The First Tuesday

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Large cold raindrops were like claws seeping through the skin. Damian turned the bouquet upside down to save the petals and moved to stand under the canopy. The train was delayed.

Mia came to her hometown on the first Tuesday of each month, in the evening, for exactly three days. She would audit the factory’s finance and accounting department and then go back to the main office. Probably, of all the people awaiting her arrival, only Damian anticipated it, not feared. Until today.

It was already quite dark. Damian was squirming in the October chill and wondered what he was doing here.

Every time Mia stayed with him. She was tough with everybody but not with Damian. She liked to keep everything in order and made his rather empty disorganized life toned and colorful for a moment. He cooked breakfasts and dinners, planned leisure activities, and enjoyed three days of companionship and intimacy. Whether Mia enjoyed those days or simply avoided boredom, he never understood. He loved her, but the idea of her never loving him back had not occurred to him until this morning.

The morning was crisp and clear, as it should be in October, and nothing foretold a tiny detail would profoundly change the way he saw his life.

He was standing on the balcony smoking and looking down the street. An elderly couple was coming from…