You want to start speaking to your partner. There are a million thoughts racing through your head. The couple from your favorite book. What could’ve happened with the stranger at the store.

This is the night. This is the night when you’re going to free yourselves from each other. The night where you let each other continue your lives separately. The night where you allow your partner to try to love again, where you allow yourself to try to love again.

You open your mouth to speak.

Then you stop.