My head snaps up
as the scent of you
fills my nose.


Head snaps up.
Pinhead pupils
scan the room.
Ragged, shallow breaths
that drag their feet
as they entire my lungs.
Why?
How?

Where?

I cannot shake the feeling
that you are here with me.
I know
that you are still in Michigan.
I know
you don't ever think of me
the way I think of you.
You will forever be
the one that got away
and nothing more.

You will be the story I tell
my first daughter
during her first heartbreak.
You will be the brief sadness in the day,
when the clouds skim over the sun
and cast a shadow.
Just for a second.
A moment.
An idea.
A thought.
A memory.

Nothing more.