Owen slid his card across the counter, grinning at the brunette in the corner booth. She smiled back. The barista—pale, thin, forgettable—raised his stamp and brought it down with a soft thunk.
“Ten stamps gets you a free coffee,” the man said in a monotone voice.
“Brilliant! Same time tomorrow.” Owen pocketed the card, winked at the brunette, and strode out whistling.
“Helen loved this shirt on me,” Owen said, tugging at the fabric. It felt different somehow. The barista—Colin, he’d said—nodded with growing warmth before stamping the card. Thunk.
“She has excellent taste,” Colin replied, posture straighter than before. “Your wife sounds wonderful.”
Owen tried his usual banter with the young woman ordering after him, but she seemed distracted, unimpressed.
“Helen’s been a bit off lately,” Owen confided. Colin’s movements were more fluid now, confident. The stamp came down harder. THUNK.
“Relationships need nurturing,” Colin said, his voice carrying new authority. “What does she say exactly?”
“That I’m… different. Not the man she married.” Owen’s laugh was thin. “Women, eh?”
Colin’s understanding smile was almost magnetic. “Perhaps she just needs reminding why she fell for you.”
The businessman behind Owen didn’t laugh at his joke about the weather.
“I don’t understand what’s happening,” Owen whispered, staring at his grey reflection in the window. When had his face become so ordinary? “She barely looks at me anymore.”
Colin raised his arm high and stamped the card with a hammer blow: THUNK!
The bell chimed. Helen walked in, scanning the room. Her eyes passed over Owen without recognition before settling on Colin.
“Excuse me,” she said, her voice bright with interest. “I don’t suppose you know where I might find my husband?”
Colin’s smile—warm, irresistible, achingly familiar—lit up his face. “I’m sure he’s around somewhere.”
Minutes later, Colin was wrapping his coat around Helen’s shoulders as they stepped into the evening air.
Owen looked down at his loyalty card. Ten stamps. Complete.
He watched his wife laugh at Colin’s joke—his weather joke—and realised he couldn’t remember what it felt like to be funny.
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