased behind dark sunglasses, rational and calculating, he was pragmatic to a fault. As if allowing himself to … Continue reading Behind the curtain

For want of a horse

July 5, 2014 ~ Tara R. ~ 7 Comments

“Hooligan!” The old man, almost bent in half by age, yells at us as we pass his house. “Get off my lawn!” His lawn is tuffs of persistent weeds pushing up through cracks in the sidewalk. He stands in front of an abused recliner that fills up most of his rusty, iron balcony. Hanging precariously over the … Continue reading For want of a horse

Waiting in the sun

July 3, 2014January 5, 2015 ~ Tara R. ~ 5 Comments

We camped out all day in the resort beach chairs. Commandeering the cabana boy first thing in the morning, just as he was hauling the canvas chaises longues out of the storage hutch, we had our pick of spots on the sugar-fine sand. Hidden beneath our spacious umbrellas, shielded from the blistering sun, we watched sunburnt tourists … Continue reading Waiting in the sun