He walked hurriedly down the stairs. Lunch break was his
favorite hour of the day lately, better than going home in the evening and certainly better than
weekends. Despite the
stoic facade he revealed to the world, his
heart raced with anticipation and he couldn't help but quicken his pace as he emerged through the
revolving doors on the ground floor. The
autumn day was cool and
windy and, as his eyes adjusted to the brighter light of the
outside world, he squinted across the street to the
sidewalk café where he had been dining almost daily for quite some time.
There was, as usual, a sudden
shortness of breath at the sight of her, sitting in the usual spot at the
café. She had her back to him, but there was no mistaking who it was. With a cursory glance to each side, he crossed the street and took a seat at his usual place across from her. "Hi," she said as he sat, "you're late." With a
sheepish smile and a
murmur of
apology, he flagged a waiter for his usual
croissant and
coffee.
* * *
She looked at him and wondered, as she had on so many other occasions, what she was doing there. "
You need to move on," that voice always reasoned, "
there's nothing for you here" and yet... She thought she saw him move his hand forward and then check himself. But, then again, it may well have been just a figment of her imagination.
He was the true essence of a dream. One so close, yet so far. She was also sure that she represented something similar to him, even though neither had ever talked about it.
Not in so many words. Maybe today she could find the courage to bring it up, she had to make the effort.
* * *
Her
thoughtfulness wasn't lost on him and, as always, he
wondered what she was thinking. When she asked the question, he was half expecting it, as he always did, but was caught off guard all the same: "
Why did you marry her?" That simple, yet dreadful, question. That long unasked
imponderable that they had tried to ignore. All of a sudden, he had the words needed to express his answer to it. Or so he thought, anyway: "Because
I thought I'd never find you."