His Good Intentions

He sat here wondering what to say. She was across the room, looking at a coffee table book. He watched as she turned the pages, smiling with delight, adjusting the distance of the book to get a better look. He was glad that she liked his gift. He wanted to watch her until she got to the end. Until she got to the note he had left, telling her who he was, how he felt. What she meant to him.

The phone rang, and she put the book down to answer it. He could hear her voice through some odd acoustic property of the cafe. The person on the other end was her boyfriend. Or husband, though he hadn’t noticed a ring. He sat, open mouthed, for a while, and decided to leave. No harm – she didn’t even know who he was, really. He stepped out the door with his coffee.

It wasn’t until he got on the bus that he thought about the note.

Ayush Shishodia