Not Like the Movies

10 reasons why I married Henry Wood.

1.) My friends like him.

2.) He’s kind and caring. He always puts me first.

3.) He doesn’t always need me to take care of him.

4.) He isn’t jealous.

5.) My friends like him.

6.) Everything he does is sincere

7.) He has been very loyal to me

8.) He has a set career, so he’s not home very often

9.) He’s always there when I need him to be

10.) My friends like him

What’s missing from my list? Do you know? I sure do. Out of the ten reasons why I married Henry Wood, not one of them is for love. It’s not on my list. Sure, I like him. He’s great to me. But he’s just not…him.

Henry treats me right. He told me once, it was alright if I didn’t love him. As long as I knew how deeply he truly loved me. And I knew Henry loved me. I just wished that I could love him the way he loved me. I truly did.

I felt guilty because I didn’t marry my husband because I loved him. To be honest, I’m in love with another man. But there’s nothing I, or anyone else, can do about that.

Henry and I, we kept it simple.

We went to all the social gatherings, we went to all the parties, we talked, we danced, and he told me he loved me.

Normally I laughed a bit. But not because of the humor. The laugh was out of pity. I pitied Henry because his love was worthless to me. Like trying to use a quarter in Arabia. Worthless and a waste of time.

No, instead I was in love with someone who I can never forget about. And I miss him.

I was in love with a man who:

Yelled at me.

Called me vile things.

Never thought about my feelings.

And truly never cared.

Of course, I found out later he did care about my feelings. He cared very much.

And now if I saw him again the first thing I would do would be to apologize. I was in love with a man who:

Took me dancing.

Never wanted our relationship to be in the media.

Who broke down after I walked away from him.

And I, Leslie Wood, cared very much for him.

So here it goes. The reasons why I didn’t marry him, why I married Henry instead.

1.) My Friends Like Him

I was fifteen, and Sam was fifteen, when he confessed that he liked me. Sure, it wasn’t how you normally think it would go. Normally, fifteen year olds would send letters to each other during class that say:

Do you like me?

Check yes or no.

No, Sam was different. We were different. It all started when we started fighting, again. I was in the hallways after the last school bell rang. I was packing my school bag ready to go home, when I heard boys yelling at one another.