My wife is paralyzed, so I haven’t been inti:mate with her for four months. Out of deep frustration, I left her alone for ten days to go on a date with the younger sister of my colleague. And then… the unexpected happened.

and the air always carried the faint smell of antiseptic no matter how often I opened the window. The bed where we had once fallen asleep tangled together became a place of careful angles, pillows under her knees, blankets tucked just right, and me lying awake on the edge like a man afraid to move.

It wasn’t only the loss of intimacy, though that loss continue reading …