Moving On

“Hey.”

“Hey. You made it then.”

“‘Course I did. I told you I would be here, didn’t I?”

“Yes.”

“Do you want something?”

“Just a drink. You? No, don’t get up. I’ll get it.”

“So.”

“So.”

“Say something, then.”

“I don’t know what to say. You say something.”

“Ahh. Where to….”

“...begin?”

“Exactly.”

“Yeah.”

“ So? Is it definite?” 

“ Come on.”

“ ‘Come on’, what?”

“We can’t have this conversation again, can we? We’ve been over this again and again.”

“Yes. I know…It’s just, you know…”

“It is what it is, Dan. It just is.”

“I know.”

“What are your plans now? I mean, what will you do? Don’t look at me like that, it’s a simple question.”

“I’m not looking at you like anything, hon. You know what I’m going to do now. It’s the same as you. I’m going to move on -  like we said we would.”

“With…?”

“Yes, you know I am. Same as you are with…”

“Yeah. I know. Sorry. Look, let’s not argue. Let’s just have a nice cup of coffee together.”

“Who’s arguing? …No, you’re right… Let’s just sit here a while.”

“How’s work?”

“Oh, the same as ever, thanks. Busy and stressful, but what can you do, eh?”

“Stanley still giving you problems?”

“No. Didn’t I tell you? He left a couple of months ago.”

“No, I didn’t know that. You never told me.”

“Ah. Sorry. Thought I had.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“No. It doesn’t really, does it?”

“What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Like what?”

“You know.”

“I don’t.”

“Yes, you do. You’re looking ‘all sad’ again… Don’t laugh at me. It’s true.”

“I’m not laughing at you… Sorry.”

“It’s ok… Come on, though… Be happy.”

“ ‘Happy’?”

“Yes. As you say, we’re both moving on now. You’ve got….you know, and we both have a lot to look forward to.”

“I know….just, you know.”

“I do. I do know. Come on now.”

“Yes, but how? Why?”

“What?”

“Where did ‘we’ go wrong? We were so happy together.”

“Yes, we were, weren’t we? It was wonderful for so long.”

“And now…it’s this.”

“Yes, because after it was wonderful, it just wasn’t anymore. We just stopped…”

“I never did.”

“You never did what?”

“You were going to say, ‘we stopped loving each other’... But I never did... I never stopped loving you.”

“Me too. But…”

“But what?”

“But we stopped being in love with each other… We grew apart for a while and then both of us didn’t try hard enough to bring it back together... Maybe we couldn’t... Maybe we were just different people by then.”

“Yeah…what a waste.”

“Don’t say that. Never say that.”

“What?”

“Never say that it was a waste. It never was, hon. It was special.”

“So why is it ending then, if it was so special?”

“It’s just ending because it’s time for it to end. Sometimes people can spend six months together, and sometimes twenty years - whatever - and then it’s just ‘time up’ for them. That’s us. But it wasn’t a waste. Please never think that.”

“I don’t. Not really. I wish I did, though. I wish I did think it was all a waste.”

“Why?”

“Because then it would be easier to let you go. Really let you go, I mean.”

“Aw, hon. Don’t. Don’t say that. You’ll make me cry again.”

“Sorry.”

“You don’t have to ‘let me go’. You’ll always have me and I’ll always have you. You know that.”

“Yes, but it’s not the same, is it?”

“No, it isn’t. Some things will never be the same again. But others will.”

“Like what?”

“Like the promise we made to each other when we first got together.”

“You mean, the one where we promised to always be together, that one?”

“Yes, that one. And the one where we said we would always take care of each other. That we would always be each other’s best friend. That we would always be simply ‘Dan and Terry’ .“

“So? They have all been broken, haven’t they? All those promises.”

“No. No, they haven’t. They’ve just shifted around a bit, that’s all. Just as we’ve shifted about a bit too. You’ll always have me and I’ll always have you. You’re not getting rid of me that easily, you know.”

“Ah…I dunno.”

“What don’t you know?”

“I don’t even know what I don’t know, anymore.”

“Come on. Don’t cry. Please.”

“Sorry…”

“Come on. You’re making me cry now. Please. Here take a tissue. Come on. Deep breaths. It’s going to be alright. You know it is. Come on, hon. Shush now.”

“Sorry…I will be OK in a minute…I haven’t cried like this since…”

“Of course it’s OK. It’s going to be OK. It will always be OK.”

“Feeling better?”

“A bit.”

“Good. Give me a smile… Go on, you know you want to… There. I knew you could do it if you tried…So, have you guys decided where you’re going to go on your honeymoon?”

“Not yet. Have you?”

“No, we might not be able to afford one, to be honest.”

“Ha, us too. You remember ours?”

“What kind of a question is that, hon? Of course, I do. What are you smiling at now?”

“You. You’re smiling, too.”

“Fair point.”

“Good, though, wasn’t it?”

“Yep. ‘Bali in July’ is always going to have a special ring to it.”

“Well, it’s our special place, isn’t it? It’s where we met all those years ago.”

“A lifetime ago.”

“Yes. We were so young then, weren’t we? Thought we knew it all.”

“Come on. Don’t start getting maudlin again.”

“No, I’m not. You’re right. It’s nice to have the memories. And they’re lovely ones, aren’t they?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Remember how we used to sit on the beach, waiting for the sun to go down? We’d make all our plans about what we were going to do together.”

“Yes, and we did them, didn’t we? We did everything we set out to do.”

“Except grow old together, as we planned.”

“Hey...”

“No, it’s OK. We are growing old together, I know - just not ‘together together’.”

“I will always love you, hon.”

“I know you will. I know you know I will always love you, too.”

“It really does seem just like yesterday, doesn’t it?”

“Yup. Where have all the years gone? Why do we have to get old? Sometimes I just wish things could stay the same forever, but they can’t.”

“Nah, we wouldn’t really want them to, would we?”

“Why not?”

“Because that’s what life is all about, isn’t it?  Changes, developing, progressing. Nothing stays the same - good or bad. Everything passes in the end.”

“Hmmm…yes. More’s the pity, sometimes.”

“Do you want another one?”

“No, I’d best be getting off. You know, duty calls and all that.”

“You can stay for a bit longer, can’t you?”

“I want to go, hon.”

“Ah, ok.”

“Take care of yourself. Be happy.”

“Yes.”

“We’ll catch up again soon. Promise.”

“Ok.”

“Come here. Give me a hug.”

“Bye, then.”

“Goodbye, hon.”