Shrunk By Her

He was six-foot-one. He woke up and his clothes did not fit.

By the second morning, he had lost three inches. By the third, six more. His girlfriend measured him with a tape she already had ready. She wrote the number in a notebook that was not new.

She is calm. She is organized. She has a plan. That should be comforting. It is not.

Marcus is shrinking, and Vanessa is stepping into every space he leaves behind. His work. His friends. His world. She builds him a home that fits inside a bookshel...