The Night

The moon rested atop the trees as its reflection streaked across the lake.

They sat in the car with windows down and the cool  night air brought with it the freshness of the late night.

She moved across the seat, raised his arm and cuddled next to him as he lowered his arm across her shoulders.

He looked down at her soft face and he could see the purple light of the stereo player reflecting in her eyes as she looked up at him with a tender, sweet smile.

He turns his head and again looks across the water as he feels a tightening in his throat and a terrible lump begins to form.

He takes a deep breath and again looks down at her sweet face taking his finger and brushing her hair from her forehead and says, "We need to talk".

He felt her squeeze his arm and say, as she buried her face in his chest, "No we don't, please, no!".

  

He knew he had to say what he needed to say now. It wasn't going to get any easier. He had been consumed for days, battling with himself  over the right thing to do.

They had been together longer than he had been with anyone for a while. She was a wonderful person; quiet, witty, very patient and beautiful.

But in years past he had given his heart to others that he thought he would spend the rest of his life with only to be left broken hearted.

Although some of his concern may have been selfish, he cared for her deeply and he knew that she would do anything for him.

He didn't know if he would ever be ready to settle down and she had already been hurt badly, much more so than he could have imagined going through himself, and he didn't want to be the cause of more pain.

But, had he waited too long? Had he been so selfish and involved in his own feelings and history that things had already developed well past his intended state of emotion. 

He could still feel her tight grip on his arm and feel the dampness of her tears on his chest. It seemed as if they had been sitting there for hours as he cleared his throat and placed his hand on the side of her face.

Although he still felt the tightness in his throat and was fighting back tears of his own, he gathered his thoughts and summoned the strength to speak.

Before he could get the first word out of his mouth, she reached up, placed her hands on either side of his face, wiped a tear from his cheek with her thumb, smiled and said, "I Love you."  

His mind cleared, his past was gone, everything seemed so simple as he too smiled and said, "I love you too."