PROSE
27
glances behind. This confrontation halts their sightseeing.
“Alayna, I love you. Don’t you—”
“Graham. I’m not try—”
“How long have you felt this way?”
Alayna pushes ahead. “I hadn’t really thought much about it till this point, but...a while.”
“You just decided right now?”
“No, Graham, I uh...I think I decided a long time ago, but I’m just now—”
“What are you talking about?” Graham takes three long strides and matches Alayna’s
determined pace.
“I mean, I think I’ve felt this way for a while, but I’ve been covering it up with...other things.”
“And so you want a divorce? That doesn’t make sense.”
“I mean, is this all it’s going to be? Really? For the rest of our lives? I need different. I need some-
thing different, to go away or to discover something else. I—”
“Okay.” Graham stops, realizing they’re about to pass the tree Michelle’s running to. He
watches her strawberry blonde head bounce closer to the tree.
“Okay?” Alayna turns back to Graham.
“Okay.”
“You mean, you agree? You think I should—”
“Obviously you need some time to breathe. I’ve been working too much. We talk-
ed about that, and you seemed fine about it, but you’re tired. You need to get away. We can
figure out what’s wrong.”