Gemotions

“Coffee with Ethan,” Maria muttered, staring at the message on her phone. The words blurred before her. The idea of caffeine and conversation sounded like torture. She wanted to stay in her pajamas, wrapped in the comfort of her own thoughts.

She kept delaying, finding a new excuse for every moment she should have been moving, a new reason to sit still.

A persistent ringing. Her doorbell. It was Ethan, with a woman he had met at a yoga class, both looking as if they'd been run over by a truck.