He left her with a light peck on the forehead. “I’ll call you”, he promised. She smiled and nodded at him, understanding perfectly well that he wouldn’t; they both knew it the previous night when he went home with her. Stories of his lifestyle generally preceded him. As he walked away from her apartment, he could feel her looking at his back from where she sat at the window, and he kept walking.
Since he had quit his job 3 years back, every day was a new beginning for him. He had worked like a dog for over 6 years after his marriage to secure the future of his family which he intended to begin after he was sure he could provide nothing less than the best for them. He intended to be able to give them all his time and attention. He intended, without giving any thought to what she would want.
“I’m back”, he said to his wife as he shut the door behind him. “I was with Suzanne last night. I told you about her, right? Nice girl; sounded very lonely. She spent a long time talking about how distant her husband felt. I was thinking about you through the whole time. Is that how I made you feel? You know I didn’t mean it, right? That’s exactly what I told her.” He opened the refrigerator and grabbed a beer. “Don’t make that face”, he said. “I am not drinking with lunch. I’m drinking before lunch.” He winked lightly at her and opened his beer.
“I told her to try communicating with her husband. Tell him about how she felt. Maybe the idiot is just as clueless as I was with you. I know she won’t talk about it, but hell, I told her at least.”
In the evening, he sat alone at a party glancing around. At the bar, he noticed a woman looking his way. As he walked purposefully towards her, he overheard a conversation at the next table. “This is exactly what I was telling you. No wonder his wife had to do that. Which woman would be able to take her husband behaving like this?” He turned and smiled at them, slightly nodded his head and proceeded to join the woman at the bar.
Next morning, as he returned home, all he could think of was the conversation from the previous night. He wasn’t angry, just amused. He couldn’t wait to talk to his wife about it. “You know I would never cheat on you, right? I love you way too much for that. Just wish I could have shown it in a better way.” He glanced her way and smiled, knowing that she could now see what he felt about her.
He would never forget that morning 3 years back even for a second of his life. He knew his wife was suffering from depression, he knew he should have been there with her as he had promised he would be. He honestly intended to. The vacation he had planned for them was just 2 weeks away. But he returned home in the morning after working all night only to find her sleeping and, hopefully, at peace.
She left this world a lonely woman, waiting to be loved and valued. The love that he failed to show couldn’t hold her back in this world. After she was gone, he realised that there were a lot of women like her, who had found affection but the appreciation was lost. He tried to make every girl he met feel a little more loved, admired and desired. This was for her.
"I’ll call you” were his last words to her. He hadn’t.
Picture taken from https://shardsofsilence.wordpress.com/2014/01/22/aping-love/sunset-couple-silhouette/
