Man and Woman

Night creeps up on two figures, sitting, cradling each other, on a bluff overlooking the Pacific. Their bellies are full of homemade lasagne, served to them by an ancient Mexican woman from her own stove, and they are happy, as they sit there, saying nothing, savoring the moment together.
Far below them, waves pound a dark beach, erasing the traces of hundreds of feet, spreading seaweed in cryptic patterns.
The man looks down, at the last seagulls wheeling toward their evening berths. The woman, instead, stares upward, at the dancing and shifting patterns of the sunlight against cumulus clouds far overhead, growing dimmer as the earth completes its rotation.
He looks up from the beach, just as her gaze is lowering, and, for a moment, their heads are level, their eyes meet. Old friends they are, as well as lovers, but that only occasionally, and now mostly to strengthen the already strong bond they share.
The man loves her. He sees in her that same openness he saw when they first met, and loves her for never losing it. He knows she embraces every second of the day, every single occurrence with the eyes of an infant, not judging, not thinking about right or wrong, but simply taking things for what she sees them to be, and acting.
She loves him. He has always supported her, in small and large ways, even when she wanted to start working again, so soon after their third child. She cannot imagine life without him.

The sun has not yet risen when the woman starts from her sleep. Staring at the ceiling, she listens, trying to locate the noise she knows wasn’t from her dream, and rests her hand on her husband’s arm, comforted to know he is by her side. The man lies trembling on his side, shaking, his breath laboring in and out of his lungs.
Alarmed, the woman jumps out of bed, hands groping for the lights. His skin is ashen, his eyes close. His breathing seems to have stopped, and as she crouches next to him, offering quiet, comforting words, she hears one final breath escape.

She sits now, on the bed next to him, tears raining onto his face. A wail escapes her. Uncontrollably, panicked, she cries, the sudden void unbearably large, his sudden absence simply too much. Her mind spins, her feelings churning through disbelief, utter despair, joy, weightlessness, crushing agony.

She cannot bear to believe he is gone. Cannot fathom not having him at her side. Lying next to him, with a broken heart, she wills herself to live no longer.