Gemotions

"Swim with sharks." The words, penned in Amelia's elegant script, stared back at him from the dog-eared page. "Write a children's book." "Learn to sail." Ethan felt a coldness creep into his limbs. He re-read the list, his stomach churning.

He paced the living room, a restless energy coursing through him. He’d thought they shared the same dreams, the same aspirations. The gap between them felt suddenly immense, an unbridgeable chasm.

He stopped, his gaze fixed on a framed photograph of them, smiling. The smiles now seemed forced, the joy hollow. He couldn’t shake the unnerving feeling that he was a stranger in his own home. He began to feel as though he had never known her at all.