Wisteria

“I despise you.”

“I loathe you, too, darling. Now get walking.”

she leaned toward her husband and commanded, “Pretend that I am the most brilliant person on this earth, or I will make every second of your life absolute misery.”

“Do you mean to say that you’re not already doing that?”

“It’s not worth the effort to manipulate you when I have no desire to even look at you for any longer than necessary. Though I do advise that you get comfortable with my powers, love. If you insist on keeping up our guise, know that there is a cost.”

“That was never my intention.”

“Why do you want to know, Miss Farrow?” Aris asked, the timbre of his voice earning the reaper’s attention. “Would you like to join me, instead?”

“Enjoying the view?”

“Enjoying the view?”

“Hello, Sweetbrier.” He took her chin in his hand, and between her lips Aris whispered, “I’ve finally found you.”

He plucked a blueberry from a thriving bush and popped it into his mouth, sensing his wife’s touch upon it.

Perfect. It was perfect.

The woman he had not stopped thinking about. The one his very skin burned for.

His wife.

His wife. There before him all this time.

What a fool he’d been not to see it before