Benny crested the steep grade and looked down at the valley on the other side. He pulled off on a siding where tourists loved to crowd during the vacation season snapping selfies with their cameras and phones. Didi got off the back of their tandem touring bike and took a seat on a flat rock breathing hard.
He had taken over the front position a year ago. Didi knew she was slowing down, and tired quickly these days. but refused to give up her Sunday rides with her husband. She was sitting in back these days, in what was Benny's usual position, as the stoker. He could put his head down and drive them hard while she could steer them and add whatever push she could. But he had taken the front seat when she had gotten sick so she could sit back and enjoy the ride when she tired. Remarkably, his 68 year old legs could still propel the two of them through their Sunday afternoons, up the steep hills surrounding their home in the quaint little town overlooking the Hudson River.
Didi, loved these rides, and had long ago decided to never give them up, even if it meant riding beside Benny on an electric moped. She thanked her lucky stars every day for this man, whom she had spent nearly 40 years loving.
She was working at a quiet inn in Pennsylvania along the Delaware, when this tall drink of water drove up on a bike, and came in to get a room. He looked at her with a million dollar smile that caused her to melt. She decided on the spot to tell him they were full, but offer to share her bed with him, but sanity prevailed, and she registered him in the room closest the front desk. She didn't want to let him go once she was finished registering him, so she helped him stow his bike safely in a storage room, and showed him to his accommodations. She talked to him, still not wanting to end their encounter, and found out he had been riding for months. He was currently on his way home, and planned to be there for the beginning of school on Long Island where he was a teacher. She was studying to be a teacher too, and found him excited to talk about his trade. Before she realized it, the time had come to close up the inn for the night, and she had to make her rounds. She invited him to breakfast the next day, and he told her he would see her then.
It rained. It rained hard. The weather reports predicted several days of rain, and he found himself unable to ride. Didi found herself unable to stay away from the inn, and drawn to Benny. And the second night of his stay, he took her to dinner and a movie. She stayed the night, and they hadn't been apart since. She transferred to a college near his home on Long Island, and he helped her finish her degree. They married the day after she graduated, and never looked back.
It was easy to see how much they loved each other. They held hands wherever they went. They became the couple everybody wanted to be near. They were the popular weekend barbecue hosts, the couple with the holiday party you had to go to, and when they had their kids, the parents who everyone wanted at their kids functions and on their kids team.
They had it all.
Lynne was heart broken when Benny found someone new so soon after their break. She never got her second chance, and he never finished that date. He never kept his promise to date her when and where she wanted. Many were the times she wanted to call him to task for not keeping his word, but she wasn't exactly in a position to say anything after her betrayal. She transferred to a different school in their district, and tried to move on.
But she couldn't. She saw them around town, and after she graduated college she got a job in their district as well. She was younger. She was cute, and fresh and wore the eager excitement of a rookie teacher in a way that just made her...sexier. Lynne wondered how Benny must have struggled comparing himself to Donnie while spending that night alone in the hotel. She didn't wonder long. She was pretty sure she knew. Lynne tormented herself watching Bennie and Didi from afar, until they moved.
They moved. Benny had finished his masters degree in administration, and accepted an assistant principalship up in Westchester County, by the river. She loved that part of the state. She loved riding there with Benny, down winding roads into gorges and along the scenic streams and reservoirs that feed New York City's inexhaustible water needs.
Lynne gave up riding. She gave up triathlons, since it reminded her so strongly of Benny. Lynne poured herself into teaching, and became a noted leader in the field, writing books and teaching classes as an adjunct professor at the same school Didi had graduated from. It took ten years for her to find a man she could marry, and they led a happy life, raising a beautiful daughter. She was a grandma now, but even that couldn't erase the emptiness she carried deep in her heart. She never forgot Benny. She never dreamed of replacing him, And she never freed herself of the tangle of regret that held her captive since that day north of Danbury, when Benny turned west as she rode way to the south. She had it all once. Now she was alone.
Benny sat beside his wife, gently rubbing her back as she wheezed beside him. She needed to rest often, and he wasn't sure how long she would be able to ride at all. She too, a puff on the inhaler that kept her breathing nowadays and looked at her beautiful husband.
"Thank you, Benny."
"For what?"
"For our life."
He chuckled. She had dragged him out of the funk caused by the betrayal of his fiancé, and she was thanking him.
"Honey, the pleasure was all mine. I can't imagine anyone else I would want to share my life with."
She gazed out over the valley, but wasn't really looking at him. He recognized that look, and waited for her to let him know what was on his mind. It took her a while. But he was patient.
"Benny, I want you to do something for me."
"Anything babe."
"Don't say that. I'm going to ask you to do something hard."
She paused again. Benny became worried.
"Benny, this thing in my lungs is never going away."
"I know."
"It is getting worse."
"Babe, don't be afraid. I'll be with you every step of the way."
"No Benny, you won't. This is going to happen fast. And in the end, I'll be alone. I promised you I wouldn't leave you, but I am. My doc says I'm going to go downhill fast, and not on the bike. So I will be breaking that promise way too soon."
"Didi, I love you. I will always have you with me. I can never be alone when I have you in my heart."
"You're sweet. But you have something to do for me. Did you know you talk in your sleep? You do. Did you know over the years you told me your deep dark secret?"
Benny was puzzled. He had nothing to hide.
"I have no deep dark secret."
"You still love Lynne."
Benny could feel the blood drain from his face.
"Oh I know you love me, and don't regret marrying me. But I know you never forgot about Lynne...and your promise to stay open to her. You promised you'd let her try to win you back. You feel guilty that you came home from 'The Ride' with me in tow, and never let her even have a date. You'll never be at peace until you do. Neither will she."
Benny sat still considering his wife's revelation. He realized that she was right.
"Get on the bike Benny. I want to go home."
He helped her to her seat, satisfied that she had recovered her breath. They lived down the slope from the siding, so Benny wasn't worried about his wife getting home. The coasted most of the way, and as he steered into the driveway was surprised to see an unmistakeable figure on his porch. Heavier, grayer, and decidedly less fit, he would recognize Lynne anywhere.
"Sooooooo," began Didi as they stopped the bike well short of the porch. "I called Lynne. She is retired too, and is alone sin pace her husband passed, and she has agreed to come stay with us for as long as this takes. I want you two to talk through everything that has gone on between you. You need to do this fast to. I need to know you are both at peace before I die."
"Ok, your highness, you don't ask much, do you!?"
"You don't get to be a wise ass with a sick wife, Benny. Now stop being a dick and listen. There's more. I want you to give her that second chance. I want to see it happen."
"Why!? I suppose you think I'm going to fall into her arms and everything will be hunky dory?"
Benny thought he was being sarcastic. The look in her eyes told him that was exactly what she expected.
"Baby. You expect me to court my long lost ex while we're still together?"
"Benny, the doc says I have to slow down. I can't have sex anymore, doctors orders. It could cause a respiratory problem and trigger a heart attack. You however are a 68 year old with the libido of an adolescent. I don't want you alone when I'm gone. I promised I wouldn't leave you alone, sooooo..."
"You want me to not be alone by being with the biggest heartbreak of my life."
"She was the love of your life..."
"ALMOST!! She was almost the love of my life. You are the one that closed the deal. You gave me the golden ticket. For life!"
"And soon the golden ticket will be worthless for anything but a trip to the cemetery to lay a rose on my grave now and then. That's mandatory Benny. Keep my grave pretty as long as you live."
She led him up the steps, and they both hugged Lynne. It was time to talk.
They had dinner. They had drinks. Didi showed Lynne to her room. The next morning, they had breakfast. Lynne stayed. A week later, she was still there, and Didi grew weaker. As her health worsened, Lynne and Benny became comfortable around each other, and Didi's mood improved as her body grew weaker. But Benny and Lynne's relationship never warmed beyond one of friendship.
One night at dinner, Didi, slid Lynne an envelope. Benny looked on as Lynne opened the letter. Inside was a gift certificate for a weekend at a local Bed and Breakfast.
