An Invisible String

Margaret Daniels did not have the virtue of patience and it was slowly slipping away from her as her boyfriend, Jack, continued to confess to his sins.

"It was two—three times, my love, I promise."

His voice was pleading but in a way that is as genuine as her tax-attorney's profit margin at the end of the day is. They fibbed and so did he apparently.

She didn't let herself really think on this in the usual methodical, deeply emotional way she does because she knew if she did Margaret Daniels would burst into a puddle of tears right then and there.

"It doesn't matter, Jack. The fact that you cheated at all is a sign that you don't care about this relationship and more importantly about me. I can't be with a man like that. I won't."

"But, my love, please. You know I will always cherish you."

With his enticing, overwhelming Dior cologne Jack came close and wrapped his arms around the breaking Margaret Daniels.

She let herself be enveloped by his cheating warmth, his condescending charm, and his undying charisma for one singular moment. Then, with the last shred of her self control she pulled away from him.

The lamp light in their 2,000 square foot apartment in New York City that they had made their own caught the reflection of a glistening tear that fell from her cheek and landed on his wrist.

"Will you cherish me like you cherished her, Jack?"

She didn't give herself a second before she left their house that had once been a home and slammed the door behind her. Margaret Daniels would collect her stuff later and never speak to him again.

Thank God they had only been together for a year and he had never put a ring on their clearly doomed relationship. She should have realized the signs and the late nights but no one ever thinks their partner is cheating on them until they actually do.

All the way across the city on 34th North Street Asher Keaton explained for the fifth time why he was taking a gap year at his sister's bar mitzvah reception party. With his tailored tuxedo that itched every time he moved and his glowing ex-girlfriend who had already found a boyfriend and gotten pregnant in the span of six months—this party was turning out to be just splendid.

"You look as happy as I feel."

His aunt joked, her hand affectionately clasping his as they both stood at the open bar, nursing their drinks together.

"Our family is a handful, Auntie."

Asher quipped but could say little more as he saw Claudia, his ex, slow dancing with her boyfriend who looked like he held the world in his hands as he caressed her swollen belly.

"It doesn't seem like our family that is causing your distress though trust me darling, that concern is completely valid too."

He felt like a little kid again as his aunt looked sympathetically at Asher and where his gaze went to. She was always the only one who could see through him and this time was no different.

"I simply feel as if everyone is living their life and I'm only going through the motions. Like I'm this unwanted book on the shelf that is just being left to dust and that will eventually fade away, disappear, and become...invisible."

The pitying look his aunt gave him was too much and the room suddenly became suffocating and he couldn't be there any longer.

"I have to go, Auntie, I'm sorry."

Asher Keaton couldn't leave Upper East Side fast enough and he didn't have it in him to apologize to his sister before he headed to the closest bar he could find to drown out everything that he was feeling; all of it.

Margaret Daniels didn't know where she was going but she knew that she had to find a place that Jack and her hadn't walked together, that they did not have any memories at whatsoever. Faster and faster she went until the tears made her lose sight of whether she was going north or south. Really, it didn't matter anymore.

Suddenly, the wind was knocked out of her, and she fell to the grimy, bacteria infested streets of New York. The elderly businessman didn't even look back to apologize to her but that was the Big Apple; it was as brutal as it was brilliant. Fierce as it was comforting. She could dry your tears just as fast as she could cause them to race like a roaring Mississippi river. All you could do is go by the flow of her and prayed she would give you mercy and the ability enough to survive this formidable city.

Margaret Daniels brushed herself off from the ground and coincidentally, or not, the first thing she saw was a bar called The Big Apple. She didn't feel so invisible then and because fate was calling her to get drunk after her boyfriend cheated on her, she gladly answered.

The bar was bustling, loud, and full of all the life she wanted to suck clean like marrow from a bone. Margaret Daniels couldn't help it but she smiled and it lit up her whole face as she ordered the first alcoholic beverage she saw on the menu.

As she sat down in the bar counter, she let out a deep and almost freeing sigh. Her drink was cinnamon and burned its way down her throat as she chugged it down.

"Wow, you look as if you just came from Hell and back."

Asher Keaton declared and almost laughed because apparently there was someone worse off than him; who would have thought it?

He pondered if it was fate nudging him towards the beginning of an actual life but Lady Fortune has never been kind to him and the war torn woman narrowed her gorgeous green eyes at Asher a little too cynically for his liking.

"Worse, much worse."

Margaret Daniels ordered another cinnamon drink and debated sharing her little tragedy with this curious man whose tousled hair was just a little too Victorian for her liking. She couldn't help herself though, she was intrigued.

"How so, if you don't mind me asking, lady, because I'm sure Dante himself would disagree with you?"

"Dante might actually agree with me if he had his girlfriend of a year cheat on him not once, not twice, but three times. Oh, and her apology wasn't genuine and then Dante tripped and fell on the streets of New York. Finally, because of course, it had to be Christmas Eve, a perfect cherry on top, don't you think?"

Asher knew in that moment that to pity her would only make it worse so he did one thing better: he topped this damaged, beautiful woman's tragedy with his own.

"Imagine if Dante had to go to his sister's bar mitzvah and explain all his life choices to his mom's friends before watching his ex girlfriend dance with her new boyfriend and already be pregnant only after six months together. I think Dante would agree my Hell is much worse than yours, don't you think?"

Margaret Daniels laughed in surprise at his Christmas Eve trauma that actually did seem worse than hers.

"I know this might sound bad but that is the best thing I have heard all day. We both have had horrible Christmas Eve's; we must be made for each other!"

Margaret announced, grinning brightly in a way that rivaled all the lights in the Christmas tree at Rockefellers. At least, it certainly did in Asher Keaton's eyes.

"Like fate maybe?"

"Yes, and right when I was feeling the invisibility that New York makes you feel so well. And cheating boyfriends, of course."

Asher swallowed his gasp right then and there because he knows exactly how that feels, and he never wanted her to feel that way ever again. He would wage wars and fight Hell itself if he had to for her.

"Don't worry, he didn't deserve you anyways."

Asher Keaton tried and failed to keep the protectiveness, the need out of his voice.

"And you do?"

"For now, let me walk you home."

Margaret Daniels felt a warm, fuzzy feeling in her chest that she hadn't felt in a long, long time.

"Oh, I live opposite of here in a completely different direction though I wasn't really paying attention after I broke up with him."

Her laugh was fragile and a little broken but that didn't scare Asher. He was willing to pick up all the pieces that her piece of trash boyfriend had broken her into and put her back together.

"Hey, I live opposite from here too, I'll drive you."

Asher said, smiling a little too wide as he paid for both of their tabs at the bar.

"We match in everything today, I guess."

Margaret said, grinning as Asher opened the bar door and led her outside to a cold and now snowing Christmas Eve night.

"Fate smiles upon us tonight; thank God!"

They both laughed and stared in awe at the snowflakes all around them. Asher caught Margaret's shiver out of the corner of his eye and put his black overcoat around her shoulders as they walked down the streets of New York City.

"Honestly, I think I'd rather just be smiling at you tonight."

Margaret blushed and Asher's hands tightened around the jacket he had put around her shoulders but had never let go from.

There was an indiscernible look in his eyes as if fate herself was peering from within them and in that moment Asher Keaton saw the rest of his life in Margaret Daniels smile, in her eyes.

That Christmas Eve night they weren't invisible and for the rest of their 60 years together, they wouldn't ever be.