Roderick stood there with this woman he once
loved, appreciating in their silence how he loved her in an
entirely different way now.
Madelyn turned to him, looked him over
carefully, and said, “You’ve met someone.”
Roderick chuckled. “Is it that obvious?”
Madelyn patted him on the cheek. “Yes, it
is.”
“Are you upset?” Roderick asked.
Madelyn laughed loudly in a way that
Roderick had not heard her laugh in years.
“Hardly,” she said. “If anything, I’m
relieved. You don’t know how worried I’ve been that you wouldn’t
meet anyone and that after a while you would suggest we get back
together. I was going to feel so bad breaking your heart,
especially when I know that us being together again is nothing that
either of us would ever really want.”
Roderick was silent for a moment, allowing
the information to sink in. Finally, understanding her far better
than he probably had in years, he asked, “Have you met
someone?”
“Many someones,” she said. “I have met many