He sits there longer than he needs to. Not doing anything. Just letting his thoughts run their course.
Sometimes he wonders what it would have been like if the story had gone another way. If the life had shifted even slightly. He tries to imagine it would have been an entirely different life. Would he have had a different set of problems? Would it have been bliss? With her it might have been. When she laughed it sounded soft. Was that possible for a laugh to be that gentle? The last time he looked at her she was shyly looking away. He was glad he took that extra minute to stare and memorize her face…
He’s jolted from his thoughts as he hears her voice calling out. Her voice shatters the imagined illusion. Somehow he convinced himself to believe that this life with her was everything he could possibly dream of. It was far from it but he already knew that even early on. This is his life. This is the version that he’s living. The one that continues because it has to.
The daydream fades. Reality settles back in. The familiar heaviness returns and just sits there as it always does.