It had been a long time since Craig had seen Kathy. Not that he had been keeping track of the time, but it had been exactly eighteen months, ten days and eight hours since she had left. Well that wasn't exactly true either. She had broken up with him no matter how much he had protested and was firm in her decision. That had made all the difference especially when he tried to rationalize the split over a six pack of beer and whatever else he could find to drown his sorrows. They weren't kids anymore and he had thought he would have managed the split better, but his heart wouldn't let him. It still ruled his head no matter how much he tried to think otherwise, because his heart kept telling him that he still loved her. She had said she needed to find herself whatever that meant and she needed to do it without him. That was what hurt the most. If it had been another man, he would have cursed and slammed his fists into the wall and try to kill the guy, but there was no other man. She just wanted to be away from him.
Licking his wounds, he had thrown himself into his work and slowly the pain became a dull ache that lingered somewhere between today and yesterday. Yet, one day on a sunny Friday afternoon, the phone rang and on the other end of the line he heard Kathy's voice. Craig could feel his heart pound in his chest and all the old wounds that he had carefully tucked away were opened once again. A sense of excitement, fear and dread swept over him all at the same time and it took him a moment to compose himself.
"Hi Craig," she said her voice still melting him
"Hi," he said quietly then paused. "It's been a long time."
"Yea, I know," she replied. "How have you been?"
He cleared his throat. He wanted to curse at her and tell her that his life had been a living hell since she left and it had nearly destroyed him, but he didn't. He couldn't.
"I'm doing alright," he managed to say.
"That's good," her voice dropped.
"So did you find yourself?" he asked a bit more sarcastically than he intended.
She nervously chuckled, "I think so."
"Then the mission was accomplished."
"Something like that."
Then came the silence that was heavy and thick.
"I'd really like to see you again," she mustered.
He closed his eyes and swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat.
"But only if you want to," she quickly added.
Only if he wanted to?
She was killing him.
"Yea, I'd like that."
"Do you still own the cabin on the lake?"
"Yea, I still do," he replied.
"Then I'll meet you there Saturday morning around ten. Ok?"
He remembered vaguely saying goodbye before disconnecting the call. One part of him wanted to forget she ever called and the other part of him couldn't wait until Saturday. The second part of him won and he arrived at the cabin early Saturday morning. The cabin was fully equipped and it had almost been a second home for him and Kathy. He poured himself a cup of coffee from the instant coffee maker, added cream and sugar, sipped the brew and waited. A myriad of memories flitted through his head as he tried to be patient until exactly at ten am, a car drove up and he heard the engine stop in front of the cabin. He took a deep breath, tucked his shirt into his jeans, ran his fingers through his hair and waited for the knock that came moments later.
Before he could answer, the door opened and a woman of medium height with shapely curves and long auburn hair that was swept to the side entered. Her smile was warm and inviting, but her large brown eyes looked at him with anticipation. She was beautiful in her new "found me" look and he couldn't take his eyes off of her. He wanted to rush to her and wrap his arms around her as he had done a hundred times in the past, but instead he just stood there and looked at her like a school boy with his first crush and first heartache.
"You look great," he said as he stuffed his hands in his pockets to keep them from reaching out to her.
She shut the door behind her and leaned her back against it.
"Thanks," she said as she came towards him. "You're just as handsome as I remember."
"Flattery will get you everywhere," he chuckled.
"Is that all it takes?" she grinned.
His face grew downcast, "it used to be like that."
Kathy licked her lips, "I get it."
"So why did you want to meet here?"
"Because we had such wonderful times here together," she replied.
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. The memories came flooding back again and he had a difficult time putting them back where they belonged.
"Listen Craig. I've had a lot of time to think and I know it must have been terribly painful for you when I left, but I was hoping we could get back to where we were before all of this."