Interlude Press's "Come What May Short Story Project" continues for me with "And Always Coming BAck" by Jude Sierra. ​ In this story, married couple David and Evan are in Covid lock down together. At first, they find they are spending lots of time together, reconnecting. After enough time passes though, the two men seem to be retreating in their own ways. Ultimately, David experiences a profound loneliness that challenges his ability to keep his depression at bay.

I haven't wanted to read many pandemic stories for obvious reasons but this one was quite moving. I think many people who are living with someone will related to the feeling of relief at having that person there... but also loneliness. This story really manages to address how you can be lonely in someone's company. Sierra also manages to capture the experience of living with depression. I know this is a short work, but the author has a handle on the way that depression can descend upon someone when it's not all expected.. and also, how it can be next to impossible to explain what is needed to help.

The closeness these partners shared is expressed in such a lovely way by Sierra's writing. The small things that make up the weave of a relationship appear in this story in such subtle ways that I began to think I knew the characters intimately. The connection between them was lovely and illustrates the way in which all relationship can stumble and it's how you try to reconnect that makes or breaks you.