After my husband watched me sit glassy-eyed in front of the computer, I made up a story about an old boyfriend who direct messaged me on Facebook. My last date with the man happened at a Greek diner. We ordered spanakopita: two crusty triangles, large as baseball mitts, dark hearts of spinach, and the salty promise of feta. My boyfriend crunched into his, silent, staring, as I savored mine.

I gave up 

on him that night. He wanted 
my spanakopita, devoured it with his eyes. 

I might have shared, 
but he had never looked at me 
with such hunger.  

:::

I was well into my thirties, said I was a widow. I thought a touch of tragedy would make me mysterious. My deceased spouse had been in the film industry, a stand-in for George Clooney, and in his earlier days, Warren Beatty. A gold-framed photo of the two of us, actually me and a long-dead cousin with a great profile, sat on my bedside table.

How did my spouse die? Tragically. 

First a jowl. Then a paunch. Then too much 
weed and mini quiche, then a swan dive 

into the shallow end of Goldie’s pool. 
“The movies are a cruel business,” I said,
wiping away a tear.   

:::

The Secret Service man, known only as “Sven,” rang twice, said, “Remain on the line for ‘B.’” “Barak,” I said. My heart cartwheeled when “B” murmured, “That’s me, T.” We still laugh about the first time “B” escaped to my place. The disguise! No limo that day. The bodyguard drove a Subaru. “B” wore a wig with a gray-streaked man-bun and sunglasses. Hiding in plain sight! I spread a tablecloth on the living room floor, hand-fed “B” tiny treats—deviled quail eggs with caviar, mini carrot cakes, thumb-sized mud pies—all the things he loves. We talked and laughed. Merged at the deepest level.

But this lady doesn’t kiss and tell. 

Michelle’s anguish was real. 
“B” said his betrayal clouded 

her eyes. We’re decent people, 
“B” and me. We tried. 
But we just couldn’t let go.   

—Third Place Winner in MacQ’s Cheribun Challenge #2

Tina Barry’s

third collection, I Tell Henrietta (with art by Kristin Flynn), was published in August 2024 by Aim Higher Press, Inc. Tina’s first two books were released by Big Table Publishing: Beautiful Raft (2019) and Mall Flower (2016). Her writing can be found in numerous literary journals and anthologies, including American Poetry Journal, The Best Small Fictions 2020 (spotlighted story) and TBSF 2016, The Fourth River, Gone Lawn, Gyroscope Review, MacQueen’s Quinterly, Maryland Literary Review, Nasty Women Poets anthology, ONE ART, Rattle, South Florida Poetry Journal, Sky Island Journal, SWWIM, trampset, Verse Daily, and elsewhere.

She has three nominations for the Pushcart Prize and several Best of the Net and Best Microfiction nods. Tina is a teaching artist at The Poetry Barn and Writers.com.

Author’s website: TinaBarryWriter.com

More on the Web: By, About, and Beyond

⚡ I tell Henrietta that before I left my boyfriend and It’s Ed Sullivan’s Fault, microfictions by Tina Barry from her new book; first published in MacQueen’s Quinterly (Issue 18, April 2023)

⚡ Inside the amazing brains of Laura Rodley, Tina Barry, & Robert Slais by Big Table Publishing in Boston Literary Magazine (February 2023); includes Tina’s poem “Lilies”

⚡ Beautiful Raft: An Interview with Tina Barry by Hannah Grieco in Empty Mirror (28 February 2020)

⚡ “A Friend’s Daughter Dies” by Tina Barry in American Poetry Journal (Issue 14, Summer 2017)