One with straight smooth hair that he could run his fingers through for hours. One with the frizzy hair that always came when she drove with the window open. One wearing his favorite shirt. One wearing paint stained overalls. Everything about them told him which one she should want. But none of that changed who he actually did want. Because if he was honest that moment with her. Their first moment alone since everything. That was one of the best moments of his life and she had never looked more beautiful.

He tried to tell himself that he was almost over her. That his breath didn’t really catch every time he saw somebody eating mixed berries yoghurt. That he didn’t wake shaking after vivid dreams of Sunday mornings with her. That every time he was with someone else he only ever saw the ways they just weren’t her. He tried to tell himself all those things for so long that he had actually begun to believe them. Until she had shown up at his door, with paint on her cheek and a car he had never seen parked in his driveway. A reminder that she no longer belonged to Roy. A reminder that she could belong to him now.

He couldn’t stop her from leaving. It wasn’t in his power. He wasn’t ready to talk it all out just yet. But as he heard the door close behind him and her car pull out of his driveway he allowed himself the briefest of smiles. One that she saw. Her foot tapping against the hard wood floor. Her beautiful face scrunched up into something ugly. She asked him if that was the woman who had made him such a mess. He could only stare at his feet and nod. He heard her stomp away. He heard her slam the door. He had heard he leave and he let her go.

He finds he number in an email Phyllis sent him. One he could never bring himself to delete. He calls her and asks her to wait. Because honestly, that other woman, the one with straight hair and perfect teeth. She never stood a chance.