Part One: A History of My Affairs
Chapter One
I was born; it was the old cliché, on a rainy night. The rain flooded nearly every street and hindered my parents' arrival at the hospital. Still, they made it and I was born at 11:57 p.m. to Sheldon and Michelle Holcomb. Sheldon, my dad, was a successful man who operated his own deli, was on the city commission and a volunteer fireman. Somehow, through all his work he found time to be around me. Luckily, I have a vivid image of my dad and me in the park and tossing a baseball to each other. His thinning hair was blowing in the wind and his blue eyes were sparkling in the sunlight. When he passed away, I was 15 and it hit my mom hard. My mom couldn't handle the chores of operating the deli and sold it so she could go to work at a grocery store. She was never the same after dad died and almost immediately her auburn hair developed gray streaks and what was once just a social thing, developed into alcoholism. When I entered college, I moved out and in with my friend, Joel Cravens, whose dad was an electrician and wired half the city in the 1990s. Joel was following in his father's footsteps and flatly refused to go to college until his father made him. It was my freshman year when I met her.
Tori Livingston. Beautiful, silky dirty blonde hair, sea green eyes an angelic smile and heavenly body. We met in art class and she liked me because I was a writer. We went through all of college, graduated and moved in together. Along with Joel. I went to work for the local newspaper and Tori went to work for a corporate firm. Joel went to work for his dad. At the urging of Tori, I sent my short stories into a publisher and became a published writer. I didn't receive much from the sales of the book but I did it for her and I'm glad I did.
We lived better than comfortably and took an annual vacation almost every year while we were dating. Joel said I was an idiot for falling in love so quickly and maybe I was but those were the happiest seven years of my life and I would've happily done them all over again. Until Tori came to me and said good-bye.
Chapter Two
The day is etched into my mind like a carving in stone and I retrace those steps in my brain everyday. It all started out like any other day. I had an interview with the mayor about the city expanding south and Joel had to help his dad rewire an old building. I left Tori and we both were in good spirits. Nothing could've prepared me for what happened when I came home that evening.
The apartment was dark except for the setting sun glaring through the window. I peered around the wall into the living room where Tori was sitting on the couch. “Tori, honey? Are you okay?” I asked.
“Dennis, I really need to talk to you,” Tori got up from the couch and slowly walked over to me. “I love you, Dennis…”
“I love you, too, Tori,” I said and leaned down to kiss her but she turned away and closed her eyes.
“I'm unhappy.”
“What?” I was confused. I proceeded to put my arms around her, for lack of anything better to do, but she pulled away.
“It's not there anymore,” she was, again, being confusing and I tried to lighten the mood by half-heartedly laughing.
“What's not there?” I grinned.
“The spark. I'm not happy in this relationship anymore,” Tori said and began to cry immediately.
“'Anymore?' When did this happen?”
“I haven't been happy in a long time but I thought I would be able to work through it and…I can't”
“We've been together for seven years; we've just hit a small bump in the road. We can work through this. These…problems just help solidify a relationship and we'll be stronger in the end,” I said, finally able to put my arms around Tori and hug her.
“No, I don't think we should be together anymore.”
“What? I…” Suddenly I was speechless and Tori escaped the grip from my arms. She headed for the door and I followed her. “Is there somebody else?” I asked.
She rested her hand on the doorknob and sighed. “No, of course not, I would never do that to you. I just…I need something else and I'm not going to find it here anymore,” she started to cry harder and even I started to tear up. “I'll be back for my stuff but I'll come by while you and Joel are at work,” she opened the door and ran downstairs, passing Joel.
