My Valentine

Ten

Marshall Valentine

There were things in this life that men just didn't do, and then there were torturous things we thought we'd never do. Buying sanitary napkins was on my list of degrading things men should never do.

The sight of the bloodied bed sheets in Nightingale's temporary room was forever engraved into my mind.

The thought made me grimace as I made my way down the supermarket's third aisle.

My fingers gripped the metal handles of the grocery basket I was carrying when a supermarket attendant informed me on where to find...sanitary napkins and all that good stuff

I'd driven three towns over to avoid meeting anyone I knew. Ridiculous, I know, but my manly pride meant a lot to me.

The attendant was blonde and had a slender figure, but her breasts were out of this world. She was the type of woman I'd normally go after before my marriage and Brooklyn came along. Nothing was stopping me from attaining her phone number - by the flirtatious smile and the fluttering of her eyelashes she'd sent my way when I walked up to her - but I knew Nightingale was in pain and was waiting for me to ease her discomfort and that made me ignoring the woman's unspoken invitation worthwhile.

I awkwardly shuffled up against the shelves which consisted of sanitary napkins of all sizes, as printed on the overhead notice board, and ran my hand through my disheveled mop of hair anxiously.

I'd been doing that ever since I got into my car.

Biting my lip, I stared at the mountain of packaged blood absorbers. Which one should I get? There were so many.

Confusion hit me in the head. I basically had one foot out the door; that's how much I wanted to get out of there, but I needed to ensure the teenager had what she needed first.

I scratched my scalp, baffled.

Carefree?
Stayfree?
Libresse?
Confidence- Maxi?

How did women even get these things to fit between their legs all the time?

Instead of standing there, looking like the clueless twenty-nine year old I was, I began scooping them all up with one arm. I got her had 20 packages and I was rest assured that I wouldn't have to see anymore menstural blood.

Shuddering, I thought about what was next on the list.

Painkillers.

"Hey stranger," A throaty voice said behind me.

I knew that voice anywhere. Turning around, I had to look down at the tiny person who'd stolen my heart years ago and still refused to give the last piece she had back.

"Lisa."

There was no smile on my face, no joy in my heart of being in the presence of my...wife anymore. I remember how Lisa-Lee used to be the only thing or person that gave me happiness. Now, I could barely stand the very sight of her naturally curly strawberry-blonde hair, her pretty light brown eyes which I used to drown in or her little body that I'd kissed every inch of more times than I could count.

A part of me still wished that she'd seem more ogre-like after months of separation, but she was still as beautiful as the day first I met her.

Sadly, as the three years of our marriage went by, her selfishness became more than I could bare. Lisa took something from me that I would never in a million years be able to forgive her for, even if we decided to give our marriage another try.

That and the fact that she was never able to accept Brooklyn into our home. Me becoming Brooklyn's legal guardian after my brother's death was our breaking point.