What Happened When I Missed My ‘Date’

What Happened When I Missed My ‘Date’

There was nothing ordinary about the day.It was a normal afternoon and I stood there holding his shirt in my hand.

I buried my nose in it and inhaled the lingering familiar whiff of Mont Blanc. I continued to inhale.

Clutching harder, holding onto the shirt is utter grief of what I had missed, I collapsed on the edge of the bed. I lifted my worried gaze to the photograph that hung on the opposite wall. The picture was a reminder. A memory captured from that night.

Dressed in a floral spaghetti dress, the picture showed off my younger being. Right next to me stood my man, holding me like his latest conquest. The love. The lust. The honeymoon night. Sigh. I remembered that night….of sun, sand and so much more!

I haven’t had a night like that since. With the summer skies in the background and the pristine blues of the sea, it was perfect.

Thud. I snapped back to the present. There he was, walking in through the door of the bedroom, shutting it tight behind him. There he stood. In front of me. A man who, now at forty affected me twice what he had in my troubled teen years. Ten times that!

I was worried. I had missed my date. He has not taken it well when I called to tell him this.

I looked down at the coffee brown carpet. Why didn’t I prepare myself for this possibility? My chaotic mind wailed. Why hadn’t I planned better? He walked towards me with a single quick long stride. He lifted my chin with his finger. I saw it in his eyes. The disappointment, the little bit of annoyance that he couldn’t camouflage and the concern in his eyes turned my body utterly boneless.

Our gaze locked. His face was more mature, more shuttered than ever before. He had dark eyes that seemed to hold all the meaning in the universe, a loving smile, a doting dad; today his face looked concerned.

2 kids down the years and with so much going on in my life, how had I let this happen? I had, missed the date today. He held me in my arms and whispered in my ears reassuring as ever “Date night tomorrow? Wear your black dress.”