Set: A dock on Big Bear Lake. A cooler between them. Three pairs of feet dangling over the water. Sun is setting, mosquitoes are testing courage, and the work talk’s drifting off-script.

Judge Morrison took a long pull then let out a grunt that had less to do with the whiskey and more to do with the decades parked on his shoulders.

“The phrase means everything and nothing,” he said. “It’s a catch-all. A mercy. A lie we give them so they can walk away with something noble.”

Linda, the paralegal, snorted. “That’s poetic. But you’re drunk. And I’ve seen your calendar. Half those irreconcilables come in hating each other over a dirty NutriBullet.”

“That's nothing,” said Tom, the divorce lawyer, slapping at a mosquito on his shin. “One of mine last year? She couldn’t stand the way he chewed. Thirty years married, two adult kids, and she tells me—swear to god—‘Every bite sounds like he’s murdering a wet sock.’”

Morrison chuckled. “That one’s not so bad. I had a case back in ’09 where the guy installed a urinal in the kitchen. Said it was efficient. She said it was ‘spiritually corrosive.’ That’s the phrase she used. Wrote it right on the petition.”

Linda leaned back on her elbows. “Y’all are amateurs. I had a couple that split over dog astrology.”

“Dog astrology?”

“She’d hired this pet psychic who said their labrador’s aura was being ‘disrupted’ by the husband's energy. He laughed. She cried. They were in court three weeks later.”

Tom raised his bottle in a toast. “To disrupted dog energy.”

They all drank.

The lake lapped against the dock.

“But like...what is it, really? Irreconcilable differences. Not the punchline kind. The real kind. I mean, outside the court lingo. What makes a person look at someone they used to love and say: ‘Nope. No more.’”

A branch snapped behind them. Then a thud. Then a muffled “I’m fine”.

Tom cleared his throat.

“There was this guy, quiet, wore a tie even in July. They’d been married eighteen years. She said he never yelled, never cheated, never drank, never hit. But she looked so small in that chair, you know? Like she was holding her breath for the past decade. I finally ask her what happened. And she says—”

A fish jumped then vanished in a quiet splash.

“‘He leaves the hallway light on. Every night. Even though he knows I can’t sleep with it. Every night.’”

“That’s it?” Linda asked.

“That’s it,” Tom said. “Only... it wasn’t it. The hallway light was the language. What she meant was, he didn’t see her. Or didn’t care to. She had begged in a thousand tiny ways and he’d ignored every one.”

Morrison nodded slowly. “Death by paper cuts.”

“Exactly.”

Linda sat up. “You think maybe the difference isn’t always what it is but what it represents?”

“Bingo,” Tom said. “Some folks’ll forgive an affair faster than they’ll forgive silence.”

Judge Morrison looked out over the water. “You know what case stuck with me? Real quiet one. No property fight, no custody battle. Just a woman—maybe forty-five, worked nights at a hospital. Her husband came in to sign the papers and started crying halfway through. Said, ‘I thought we were fine. We don’t fight.’ And she said, ‘That’s the problem. We don’t do anything. We’re roommates who nod.’”

He picked at the label on his bottle. “She said the only time she heard him laugh anymore was when he talked to the dog.”

They all sat with that one a while.

The night got colder and the lake went still.

Linda finally said, “So maybe the worst sin isn’t cruelty. It’s indifference. Not ‘I hate you.’ Just... ‘I can’t reach you.’”

Tom gave a slow nod. “That’s irreconcilable.”

Judge Morrison stood, stretched his old back and said, “Well. That or putting a urinal next to the Instant Pot.”

They all laughed harder than the line deserved.

And for a moment the dock was warm.

When Jack and Jill met in college, they had thier whole lives ahead of them. Everyone thought thier marriage would last forever. They were a great couple, made a sweet family and endured several hardships together.

However, time and deppression takes a toll on a marriage.

After thirty years Jacks deppresion and pain from a car accident that killed Jills mother, caught up with him. Jill over the years tried to encourage Jack to get counceling, but he refused. He didnt think anything was wrong with him. He withdrew into himself, became addicted to porn and wouldnt even acknowlege Jill when she got home from work.

When it becomes more lonely being at home than it is being at work, its not a marriage anymore. Its a roomate situation. Jill tried everything she could to fix things.

Marriage though, takes two people working together trying to fix things, not one. Jill had enough, after all the years of trying to get Jack to get help, beeing the only means of money, and living with somone who gave up on himself, Jill filed for divorce.

She didn't file because she found someone new, she filed because she couldnt keep trying to save a dying relationship. How long are you supposed to be missrable and lonely in a relationship thats no longer a real marriage. Jack and Jill no longer wanted the same things out of life. Someone had to move on and Jill took that initiative because Jack was happy being stuck and miserable.

In this kind of situation what else can you do?

They started off as friends

In the same workplace at the same time each day. Passing each other with a conversation

on-the-run. Finally, they made plans to meet at a place where they both adored, the movies.

After the movies they went for dessert at waffle House where they had time to talk and relate.

This went on for hours. Closer to her apartment than his, they finally left the waffle house and went to her place. They went in and crashed on her sofa. Neither had to work that day so they spent the day and the night together for about 2 years. Then he popped the question. Married for 7 more years with 2 children, they enjoyed each other until the summer came one year to spoil it all. The head moving disrespect from women is tiny tight clothing. Hanging out all night with the guys. An argument over every little thing. No eye contact. Disagreement on how to raise their children. Family members adding their two cents worth.

Doubts of love and attraction were settling. No date nights for years. No vacation, no cash, no means. House bills moved in with children to feed. Everything became overwhelming. His first instinct was to run, so he did. He hooked up with a girl at work again and moved in with his best friend. She was left with the mess and because most women are survivors for their children she survived. She filed for a divorce after a year and is now dating her attorney. The End.