After 60 Years of Visiting Our Special Bench Together with My Wife, I Returned Alone and Couldn’t Believe Who Was Sitting There

Now I realized there was a part of her life she had carried alone.

Not because she didn’t trust me, but because she didn’t know how to bring it into what we had.

I sat there for a long time, holding the letter.

Then I stood up, went to the drawer, and took out the paper with Claire’s number.

I picked up the phone and dialed.

She answered on the second ring.

“Hello?”

“It’s James,” I said.

There was a short pause.

I sat there for a long time.

“I was hoping you’d call.”

“I need to see you again,” I told her.

“Okay. When?”

“Sunday. Three o’clock.”

“The bench?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll be there.”

***

The days leading up to Sunday felt longer than they should have.

I found myself going through old things I hadn’t touched in years: photo albums, boxes in the back of the closet, small items Eleanor had kept for reasons I never asked about.

“I was hoping you’d call.”