LatinosUSA

“I’ve lived without you for eight years,” said Sadie. “What makes you think I’d take you back now?”

Albert leaned against the doorway, calmly examining the woman he spent nearly twenty years with before his sudden departure in 1990. His still-handsome face was inscrutable. His gaze, which could melt the heart of any woman he’d ever met, somehow failed to have the desired effect on his one-time wife.

“I…made a mistake in leaving, Sadie,” he admitted at length.

“You think?” she asked.

Albert said nothing.

“Where did you go?” she asked. “What did you do these last eight years?” Albert only shrugged, but Sadie was not to be put off. “No, Al, I want to know. Did you have another wife, other children? How did you make your living? What did you do for nearly the past decade?”

“I was sort of a rolling stone,” he said. “Drifted from town to town, job to job. Never put any roots down.”

“Women?” she asked archly, dreading his response.

“I was married–twice,” he admitted. She bristled. “But I never loved them the way I loved you. I promise, Sadie!”

“We know what your promises are worth, don’t we, Al?” He hung his head, for effect. “You walked out when I was eight months pregnant with our fourth child!” she charged. “And I lost the baby!” she said in an accusing voice.

“I know,” he said. “I read about it.”

“You read about it!”

“What do you want from me, Sadie?” asked Albert miserably.

“The children are grown,” she said, ignoring his question. “They’ll want nothing to do with you.”

“How about you, sweetheart?” he asked, flashing that heart-melting smile once more.

“What have you got to offer?” she asked, all business now. “Have you won the lottery, invented a cure for cancer, become governor of the state? What’s in it for me if I take you back?”

Albert dug the toe of a scuffed shoe into the carpet and wiped his hands on the leg of his threadbare trousers. He squared his shoulders. “Just love, baby,” he said in a quiet voice, then flashed that toothy grin once more.

Sadie stared at the man she spent nearly two decades with, then was abandoned by; the man she loved more than any other, and then learned to hate. “Al,” she said in a small voice.

“Yes, baby,” he replied, sensing victory. He closed the distance between them and opened his arms expectantly.

“Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on your way out,” she suggested mildly, and then turned away.