He Deserves Better

Wow! It seems like forever since the house has been this quiet I thought as I went down the stairs to start my morning coffee. As I was opening the cabinet to fetch the ground coffee, I heard footsteps coming down the stairs. That’s weird I thought, no one else is here but me. I made my way around the kitchen corner to see Reggie walking down the stairs.

“Honey? What? Did you forget something?” I ask him, but he does not answer me. In fact he walks right past me and to the kitchen without seeming to acknowledge my existence.

“What the heck?!” I scream.

“REGGIE!

Still nothing. I walk up behind him and reach for his arm, my hand passes right through him. “What is going on?” I ask myself since he can’t seem to hear me.

I take a few steps back, to look in the mirror that we have hanging by our staircase. I see myself just fine. I can touch myself just fine. Again, I go to him, try to place my hand on his arm and again straight through him my hand passes.

Reggie’s phone rings.

” Hey baby!” He says in a tone I haven’t heard him speak in in years.“What’s up?”

I hear the voice on the other end say.

” Hey, I was thinking of taking the rest of the day off and hanging out since you’re off today. It’s been a while since we spent a day together.”

“ That sounds great! What do you have in mind?”

“ Well there’s this place I wanted to try. Get fancy and meet me at 505 Insane Street. Then let's go roller skating. You remember how we used to do it in high school? Have the DJ play that song, and let’s see if you still got it hahaha.”

“ Bet! I’ll get dressed now and meet you there!”

“Who was that?” I ask him like he can hear me.

He rushes upstairs and out the door. Next thing I know I’m sitting inside a restaurant where there’s Jazz music playing. I look to my left and there’s a man playing the saxophone. I look around to see Reggie dressed to the nines, and the woman he is with is absolutely stunning. Like a model that stepped out of a magazine. I am sitting about fifty feet from them and can clearly hear everything that they are saying.

“ You look stunning” Reggie tells her “ Where did you get that dress?”

“ From that little mom and pop shop around the corner from my office.” She says as she smiles with the straightest, whitest teeth I think I’ve ever seen.

I slump over…heart beating fast, wanting to be upset but looking at this woman, I can’t be mad or surprised that he has fallen for her. I watch as he pulls out a small dark blue box. He reaches for her left hand, she has a ring on her ring finger!!

“What the heck is going on!?" I scream, assuming that the case is still that no one can hear me. To my surprise she looks over his shoulder and at me. She smiles.

My goodness, she heard me. I jump up, race to the table and reach for Reggie. My hand goes through his arm. She again looks at me and smiles.

“REGGIE!!”

Nothing. Yet she is still looking at me, smiling.

” I got something for you. To celebrate the most amazing 10 years of my life.”

He opens the box, removes the ring from her finger, opens the blue box, inside is a ring and the diamond just about blinds me. “

OH MY GOODNESS!” I scream as she screeches in amazement. He takes the ring from the box, places the old ring in the box and slips the new ring on to her finger. Tears start to stream down her eyes.

“ The last 10 years have been amazing,” he continues. “ You are everything that I prayed for and so much more. I honestly don’t know where I would be without you.” Reggies says as I stand there in complete shock.

I have been married to this man for 14 years. How? Why is this happening? She reaches over and hugs Reggie while looking right in my soul. “ I have to use the ladies room” She says through tears.

Ladies room I say to myself? “ Who the hell talks like that in 2026?”

I followed her to the ‘ Ladies room’.

“ Who the hell are you?!” I rage as we enter.

She stops at the mirror, turns to me and I swear she sees straight through me and into my soul. Then says ,

“ I am the woman you never tried to become.”

“ Excuse me?!?” I say

“Yea! I said what I said and you heard me right. The woman you told him a million times you’d try to be for him because you felt he deserved it.”

“ What?!?”

“ You remember the mornings he’d wake up and ask you to make breakfast? I finish breakfast and prepare their plates as they come downstairs every morning. You should see the smiles on their faces as the kids see that I’ve made their favorites.”

“ I don’t understand.” I manage to get out as I just about collapse on the counter.

“ I’m his wife. We have two kids, a boy and a girl. He loves being a father.”

“ But how?!?!?!” She ignores my question.

“ After I make sure everyone is fed I kiss Reggie as he leaves for the day. I get dressed and ready for the day. Drop the kids off at school and go to work. I get off at 3 pm. I come home to make sure the house is straightened up and smells good. Pick up the kids, help with homework and we start dinner together. At about 6:30 pm , like clockwork, my man comes home. He goes into his man cave for about an hour and washes up to join us for dinner. We sit, we laugh, we talk about our day. Afterwards, he does the dishes and cleans the kitchen while I get the kids ready for bed. Sometimes I feel spicy, so sometimes when he’s finished I greet him at our bedroom door with something sexy on, smelling amazing. Blindfold him, put earphones on his ears…”

I collapse on the floor.

I wake up drenched in sweat. I reach for my lamp on my nightstand but it’s not there. A woman in scrubs rushes into my room, turns on the light and says

“ Ms. Walker, are you ok?”

I stare at her, not recognizing her.

“WHO ARE YOU?!?” I shout.

“It’s me, Ms. Walker, Rose, your nurse for the night.”

“Nurse for the night?” I ask confused.

“ Yes… she says with a smile, as though this is something that she’s repeated to me on multiple occasions.

“ You’re in Standbrooks nursing home. You have Alzheimer’s and we care for you here on a daily basis.”