As she turned her attention back towards the ocean she let out a soft sigh. It had only been a week since he had left her, but the heartache she felt was earth shattering. She could feel the tears stinging the back of her eyes and she fought not to let them fall. She wanted so much to just hold him and love him forever. It was all she had ever wanted. She sat down in the sand and drew a heart. As her thoughts drifted back to that night a steady stream of warm tears flowed down her cheeks.
She had worked very hard the entire day trying to make everything perfect for tonight. The candles were lit and the music played softly through the room. The table was set for two with each item carefully arranged and placed. All that was missing was him.
Almost two hours after he was supposed to be there she still paced the floor. Thoughts running wild in her head. She had called everyone she could think of, but no one seemed to know where he was. Finally she heard a knock on the door. She ran to the door and flung it open, but wasn’t prepared for the sight she saw before her.
There he stood with tears streaming down his cheeks. She instinctively went to him to wrap him in a hug. She wanted to shield him from his pain, but before she could wrap her arms around him he stepped back and shook his head. "No, I...I...um...I have to talk to you."
She opened the door and he walked in taking off his jacket. "Sweetheart, is everything..." her words were cut off as he put his hand up to silence her. "Don’t," he whispered as another tear fell down his cheek. She didn’t understand what was going on, but the tears streaming down his cheek broke her heart. Instantly tears sprung forward as she sat down in the chair across from him.
"I don’t know where to even begin," he said as he ran a hand over his face, "I don’t know how to say it." He looked over at her and saw all the pain in her eyes. It made him want to run to her and shield her from it all pain. This time he couldn’t do that though because he was the one causing all her pain. "I guess I’ll just say it. I...well...I think that we should..." he took a deep breath and closed his eyes before finishing, "I think that we should see other people."
She sat there stunned for a moment before trying to talk through her blinding tears. "But...I thought" she reached up to wipe her cheeks before walking over to the couch where he was sitting. "JC, I love you. I thought we had something special." Her words triggered something inside of him and he had to turn away from her tear filled eyes. He stood up and walked towards the door noticing for the first time the table that was so neatly set, the candles that had burned down to nearly nothing, and the rose petals that lay so delicately on the table cloth.
He turned back to look at her and softly whispered, "I am so sorry. I never meant to hurt you. You have to understand that. It’s just...it’s me." She stood up to walk to him again, but he quickly opened the door and stepped out into the night. He was gone. She stood frozen, looking at the door as a fresh set of tears slid down her cheeks. He was really gone.
She wiped away her tears and stood up to walk back towards the house. "You have to pull it together girl," she whispered to herself, "he doesn’t love you anymore." She wiped away another tear before taking one last look around her. She saw the figure running towards her, but she couldn’t believe it. She had to be imagining it. As he came to rest in front of her she fought back more tears.
He looked so tired and his eyes were red and puffy. He just looked at her for a moment unable to speak. She didn’t know if he would allow her to or not, but she opened her arms and moved closer to him. He instantly went to them and hugged her tightly. She could feel his tears against her cheek and she held him tighter. He pulled back to look into her eyes before finally finding his voice. "I...I am so sorry. I was so scared and I..." She put a finger over his lips to quiet him and then kissed him softly. "I love you" he whispered over her lips. She felt all her heartache drain away in that instant as she heard his words and tasted his kiss.
They sat down in the sand together, holding each other tightly. "I’m never letting you go again," she whispered to him before intertwining their fingers. "No baby, I’m never letting you go again," he whispered back. She stood up and offered her hand to him as he glanced over at the heart in the sand and then back to her. A slow smile spread across his face as he drew their names inside the heart she had drawn.
He stood up and took her hands in his before kissing her softly. He looked deep into her eyes as the ocean came up and washed the heart away. "Aww...it’s gone" she said looking down at the sand. He lifted her chin up so that he could look into her eyes again. "It’s not gone baby. It’s...sailing" he said, smiling down at her. "Now every time you hear the waves crashing onto the shore, no matter where I am, you’ll know that you have my heart."
She pulled him in closer for a kiss as the waves crashed on the shore. She glanced out to the ocean and then back at him before whispering, "I love you too." He hugged her tightly as he began singing the only song that truly applied to this moment. "Until the day the ocean doesn’t touch the sand...now and forever...I will be your man."
