Rain trickled down the window, the clouds painting Staten Island a dreary shade of gray. Danny Castellano stared out the window, the depressing weather matching his depressed mood. Mindy always called days like today "soup and grilled cheese days". However, after he and Mindy broke up, he could no longer eat soup and grilled cheese. Soup and grilled cheese, the one dish that Mindy could cook to perfection, reminded him of her too much. He found a lot reminding him of her here lately. The purple nail polish on a patient's toes, the tabloids at the grocery store checkout, Arrid Extra dry men's deodorant, when Leo slept in bed with Danny, and his little body somehow managed to take up the entire King size mattress. It took everything he had not to call Mindy when he overheard the nurses at work talking about how Kim Kardashian was having fertility problems, and was visiting a fertility clinic. Mindy would have went crazy, tweeting the Kardashian's about Lahiri fertility clinic. That's what he loved about Mindy, her ferocity. Ultimately, the lethal combination of her ferocity and his stubbornness is what had led to their demise. He was so guilty, so wrong, trying to tame the zest and vibrancy that was Mindy Lahiri. He lay in bed often, replaying their fights over and over in his head. He often wished that he could change it all, take back all the hurtful things he had said. He could have become the stay at home parent, while Mindy went out and conquered the world.
The bell above the door rang, as the door opened to the diner. Sarah came in, beaming ear to ear. "Danny! Look what came! They are perfect!". Sarah slid a cream piece of Ivory cardstock over the table as she slid into the booth. Written in smooth black script was an invite to he and Sarah's wedding. "I love it babe!" He said, his fingers gliding across the paper. He smiled, but inside he was screaming. His lungs felt depleted of oxygen, his body struggling to breath, his throat burning as bile rushed up. All of this, the breakup, the wedding, Life changing faster than Mindy cycling through outfits, it was all too much. He longed for something quiet and familiar. He longed for Mindy snoring away beside him two minutes after the intro to a Clint Eastwood movie, for her to be curled up beside him reading the latest reality star's biography. He longed for 35 bottles of various beauty products crammed into his shower, for her mispronounced and butchered Italian. He longed for a sweet, passionate kiss, he could almost taste her Bubble gum flavored lip gloss and Gas station taquitos she had for lunch. He wouldn't admit to anyone, but he longed for Mindy.
The waitress approached the table. " what will it be?"
Danny smiled. "soup and grilled cheese."