Czech Couples 35. Today

There was Pavel and Klára, married for ten years, with two children and a mortgage on a cottage they never finished renovating. There was David and Irena, together for twelve but never married, childless by choice, and quietly wondering if the choice was still theirs to make. And there was Tonda and Markéta, the golden couple, who had broken up three times, gotten back together twice, and just last spring had surprised everyone by buying a rusty camper van together.

No one disagreed.

Irena’s throat tightened. “You’ve been saying that for three years.”

Klára smacked his arm. “We’re thirty-five, not seventy-five.”