The rise and fall of a moment

As she lies there with him, listening to his breathing.
Constant, comforting.
Their chests rise and fall together; they’re so close.
Even making love didn’t make them this close.
In this space, this moment, they are one.
They breathe together.
Sleep together.
And exist, at least for a moment, together.

In all the chaos of the last few weeks, they’d forgotten this.
What it’s like to be together. What it’s like to be with one another.
In the every day struggles and craziness, she’d forgotten how amazing they are together.
But she feels it.
It’s unmistakable now.
It’s so thick, she can taste it.

She wants more than anything for this moment to last, forever.
She knows the impossibility of it.
But she puts it the furthest from her mind.
She puts everything from her mind, except what it feels to finally lie there with him.
To finally just be, with him.

She finds herself scared a lot, most of all when she’s not with him.
But in this moment, there’s nothing that could come between them, nothing that they couldn’t conquer.

She rests her eyes, for a minute.
As he rests his arm on her side.
He holds her so closely.
As if they both know what the other is thinking.
They leave the words unspoken, but they both know anyway.

I love you.
I need you.
I’m grateful for you.
Don’t leave.
Ever.

Then the coffee is done, their moment is over.

She rushes around to get ready for work.
She has to make a living for them.

He grabs his stuff.
Gets ready to prepare to make a living for them.

They still know. They’ll never forget.
Even though their moment is over.
They’ll never forget.