115th day

“Today is the 115^th day of the year. I’m not sure what sort of significance that has, it just seemed peculiar to me when I looked at my calendar. 115 days have passed since New Years? It sounds like a lot and maybe it is”, said Peter.

“Yeah, there have been several weddings and births and deaths already this year”, said Martha, “It does seem to going by pretty fast”.

“We should have a baby”, said Peter.

Martha looked up from her iPhone at Peter. She admired his sincerity but she’d never have a baby with him. He was too… lumpy in her opinion.

“A baby”, she said. “I don’t think I’m ready for a baby yet. I’m still working on all these Words with Friends games”.

“But think about how much time has passed already. 115 days have gone by and what do we have to show for it”, asked Peter.

Martha put her iPhone down on the table and took Peter’s hand. She looked at him in the eyes and took a breath.

“I think we should break up”, she said.

Peter froze. He thought she was leaning in for a kiss or maybe to say something comforting to him. He had been feeling very vulnerable and weak the last few days and he was hoping for a little more support. He really didn’t know if he wanted to have a baby with Martha but the idea of having a family before he got too old was deeply taking root in his brain.

“What? You want to break up because I was talking about having a baby”, asked Peter.

“No. Well, not entirely. But I can see where your thoughts are and I’m just not in that place. There’s more in this life that I want to do”, said Martha.

“And having a baby with me isn’t one of those things”, asked Peter.

“No. It’s not”, said Martha.

Peter could see in her face there was no argument brewing. It was just a simple fact. It wasn’t malicious. She was just in a different place and having a baby with her was just a silly dream.

“Well, we don’t have to have a baby. I may have jumped the shark on that one. It’s just all this quickly passing time that has me worried. I mean, the majority of my youthful life is gone. I’m older that my parents were when they were having their second child and it’s starting to freak me out”, said Peter.

Martha nodded and moved away from Peter slightly. She had no desire to get married or even think about having kids right now. She was still trying to figure out how to get a free drink from that cute bartender at the club. She knew she could get free drinks from him if she just had a chance to talk to him.

“It’s okay Peter”, said Martha, “but I am serious. I think we should break up. I really don’t see this going anywhere. Or at least anywhere I want to go right now”.

Peter sighed and rubbed his face. He wished he hadn’t ever even looked at the damn calendar today. Now his girlfriend was breaking up with him. He could understand though. She was quite young and he was getting older. He was fooling himself by dating a 23 year old anyway.

“I understand Martha, and it’s okay”, said Peter.

“Thanks Peter, I knew you’d understand. Can I have a ride home?”

“Of course”, said Peter, “I’m not a monster”.