High Profile

“You know I love you,” Jenn said.

“Yes,” Jesse said. “I know you do.”

“And I know you love me,” Jenn said.

“Yes,” Jesse said, “I do.”

They were quiet for a while. The lights across the harbor on Paradise Neck were going out. The harbor boat was almost to shore. There was no sound except the movement of the water against the seawall below them. The only light on the deck was from the dim overhead in the living room behind them.

“We love each other and we can’t make it work,” Jenn said.

“Yet,” Jesse said.

“What’s wrong with us,” Jenn said. “What is wrong with us?”

They sat quietly, watching the harbor boat’s slow progress. Jesse shook his head. The harbor boat had bumped up against the float at the town wharf and turned its running lights off.

“A lot,” he said, “and I don’t know what it is, or how to fix it.”

She nodded slowly with her head against his shoulder.

“But I guess we’re in it together,” Jesse said.

“Yes,” she said. “I’m pretty sure we are.”

Both their drinks sat half-finished on the table, diluting as the ice melted while they sat in the near darkness, holding hands and not talking, for a long time before they went to bed

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