An Invitation One Can’t Refuse

Daily writing prompt

If you could host a dinner and anyone you invite was sure to come, who would you invite?

I knew that he would come to dinner because he knew how important this one evening was. Prior to dinner, we had argued. We had stayed in touch, but we hadn’t seen each other in months. It took me courage to ask him to come to my place.

He had been there several times before. In the first year, we laughed a lot and spent hours together, collecting memories. In our last year, we had argued less and less until we didn’t have much to say at all.

“Will you come by?” I asked.

“Yes, of course,” you said.

So I spent the whole afternoon preparing dinner, making the perfect meal with the food that he loved. I wore his favorite T-shirt and jeans. Remember where we were when I first wore this outfit? It was such a fun vacation!

He arrived on time, which was unusual because he was often late. He gave me a hug and a kiss, which he hadn’t done in a year. Then he saw the food and couldn’t wait to eat it. “I’ve missed you,” he said.

“I missed you too,” I said, my eyes watering, “and I’m sorry.”

Everything was what I’d hoped for. There were no arguments, no anger. When you remember something, it tends to be perfect because your mind selectively edits everything.

It removes all the bad stuff, so you only remember the good.

I stared at the plate of food in front of him, still untouched.

It was all in my head, of course. In my mind, I’d fixed it all. We were speaking again. No more regrets over things left unsaid, no more agonizing over mistakes we’d made. Just this perfect dinner where he was here again, and everything was perfect.

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