Lovely War

“Marriage is forever, James,”

“If you think I can live without you, Miss Windicott,” James said, “you don’t know me at all.”

“And hold a wedding reception.”

the war’s taught me anything at all, it’s that life is short. I won’t waste any more of it waiting for you.”

“You must have no idea how much I look at you, Goddess,” he tells his wife. “I tell myself, I can stop anytime.”

But when a furniture rearrangement took place, on a whim, leaving Hazel’s right side on display, James decided he liked that view even better. She was his, from every angle. The scars were a reminder that she came back.

“You’re completely soft where mortals are concerned,” he tells her. “Heart on your sleeve. Vulnerable to everything. I don’t like to say it, but you’re a byword on Olympus for it. Way too invested, they call you. Too far down in the weeds with the mortals. It ruins your cool. Warps your judgment.”

“That’s the point.”

“You are charged with being capable of love. And of being loved. If you would for once look at me and know who I am.”

Her greatest fan was James.