Just Remember I Love You

She had walked away so many times. Could it be that one day, one near day, she would return. He doubted it very much. But…he remembered.

He remembered how the sun hit her soft brown hair and sent its golden rays to dance among the strands. He remembered how soft her lips were in the morning and even when she was angry. He remembered the curve of her cheeks and the rosy color that would rush across the bridge of her slender nose when he’d whisper in her ear. He remembered how it felt to hold her close, to press her against him and inhale the fragrance of roses and lilacs. He remembered the shampoo she used that permeated the whole apartment even late in the day. He remembered her laugh, her smile, her soft, melodious voice.

Remembering did nothing but bring him pain. However, he still remembered.

It was a cold December day when his heart released her at last. He wasn’t even aware of it happening. Suddenly, he realized the beauty of the freshly falling snow and the freshness of the cold winter breeze. He felt a smile dance upon his lips and a laugh bubble within his chest and the healing began. He could feel the change completely in the early spring, when he saw her photo on the front of a magazine.

She had forsaken him for a dream, he had clung to her for the same reason. Dreams were all that they knew, even when together. They formed their love in a spiderweb of tangled dreams. Intentions fell by the wayside as one struggled to break free and another to hold on. He purchased the magazine with a smile and felt a great joy at her success even as a twinge of sorrow touched his heart.

He carried on with his life, meeting new friends and not mentioning his former love. Though her face appeared everywhere, it seemed to him, he knew that she was forever gone from his life.

In her posh NYC apartment, she sat and watched the traffic below with intense boredom. She had achieved her dream, yes, but she was lonely. It was the price one paid, she was assured, as she battled the depression and refused the onslaught of medications. She missed him horribly but she knew that they were meant to take different paths. She had had to sacrifice a great deal and let go of some morals to get to where she was now. Someday, someone would come to her and she would not be alone anymore. But for now, she would content herself in living her dream at last.

In the long nights, she thinks of the gentle way he had loved her. Though she knew, after seeing him from afar one day, that he had finally moved on, she wanted to tell him that she would always love him. Her opportunity came with an ad campaign for Vogue. The editor owed her a favor and posted a special photo with a message to him.

The photo made her more famous than before, rose her to the heights of the fashion world and into the arms of a wealthy man that loved her dearly even though her heart was only partially his.

The photo delivered him into a place of sweet release and he married his next door neighbor, who admitted one night in his arms that she had always wanted to be that one to him, the one he adored, the one he loved. She had become that at long last and he was ever glad that chasing one’s dreams had brought them together.

Just remember, her caption said, I love you…

- April 4, 2008