Short Story

A Perfect Couple

Nancy's Notes 🖊️🎶

Written for Fandango’s Story Starter #159
where the first sentence is the prompt and
for Weekly Prompts The One Day Prompt,
using the phrase ‘one day’. This is my story.

The sound of laughter drifted up from the street below, making Gregory feel very alone.

It’s hard to imagine life without her. When the hell did everything start to unravel?

Now he sat alone in the shell of their apartment, baseball game on the tv playing for no one, nursing his second scotch. This place used to be alive with people enjoying one of their famous parties. When he closed his eyes he could hear their friends’ lively discussions and the sound of her spirited laugh.

Everyone said they were the perfect couple. Theirs was a comfortable, easy marriage – dinner at Gallagher’s, cycling along Riverside Drive, steamy showers after Saturday morning sex. They were in sync in their choices of movies, paint colors and the biggest decision of all .… neither one wanted kids. 

He sat there, head in hands while a thousand thoughts went through his mind. When did he begin having second thoughts? Was it when her sister asked them to be godparents for her first baby? Was it watching the kids in the playground across the street? All he could remember was the night he whispered in her ear that he wanted to have a baby.

She was blindsided. What? No! He was just named partner at Central Casting. She was food editor for Country Living magazine. Life was perfect. They had an agreement, dammit!

Would she just consider thinking about it? No! How could he spring this on her now?

Days, weeks went by. She remained adamant, distant. Then one day he came home after work and she was gone. 

Here he sat alone with his scotch, ballgame long over, thumb rubbing his wedding band while he stared at divorce papers. 

It couldn’t have happened to a more perfect couple.

NAR©2024

Fandango’s Story Starter #159
Weekly Prompts -The One-Day Prompt (4)

This is “The Dance” by Garth Brooks

All text, graphics and videos are copyright for The Sicilian Storyteller, The Elephant’s Trunk and The Rhythm Section and are not to be used without permission. NAR©2017-present.

36 thoughts on “A Perfect Couple”

  3. Life is never what it appears to be to outsiders . There is no such thing as “The perfect couple” .. it’s a lies and shadows sadly mad worse these days by face book and social media… It true makes me weep with frustration. So I rarely bother with FB or social media 💜💜💜💜

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    1. Very true, Willow. I can’t stand FB any more and hardly ever go on. I have an X account and can’t remember the last time I visited there. Everything is sad and depressing or disgusting, from the news to social medial. I spend my time on WordPress. ♡♡

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      1. No problem………. I lived with a guy for almost 8 years who had two young children of 3 and 5 when I met him, plus during that relationship we fostered 15 teenagers in four years so I had my family, just no childbirth! No contact with any of them now, but I hope I did make a difference and they remember me with fondness.

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  6. I love your storytelling.

    Such a significant decision taken so early on is a little foolish. One’s thoughts (on any subject) often change as one matures.

    I always wanted children. I told my husband from the start that I wanted four. We went one better and had five. The best years of my life were those when we raised our family. Thank you for sharing this one with us in our One Day challenge.

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  9. I can picture poor Gregory sitting there, rubbing his wedding band. Sad way to end a seemingly perfect marriage! That would certainly be a deal breaker for me as well. My current blog post is all about the childfree life.

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  10. I think this happens more than we know. I know two couples who married agreeing on no children. One changed her mind, and they stayed together and had two kids. The other couple divorced. We don’t always know how we will feel a decade from sincere agreements.

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    1. It’s definitely a hard call, D. There really aren’t any guarantees in life. People have a difficult time understanding why couples choose not to have children. The bottom line is it’s no one’s business except the couple involved. When they’re making promises early on, they need to be aware that not every promise can be kept. We simply can’t predict how we’ll feel 5 or 10 years down the road.

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