I'll Settle for You

MILES ~ Busy

“I’m fine, mom.”

“You can save that tale for someone who doesn’t know any better. Now, what’s wrong?” She sat at the kitchen table and waited for me to join her. I can’t fathom the number of talks we had at the kitchen table. “Okay, spit it out.”

I chuckled and shook my head. No getting out of this now. “Naomi and I have been having some problems. For a while now, and I just don’t know what to about it anymore.”

“What’s going on, Miles? Is it that serious?” She placed a hand on top of mine.

“Honestly, mom, I don’t know. Things have been so crazy for the last couple of months and it doesn’t seem to be getting any better. It seems like she cares more about her career than she does about this marriage. We barely talk, we hardly ever spend time together, and nothing I do seems to change it. Whenever I bring it up to her, it just turns into a big argument.”

“Have you prayed about it?”

“Yes, ma’am, but I really don’t know what to say.” I answered honestly.

“Aww, honey, why didn’t you say anything sooner?”

“What was I going to say? That my marriage is failing and I can’t stop it. Mom, I know what it is to be busy, but you make time for your family. You make time for your marriage. She doesn’t even act like she wants to work it out.” This was killing me inside. How did that Heart Attack song go?

“In too deep, can't think about giving it up
But I never knew love would feel like a heart attack
It's killing me, swear I never cried so much
Cause I never knew love would hurt this fuckin' bad
The worst pain that I ever had”  

“Well, first, you need to pray and ask God for guidance. Then you need to make her listen. Go to therapy, get counseling; do whatever you need to do to fix your marriage.”

“Don’t you think I’m trying, mama? I don’t want to lose her!” I said desperately. She stood, walked around the table, and hugged me the way she did when I was a little boy.

“You two should come to church with us this Sunday. Reverend Jones is doing a series on breaking the cycle of divorce. I hope it’s not to that point yet, but it couldn’t hurt.” She held on to me until the timer on the stove went off. She was right; it couldn’t hurt.

“Thanks mom.”

“You know no matter how old you get, you’ll still be my baby. You can always talk to me and your father, Miles. We love you.”

“I know mama, and I love you too.”

Naomi wasn’t home when I made it in that night, but I planned to talk to her as soon as she came in. It was almost twelve when she got there and I was half sleep. I only knew the tine because I purposely looked at the clock. She went to take a shower and I let her be. We could always talk in the morning. Hopefully, she was missing me as much as I missed her, and we could skip the breakup and get straight to the makeup. When she came out of the bathroom, she had on an oversized t-shirt.

“What happened to all the sexy stuff you used to wear to bed?” I asked as she climbed in the bed.

“I thought you were asleep.” She responded as I pulled her body against mine. I ran my hand up her thigh to find that she also hand on shorts under the huge shirt. “Not tonight, honey; I’m too tired.” She yawned.

“Well when will be a good time for you, Naomi? So I can have something to look forward to.”

"I’m sorry, Miles. It’s just been a really long day and I barely have enough energy to keep my eyes open.