"And I am here to return it you. Take it, I am yours".
The discomfort itching in her eyes forced her to look away from their cut and open wounds. She gathered up the dirty dishes off the table and headed over to the sink.
He followed her so, winding the guitar in the way with a lazy finger. Her answer wouldn't come so easy, he must have known as much. Because his lips halted a little short of forming a question.
She passed him by and reached for the top drawer of the corner closet. Tipping on her toes, she could barely reach the height until.. he slipped his feet underneath her heels. Open palms guiding her waist steady, he felt her flesh once again and she melted right into his touch. Once a solid figure, now putty in his hands, she let her weight fall back on his chest. His nose buried in the scent of her luscious hair, he forgot about the curtain she was trying to lift. Burgundy silk fell from the sky by the metre and engulfed the two bodies into one.
Her spark arose his sleeping nerves, his calloused thumbs refreshed with sensation. Fingers running under the cloth and down to her hips, he rejuvenated a bond both within him and her.
Their roof still colored burgundy, his vanilla kissing her cinnamon made their day a Christmas. His lips were was soft at first, then ravishing, then light and inviting, then greedy and supple. They were love spelled in a language so innate, the words needn't be spoken to be understood. As he lifted the curtain off their skins, he unveiled her to his eyes.
There she was---his bride in white. Hands wrapped round his neck, she was searching for a lost love. And his eyes, they smiled, looking back at her with new hope.
"You've grown prettier", he said to her in the most sincerest of ways. His kisses admiring every feature in sight. One by one he rediscovered what was once lost on him- those eyes, that smile, those pinned baby ears.
And as the sun behind the hills, she took him out into the valley, her arm stringing along with his. She updated him on the progress of the vegetable garden. Of how much the cherry oak had grown since he last left. And how many cubs the deer mama down by the creek had birthed for the winter. They named the babies together: Luna, Reva, and Stewk- all predicted to become full of hipster glory like their godmother, he joked.
And as they strolled back into the cafe, he saw the mess they left behind. But she saw the future they could make. They sat at on a makeshift foam bed propped against the serving station wall. They gave each other a longing look, hope ringing in their eyes. But before her vocals could ring the want of her heart, his phone rang. And her fears rang true. He was called upon, needed somewhere, for something far more important than her. It was absolutely necessary he board the next flight home lest he face millions of dollars of losses. And she would not have it so, would she? Of course not, he answered for her. So his dear would have to wait for his next call, another time. Soon, he promised, as he gathered up his clothes from all corners of the room.
Shivering bones wrapped 'twixt white sheets, she offered the faintest of smiles and bade him fairwell. There was no time to deliver a parting kiss. She began rushing in to clean the clutter he left rushing out. Clouds of the past far gone, she breathed a sigh of relief. Her petite frame slouching against the stool by the counter, she greeted her first customer.
"Welcome to Coffee by the Hills. How may I help you?"
With open arms, the man ran toward her, pulling her in for a light embrace. "You may accuse me of exaggerating till your heart content. But my dear Madhu, I have really missed you". He planted a chaste kiss on her forehead and offered a sympathetic smile judging her strangely unhinged devices.
"Whip me up a new one, will you?" he winked leaving her to infer the meaning of his strange words at length.
His fingers picked up the strings of her guitar last winded by one fateful man. Her flinch at his playing of the sound did not go unnoticed but he let it slide this once. Even after his attempt to steer clear of the murky territory, he innocently pulled her back in to the center of her heart's dilemma. "By the by, who was that man leaving?"
"Nothing", she dismissed his hand reaching for her apron string. "Just a hazy night's mistake".
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