Interlude

As she lifted the glass of cool water to her mouth, she noticed that her manicure was looking a bit haggard...as was she. He wouldn't notice but she did when she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror a few minutes before. Her stomach was growling from nerves and hunger--she hadn't eaten much of anything since he'd arrived.
They had spent a glorious 24 hours together and her head was still spinning from every single word, detail and passionate moment they allowed themselves to languish in. A capsule of time that they wanted to inhabit forever---suspended and permanent.
She spotted him walking down the cobblestone sidewalk to the cafe patio and her heart felt like it was blooming in her body, warm and huge. His gait was swift yet elegant as he walked towards her...his blue eyes meeting her own. The sun had not been kind to his skin and he appeared a bit older than he actually was but nonetheless he was a handsome man--simple and tailored in his manner of dress with a shock of ashy grey hair atop his head. Today he was departing and they only had an hour or so before she would have to drop him off at the airport. Her own flight leaving the very next day. Back to lives they had worked so hard to achieve.
Stolen hours in far away cities and borrowed time is all they would ever really have. Perfect weekend interludes when she flew his way at his canyon home and when he flew her way to her brownstone in her American city. That's all they would ever have. Interludes. That is all they could promise one another. Perhaps that is all they would ever truly need. Small little consistent explosions in their hearts and a careful, tender fire in their souls.


                                                                           
                                                                                                CJ Ellis