matchbook

his enchanting white clapboard cottage comes equipped with a lonely woman with no expectations except to make another quilt. The charming front porch welcomes you into a cozy living room where a man ponders his life in an abundance of natural light. Lovingly maintained, this home is full of exquisite details such as the built-in China cabinet where the woman used to display her grandmother’s Rosenthal Magic Flute Gold China collection before the man sold it to cover a gambling debt. The remodeled kitchen has ample storage and high-end Bosch appliances, including the Viking French door refrigerator with double freezer doors on the bottom which the woman opens in the middle of the night to gaze at the litany of flavors—rocky road, butter pecan, mint chocolate chip—before selecting one, then standing at the copper farmhouse sink—set in Calacatta marble countertops—eating out of the carton and, still ravenous, opening another carton. Wander into the sewing room where wall to wall shelves of quilting fabric are neatly stacked according to color, and a four patch house quilt in orange, green, blue, and yellow lies half-finished on the floor. Stroll into the study where the man leans into his computer inhaling conspiracy theories about the universe and studying the rate of stellar births but always remembering to order the Full of Love bouquet for the woman during each waning crescent moon. Walk up a half flight of stairs and relax in the luxurious primary suite with stunning skylight where the woman and man long ago held hands and asked the stars to bless their baby, then begged the stars, then howled at the stars, those billions of gloating glimmers, their stellar nurseries safe, their newborn stars glowing, sculpting the gas and dust around them. Don’t forget to stroll through the romantic cottage garden with stone wall and meandering pathway gazing at the peonies and foxgloves and pink cabbage roses with their glorious scent. The woman and man used to sit on this bench, radiant with the future.