The Afterstory
A missing chapter from the Betty-James story, told from the wrong side of the ending: James looking back after Betty has already looked forward: I still know the house by the windows though the curtains changed last year still know the bend before your street though I don't have any reason to be here There was a time I'd swear your name could make a whole room turn its head now I hear it from a stranger and it sounds like something I once said You had that way of wearing winter sleeves pulled over your hands I used to steal your gloves at red lights just to make you take my hand Now there's a man who knows your mornings knows the coffee that you take knows the songs you hum while getting ready and the face you make when you're half awake And I hate that I can picture it even though I've never seen the life you built without me in it all the places I have never been I spent so long waiting for a door I never noticed you had moved and all those y...