TAKING CHANCES:

Image of two men at a bar with a shadow image of a woman, as if a thought.

Take 1 — The Voicemail Sound Chirped Again

The voicemail sound chirped again.

Malcolm let it sit for a moment before pressing play, leaning back into the stiff leather seat as the plane hummed beneath him, somewhere between New York and everything waiting for him back in Detroit.

“I’m sure your life has taken its usual twists and turns…”

That familiar phrase came from a familiar voice — Maria’s voice — warm, familiar, persistent. Always catching him mid-transition, mid-reinvention, mid-something.

He smirked faintly, closing his eyes.

“Of course,” replied Malcolm, as he quietly contemplated all of the changes he’d soon be catching-up his ex-turned-bestie about. (And he also thought about the things he would not share because of their history and his concern for her feelings for him which, he knew, were still unresolved even though they both said years ago that they had.)

Partner again. New firm. New city. Old city, technically — Detroit, where he was from. Back for his mother. Back for responsibility Back for reasons that felt heavier than they should.

And none of it felt like momentum.