He sat alone at his usual spot on the beach as he watched the sun kissed horizon blush into hues of crimson and pink. He lifted a handful of sand and watched it slip through his fingers, fast at first and then reducing to a trickle. 'Moments', he thought, 'slipped out of my fingers just when she filled my arms and now life without her has reduced to this tedious trickle.'
He hadn't had the time to say goodbye and he could never really have brought himself to say it. Tears, emotions and sentiments made him unstable, vulnerable and probably a little more human than he would let himself be. He had not even told her how much he loved her. She, on the other hand, had always been effervescent and articulate and words were not her only form of expression. They came in myriad forms, from gifting him a gold tie pin to say thank you to baking brownies to apologize for burning his favourite shirt. He had almost flown into a rage and yet the moment he saw her brown eyes and the brownies, his knitted brows melted into a smile, that rippled across his lips saying the unspoken words, ‘It’s alright sweetheart’. He needed no words to communicate when expressions sufficed.
And yet today he wished he could have those grains of moments back when he could tell her a million times how much he cherished her. The thought that she was so far away made even the gentle evening breeze seem cold and heartless. There were so many memories in the breeze, the sand and the sea and even a million waves couldn’t wipe out those memories. He remembered how they drove his speedboat over the raucous waters every summer and how he chased her down the lashing waves till they were soaking wet and he scooped her into his arms and carried her back home. They needed nothing else and no one else in their happy little microcosm.
But he knew this day was coming and a part of him wished it away despite its inevitability. He resented every man she even spoke to and withdrew into a shell not speaking to her for days when she questioned his behaviour. He thought she would understand, like she always did. She couldn’t take his autocratic and distrusting attitude. She felt stifled in the unfathomable labyrinth of his silence and left him a letter explaining everything.
When he read the letter, it first made him laugh deliriously, he was confident that she would come back for she loved him too dearly. A part of his brain also reminded him that he had taught her to be the master of her own decisions and that she was by no means trifling with him. For the second time in his life he sobbed uncontrollably and helplessly. He frantically called the police and they said they could do nothing in the matter.
As years of unshed tears dried up in his eyes, he got up and dusted off his pants he felt a familiar arm touch his shoulder. He knew it was her before he even heard her voice say, “The most beautiful sunset isn’t it?” He turned around and embraced her and planted a million kisses on her face when he spotted a young man standing a few feet away behind her. She pulled both of them together so they could meet. “Dad, Josh and I are married. Would you like to come live with us?” Tears rolled down his eyes and he said, “Of course my dear. I love your brownies.”