Stone Mattress

Sam, the main character in “The Freeze-Dried Groom,” is told by his wife Gwyneth that their marriage is over. He starts to argue and thinks about telling her that he really loves her, “but she’d say—as she’s been saying recently, with tedious predictability, that love isn’t just words, it’s actions” (128).

During adverse weather conditions, Sam packs up his belongings and leaves the house he shares with Gwyneth. He makes his way through a winter storm to the antique store he owns and runs. After admitting to his one and only employee, Ned, that Gwyneth kicked him out and he’ll be staying at the store, Sam leaves for an auction where he can bid on abandoned storage units for sale. This is where Sam finds many of the items he sells at his store. That night, Sam wins three storage units, one of which hides a dead body. The dead man is surrounded by wedding favors: a bride’s dress, unopened boxes of china, and champagne flutes.

As Sam thinks about what to do with the body, a woman approaches and offers to pay him double for the unit. Sam knows she is the owner of the unit and most likely the bride, but he doesn’t accept her offer right away. Instead, he meets her at a motel bar where he admits he knows about the storage unit’s contents. She explains that she accidently killed the groom while strangling him—his wish, not hers—during sex.

Throughout the cold, winter night, Sam imagines what would happen if he disappeared during the storm. Ned would tell the police when he last heard from Sam. Maybe the cops would hear about how Gwyneth kicked Sam out that night. The bartender at the motel bar would say that he remembered Sam with a blonde. Finally, taking a real risk knowing what happened to her fiancée, Sam joins the woman in a motel room where they spend the night together.