Pizza for One (750 Word Story)

Two days after I posted part one of my first story 'Jack and Diane', my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer. Needless to say, there was a lot of turmoil as we navigated through the myriad of doctors appointments and hospital visits. Fortunately it was caught very early and the prognosis is very good. Things have calmed down as we have settle into the routines for her treatment. I am happy to report that I am nearly done with part two of Jack and Diane's story and it is quite a bit longer than part one (over 11,000 words so far!)

I woke up with the idea for this story knocking about in my head and thought it would be a good candidate for a go at a 750 word submission. This was done very quickly and is self edited, so please excuse any grammatical errors. I welcome constructive criticism, but if you're just going to post ignorant/nasty comments I will delete your post. I hope everyone enjoys!

---------- Pizza for One ----------

Grace waited nervously. It had been a couple of years since she'd sat at that particular table in the sub shop that used to be 'their' special place.

As the server walked away with her order, Grace thought back to when she had met her now ex-husband, David, at this exact table when they were both juniors in high school...they had immediately fallen in love with each other. Her reminiscing, however, was cut short by the jingling of the bells that rang whenever someone opened the sub shop door.

She saw David stiffen momentarily after he walked through the door and caught sight of her sitting at 'their' table. The pain in his eyes was quickly hidden behind a mask of grim determination as he walked over to where she was sitting.

"Hello Grace", David intoned as he stopped in front of the table, "Maggie said you needed to talk to me...that it was urgent?"

"Hello David, thank you for coming." Grace replied softly.

David hadn't spoken to her since before their divorce was final nine months ago, so she had asked their 25 year old daughter Maggie to relay a message, asking that they meet here on this particular day and time. Grace had waited anxiously, unsure if David would actually show up.

"Would you like to sit down?" she asked, using her eyes to indicate the seat across from her.

As he sat down, Grace knew she only had a few minutes to tell David everything she needed to say without being interrupted.

"David, I have some things to tell you and all I ask is that you let me finish before responding, would that be OK?"

David stared at her woodenly, responding with a monotone "Fine."

"David, I'm sorry. I know it probably sounds insincere coming from me, but I really am sorry, I never wanted to hurt you like I did.

"When Maggie moved out I felt lost. It felt like everything that I had devoted my life to for the last 25 years was slipping through my fingers, I felt... empty. I felt like our life together had grown stale, like we were two people that were just existing together. There was no passion or excitement, just the same old, every day routine.

"As much as I loved you, I didn't want to spend the rest of my life just existing, I needed more. I didn't want the dreams of my youth to die like they did for my mother. I didn't want my days to end full of regret for unfulfilled dreams.

"I didn't want to become an angry, bitter and resentful person because life had passed me by. I didn't think it was fair for you to have to live with a person like that, so I did the only thing I could think of...and as much as it hurt me, I felt that I had to set you free.

"But things didn't work out like I thought they would.

"After the divorce I tried doing the things I had always dreamed of. I traveled a bit, but everywhere I went I found myself wishing you were there to share it with me. I went out on a few dates, but I compared everyone to you and no one came close. I could never bring myself to become intimate with anyone because they weren't you.

"One evening I asked my mom how she had come to terms with giving up on her dreams to be a wife and mother. She just smiled, patted my cheek and told me that she never gave up her dreams; she just replaced them with better ones!"

Tears fell from Grace's eyes as she looked at David. "I'm so sorry that I couldn't see I was throwing away my better dream!"

Just then the server came to the table with the food she had ordered; a large peperoni, sausage and mushroom pizza and two ice cold Cokes...it was their favorite meal to share when they had first fallen in love.

When the server left, David stared soundlessly at Grace and after an awkward moment of silence Grace stood, whispered "I'm sorry", and walked towards the door.

"Grace?"

She stopped and turned, seeing the tears rolling down David's cheeks.

"Would you join me for lunch? This is too much pizza for one!"