We're at dinner,

the three of us,

When the phone rings,

And I pick it up.

So casual,

so...

Unknowing.

 

He's on the line,

I'd recognize

His voice

Anywhere

 

He's talking about

Inconsequential things,

Trivia, pretending it

Never happened.

 

That he never left.

 

I try to keep from

crying but the tears

are in my voice.

 

And then he's apologizing,

sorrow in his tone,

And I'm sobbing into

the phone, and I try

to stop, the kids are looking,

But I can't, he's been

Gone for so long, and I

missed him so much, and...

 

I can't stop crying.

 

Eventually, I can hear his voice.

Those comforting words.

The broken apologies.

 

He says he got a job in LA, cleaned himself

up, realized how much

I mean to him.

 

And then...

 

He asks, for the first time,

sounding confused and scared

and hopeful.

 

"Will you take me back?"

 

I hesitate, looking

at the kids, my kids...

his kids.

Children he left

Without a backward glance.

 

And then...

 

He speaks again,

with such love and hope and fear

it breaks my heart again.

 

"I love you."

 

Tears are still streaming

down my face and there's

a lump in my throat, but

I manage to open my mouth 

and say one word.

 

"Yes."