The Proposal

Prompt number thirty-three:

No prompt today. Just a story from my head.

***

"So, how long have you been seeing her?" Lisa was bitterly hurt.

"Two months," Peter said, head lowered and shoulders hunched.

At least he had the presence to look guilty, Lisa thought. She had known that something wasn't right but they still lived separately. Did she have a right to presume exclusivity? Well, yes, she felt like they were in a loving relationship or it had appeared that way. She loved him and looking at him now cut her with a savagery that made her body shiver with its containment. The thought of being without him made her feel bereft.

"Do you love her?" Immediately, as she said it, she knew the answer and was scared, in that moment before Peter's admission, of what it would do to her.

"Yes," he said and looked at her. "But I love you too."

Lisa looked at him, astonished. "Pardon?"

Peter gulped and said, "I love you both," and then, as if that was not a sufficient enough explanation, which it wasn't really in terms of satisfying Lisa, he added, "You give me different things and I love you both. We, you and me, we share the same interests as well as similar life experiences and your company makes me feel so loved and interesting and you're funny but she is...." Peter paused, not really wanting to let on to Lisa what Holly gave him as he wasn't sure that it would appeal to Lisa and his proposal for her.

Lisa decided to try and finish for him. "What, Peter? What is she? Young? Sexy? Nubile? Fresh?" Lisa spat out every word and Peter's worried expression told her all she needed to know.

"If that's what appeals to you, Peter, then I suggest you go to her!" Lisa cried, feeling angry now at being usurped by youth, something which she had lost and would never regain.

"But I don't want to, Lisa. I love you both!" Peter's exclamation was loud and pleading, like a thwarted toddler. He continued:

"Is there not any way that it can carry on as it is?"

There was a moment of silence before Lisa's self respect replied for her:

"Oh my god, Peter! No!"

***

366 words

Here's a link to last week's stories which will lead you down the rabbithole to all the others from the very beginning of January:

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