I cannot feel the days go away but I know they are going. He laughed and she laughed with him. They can go. You lived them well.
I did, didn’t I? He asked, not really asking.
You remember the first night?
“I’ve never forgotten the first night”, she laughed again. “I spent the whole day being nervous, you had shaved off those layers and layers of hair, even tamed that wild unibrow. We had the best dinner, then fell asleep. Woke up in the morning, facing each other just as we are doing now, laughing at the irony. Somehow, all the tension fell away. Do you remember the necklace?”, she asked in turn.
“The necklace was the best part”, he answered. “I remember saving up for it, picking up driving shifts until the money was complete. In my mind, you were going to wear it that night as we made love—“
“Well I wore it in the morning for breakfast, she cut in, giggling.
Breakfast was so much better.
The one ritual we’ve kept going for 40 years, besides lying down like this.”
He said nothing and stared into her eyes with a small smile. He, too, was thinking about all the rituals they tried to start, but breakfast was the one that stuck.
Are you in any pain?
No.
You’re quiet.
I’m just thinking… this life has been good.
—And it will be good for 365 more mornings. I’m getting up now. What should we do for breakfast? Come with me?
Yes.
She reached for him, guiding him to his feet as she continued to speak, “You’ll make the tea and cut the fruit, I’ll handle the things that need fire," and he couldn’t help thinking she always has.
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