Vulnerable Read Online Free PDF

and then asking softly the question that everybody always wants to know in a situation like this but always lacks the courage: “What happened?”
                Michael had been expecting this question and had prepared a quick and easy answer: “Childbirth,” he replied, “She died giving birth to our first and only child.” Millie blinked again and opened her mouth to ask another question, but Michael answered that one before she could utter a syllable. “He died too.” Her face drained of color.
                “I’m so sorry,” she breathed. “Truly, I am—,”
                “Really, it’s all right…” Michael’s thoughts trailed into a memory of his wife hitting him over the head with a plastic baseball bat in rage because he’d forgotten to take out the garbage before company came over. He always felt a singe of guilt well up inside when he remembered her like this, but he couldn’t ignore her abusive and crazy tendencies because they were ninety-five percent of their marriage.
                He swallowed hard when he looked up because it made him feel even guiltier. How could this beautiful, intelligent woman that he’s known less than two days make him feel so great when his late wife had just left him scarred with eternal guilt? He was sure that he was losing it; maybe one of those baseball bat incidents left him a little loopy.
                Millie looked deeply at him and reached her hand to intertwine with his. His heart leapt to his throat and he was about to ask her more about herself before she asked the strangest question he had ever been asked: “Can you feel her sometimes?” This certainly caught him off-guard.
                “What?” he asked with his voice filled with vacancy.
                She blushed, “When you miss her and need her… can you feel her?”
                Michael laughed uncomfortably and fidgeted—he could feel his fingers twitching awkwardly. “N-No, I don’t think so.” She blinked slowly again and looked down.
                “I can feel…” Michael heard Millie whisper to herself.
                “Wha—,”
                “So have you decided on a main course yet?” came the husky voice of the brawny waiter.
                “Oh,” Millie snapped back into the moment at the restaurant, as opposed to the one swimming around in her head, “I’ll have the… uh… chef’s special… the one with avocados and pico de gallo.” She smiled up innocently, completely oblivious to the fact that the waiter had been hitting on her since they first arrived.
                “And for you?” he sighed, extremely less interested in taking Michael’s order.
                “Uh… yes… I’ll have… the same… I suppose.” The waiter looked at him blandly before rolling his eyes and taking the menus away. He didn’t leave without winking at Millie though, and this burned a fire in Michael’s chest. Why should it, though? He’s not dating her or anything. I mean, he just met her yesterday for heaven’s sake. No one could like someone that instantly… could they?
                “I have a question…” Millie asked in a nervous voice, “How… was your relationship with your wife?” Michael’s eyebrows nearly ascended into his hairline at the question. How forward! How… intriguing… to ask… such a question…
                “She… was… abusive…” were the only words Michael could utter. There was thick awkwardness in the quiet air before Millie gave a follow-up question.
                “Well then… why do you find it hard to write?”
                Michael’s eyes flickered with annoyance for the first time at the angelic figure before him. “What?”
                “I’m sorry, I—,”
                “Do you know what it’s like to