Tokens of his love left by way of an apology before he left last night to go back to his wife and children. She dumped the flowers in the bin.
At her yoga as she tried to revive herself from too much wine the night before. She stuck to the back of the class and tried to avoid the instructor’s eye.
Sitting round the table at another work meeting with the identikit, white males who will never learn to listen to her. The only female on the company board, tolerated but never listened to.
She paid the £10 fine to the car park attendant who had no time for her excuses and simply kept pointing to the sign that stated ‘Lost Parking Tokens Subject to £10 Fine.’
She added some pepper and mushrooms to the pizza topping in an effort to make the mound of dough, cheese and sauce have some nutritional value. With the ice-cream dessert she didn’t even bother trying.
A zoom call with friends. She slapped on a little concealer on and brushed her hair. She picked a clean top but didn’t bother changing out of her comfy pyjama trousers. While they chattered away she paid more attention to her phone.
His message came through, as she knew it would. Could he come over again tonight for an hour? His wife was out and the kids were staying with friends. Why not? He was good company. She would have to rescue the flowers from the bin.
Tomorrow she resolved to turn over a new leaf and make a real commitment to something. She just had to decide what.

This is a response to the #writephoto Prompt: Tokens curated over at Sue Vincent’s Daily Echo. Click on the link to read other stories inspired by the image.
She is stuck in a viscous cycle
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Thank you, that was what I was trying to show, and it can be slowly destructive.
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Indeed. Well written Iain
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That is a very insightful story Iain. Good one.
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Thank you Trish
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Not a great place to be, paying lip service to appearances…
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I think it’s where a lot of modern society is unfortunately, thanks to the lives we lead now.
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I’m afraid I have to agree, Iain… and we seem to be being trained to accept ‘second best’ as better than nothing.
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Illuminating story! I hope she gets out of the self-destructive rut.
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She does need to find a purpose and a focus. Thank you as always 🙂
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Really well habitual story. I enjoyed this well done Iain.
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Thank you Mason
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Nicely written! Poor thing doesn’t realize her own self-worth and allows others to define her. I could read more of this! 🙂
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Thank you so much Felicia, much appreciated.
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Well written story of infidelity, Iain. You have described both the main characters very realistically. I don’t like or side with either of them.
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Thanks Kim
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Good one Iain! She is stuck in the hamster wheel ☺️
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We’ve all spent some time there now and then.
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Sadly she is deluding herself on every front. .. nothing is never going to change until she changes it. Easier said than done. 💜
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Thank you for reading 🙂
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A pleasure 💜
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This story seems all too real for a lot of women. He’s never going to leave his wife so gather up some courage & self esteem and tell him it’s over. Easier said than done, especially if she thinks she’s in love with him. Excitement in the beginning leads to extreme disappointment in the end. Wonderfully written! 🙂
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Thank you, much appreciated 🙂
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