Writing and Photography by Jeff E. Brown

You said you wanted me to talk to you. That I was too closed off-a boat at sea. So I opened up, like I never had before because I’d come to trust you. I believed I loved you and with that in mind I revealed things I’d previously thought were best kept a secret.

The look on your face when I told you was all I needed to see to know it was the worst mistake of my life. You went ashen and you seemed to shrink in some kind of horror, as if what I said was criminal or depraved. We both know it was not. You looked that way because it finally occurred to you that I wasn’t the person you had planned for. The one you assumed that you deserved.

I am a man with a past filled with mistakes and poor judgment who is only trying to somehow do better. You want a fully formed partner who will never show insecurity or regret over past deeds. That’s not me, so it looks like this is the end.

© 2021 Jeff E. Brown. All rights reserved.