The Note 1

It had been a day like so many others, or so I had thought. All that mattered to me was to get home, to get home to her. To hold her in my arms again.

When I first made my way through the door, it was strangely quiet, something I wasn't quite used or at the very least not recently used to. I would usually find music playing, or the television on, even perhaps a warm greeting waiting for me. Needless to say finding the lights off and the silence a bit unnerving. Navigating my way through the darkness to the kitchen. Flipping the switch, the lights above the counter came to life, and there it lay.

My heart stopped for a moment before my natural defenses kicked in. Turning to put my bag down, my coat over a chair before retrieving a glass. Grabbing a pitcher from the fridge I poured an iced tea, hoping the lone piece of paper wasn't what I thought it was, that it would disappear, that it wasn't really even there.

Alas it was still there when my eye fell upon it once again. Walking over to open the long shades to the terrace. My beautiful city before me, the lights twinkling, alive in their own right. The buildings standing as quiet sentinels. Retrieving the note, taking a seat facing out to view the last few moments of twilight playing over this magical place before night claimed it for another evening.

The ambient light that filtered in from half a room away let me see the words. I'd like to say I read them but I couldn't. I knew the meaning of each word, and why they were there but I couldn't accept them at first.

In my mind I started to recall every precious moment I spent with her. Images and sound flood back to me. The fact she could excite all my senses. The comfort she gave, the twinkle in her eye. Every tender caress, every soft whisper, every laugh and smile. Everything that was her. Remembering how she could take my breath away with just a look. How I would watch her cross the room, a saunter more than a walk. Her sweetness and sensuality, a delightful balance, all without effort

Before my eyes the night charged in as it always did. Through the inky blackness and midnight blue, stars, though not many, could be barely seen... that is, if I had been looking of course. The moon, softly aglow, making its' way across the sky, steady and even, its' path set.

How I lost as much time as I did is beyond me. Surprised that a whole evening can melt away if you let it... and I did. The time I sat there I just thought about her, what she meant to me.

Surely this was the first of many nights to come, nights I would walk the halls at all hours. To stand on the terrace and peer out in to the darkness to the east. For the most part, I felt, well I felt lucky to just to have known her, even if it was for a little while. Though I respected her for her decision, still I couldn't help feel a little sad and that a part of me, a part of me that made me a better person, was gone. I quickly brushed away those selfish thoughts, realizing that it was her happiness that mattered and was concerned for

The golden arc of the sun was beginning to lick at the edges of the place I call home. Sending the message that a new day was here. Perhaps as just an assurance, the warmth felt good on my face.

Curious by nature, Gatsby, who remained absent the entirety of the night, sniffed at the note that rested on the floor at my feet. He hopped up on the cushion, before padding his way across the couch, on to my lap. His yellow green eyes peering up as a front paw patted softly my chin and uttered a soft "... mew... "

Leaning forward, just enough to pick up the paper, the kitty not moving a whisker. I carefully folded it neatly, into three sections, choosing not to reread it.

Gazing down, giving him my attention as he starts to nuzzle an open hand, starting to purr and giving me a rather concerned look for a cat to give. Letting loose a sigh, the type that goes with a heavy heart, scratching the under side of his chin I quietly said "... yeah... I'm going to miss her too."