Diego had taken a step forward, all while keeping eye contact with Priscilla. Her eyes moved up as he was so much taller than her, but they never left his.

“I can’t go another minute without feeling your hair in my hands, let along another month or two. And when I kissed you last, it’s been on my mind since that moment. How your lips felt, how you sighed when I kissed your neck and touched your back.”

Priscilla regarded him steadily with a somewhat serious stare. He moved another half step and was on the threshold of the door, no more than inches away.

“You can’t just show up after being gone so long and expect me to fall all over you. That’s not the way it works, or at least the way it’s supposed to work,” she finally said. “It’s like, we’re on this road and you pass me and then I pass you, we’re kind of going the same direction and we see each other at a rest stop or something but then off we go, back on the road. Living out our lives so close together but isolated from each other. Separated, able to see each other through the windows, but never able to touch or talk unless we stop everything for a few moments.”

“I know. It shouldn’t be like that, but I don’t know. I guess when I feel myself on the road I don’t ever feel isolated. Alone sometimes, sad other times that I can’t have you there with me physically, but I feel you strongly near me it gets me through. Call it spirit or connection, whatever.”

He was immediately in front of her now, their clothing brushing against each other. His hands reached out and took hers.

“But I need you to know something and I don’t think I have ever really told you about this. The way I carry you with me. The way I think about you when we aren’t together.”

His fingers entwined hers and held them firmly.

“I’ve seen a thousand sunrises and, every time, I am watching it with you. I see the rising sun above the horizon and that fresh new warm light bathing everything. I see it in your hair, across your face, glowing in your eyes. You sit in my arms that are wrapped around you, my head resting against yours as we see the new day.”

“I’m wondering if you are awake. I think about how many coffees you’ve had by then. Where did you go last night? Where are you headed today? What will you see? What will you do? Will you take one of my letters with you? Will you read it again today? Will you be able to see the love and passion I have for you in each word that I carefully chose to send to you? In a letter every line has to be thought out, it has to flow, there’s no backspace or delete. So when I write about waking and watching you sleep in Chicago last fall, you how important it must be to me.”

Diego lifted her hands to his chest and held them tight against his body. She could feel the strong beats of his heart, slightly quickened. Every time she lay against him she would often be lulled back to sleep by those mighty beats. Steady and rhythmic, giving a sense of strength and assurance that she always craved. His heart was strong and steady, just like him.

“I stand in front of my hotel…”

Priscilla drew back away from him suddenly, so quickly that Diego stopped talking immediately, surprised. Priscilla regarded him for a long moment, a tension in the air that was all too familiar. She was angry. Angry that she had lost again.

Ah well, she thought. At least she’ll make him make it up to her.

She turned and walked slowly to the bedroom. Over her shoulder she said in a loud voice, “Put the do not disturb sign on and close the door already.”

Diego smiled and walked in. The sign waggled back and forth on the handle in the hallway as the door clicked shut.