Almost Said

You would like them if you saw them. Most people do. They are small, bright, and always close to each other in a way that feels effortless. They move together as if distance has never been part of their understanding. We named them X and O, as though love can be simplified into symbols and then quietly expected to grow into meaning. The first time I saw them, I smiled without thinking. “They’re so cute,” I said. And I meant it. Because that is what we see first, the closeness, the colour, the ease of it all. It looks like everything we associate with love. “They’ll have babies soon,” my son said, his voice full of certainty. “Of course,” I replied, almost automatically. Because that is what we expect from love, to grow, to expand, to become something more than what it already is. But as I stood there, watching them, something about that expectation stayed with me. Not the idea of babies, but the idea of what we believe love should lead to. I found myself going b...