The cloud-shrouded moonlight
stretched into the brisk evening.
Escaping a wedding date,
I sank into my leather recliner
and sipped a frosted wine cooler.
I flipped through the channels
and settled on Dateline.
I grabbed a cigarette from my breast pocket.
It dangled from the corner of my mouth.
I held a lighter to my lips.
I took a drag, held it,
and blew the anxiety through my nostrils.
The warmth from the fireplace
unthawed my cold feet.
I replayed Natalia’s hips swing
as she moved past me.
Natalia ran her fingers
through her long, red hair.
Alush with the serendipity of lust,
I sank my teeth into my bottom lip
and drew the taste of forever and a day.
God.
The depth of Natalia’s green eyes
could knock the breath out of my chest
like a breeze pulling a golden, crisp leaf,
cracking the loose ends.
I’d upended my life for a kiss attached to a wish.
And this all started with a divine encounter.
My vision blurred to stars etching holes in my doubt.
Natalia pushed through the door.
Less happy than before.
Natalia’s mascara trailed down her cheeks.
She blinked through the sting of her tears.
My cold feet sparked the desire that rekindled
my passion in parting never.
Natalia looped one arm around her waist
and with the other hand, she grabbed the death stick
to take the edge off her stress.
We laughed because neither one of us smoked.