There was something I wanted. The glow of home, or the bittersweet ache of fulfillment. Something not tangible.

The restaurant was crowded; too loud, too bright. I sat by the window, watching flurries dance around the white glowing orbs of streetlights.

A man stood to leave.

“Take me with you.”

Erica Schaef worked as an Operating Room nurse for ten years before becoming a stay-at-home parent. She lives in rural Tennessee with her family.