To Atomic Unit

He stood out in the rain. She stood on the porch, under the eave, studying him thoughtfully. He had been crying. She looked away ever so slightly. “Come on,” came her voice to him through the curtain of rain. “I’ve made us dinner.”

He smiled gratefully and followed her into the warm, dry place he knew off and on as home. He sat at the table as she set a plate before him. “The last time,” he swore, taking her hand in his.

She looked him full in the face, gently pulling her hand from his. “No it isn’t.”

He blinked, staring at her. “I mean it this time.”

She served him potatoes and pork chops, sage smile and look of intense patience playing across her features.

They dined together in quiet, him watching her, her watching her food. He got up after she had cleared the dishes away and returned to sit with him. He went to her seat and knelt by it. She looked at him, her eyebrows raised ever so slightly. He took a small box from his pocket and flipped it open.

She took it without glancing at the contents. She watched his face intently. “You’re sure, then?”

He nodded. “Yes.”

She sighed slightly, smiling. “Then I suppose I am too. But I’ll have none of this nonsense.”

He nodded. “Of course. I mean...I’ll try my hardest. I’ll do it.”

They retired to their shared room to sleep away the day’s exhaustion. “I love you,” he said almost helplessly as they prepared to sleep.

She laughed nearly soundlessly, putting out the light. “I love you, too. Just remember that, this time…”

He nodded solemnly, trying to make out her features in the dark. “I will.”

She looked up at him. His heart tore to think what he had put her through, what he always put her through. She smiled at him. “You will…” He reached across the bed they so often shared, touching her face tenderly. They came forward for their first kiss in a long time…