MUSIC FOR SALE

Title: Across the Table

We'd been dating for a few months now
Nothing heavy, just figuring out
If this was going somewhere or going nowhere
Friday night, our usual place
Corner booth, his familiar face
Talking about work, talking about nothing
And then — something

He was mid-sentence, I don't know what about
But I stopped hearing and started watching
The way his jaw moved when he talked
The crease between his eyes when he thought
The way his fingers tapped the table
The way he laughed — really laughed — when he was able
And I wasn't in the conversation anymore
I was somewhere down the road

Like I'd opened a book and skipped ahead
Red the chapters I hadn't lived yet
And every page had him in it

I saw Sunday mornings and burnt toast
I saw fights in the kitchen, reconciled on the porch
I saw him holding my hair when I was sick
I saw him dancing badly at our wedding, making me laugh
I saw wrinkles and gray hair and the same damn eyes
Looking at me the way they're looking at me tonight
And I knew — I knew before he finished his sentence
I was going to love this man for the rest of my life

He asked if I was okay, I'd gone quiet
I said yes, I'm fine, I'm just listening
And he smiled and went back to his story
And I sat there with the whole future inside me
Trying not to cry in a restaurant
Trying to act like nothing happened
When everything happened

Like I'd opened a book and skipped ahead
Red the chapters I hadn't lived yet
And every page had him in it

I saw Sunday mornings and burnt toast
I saw fights in the kitchen, reconciled on the porch
I saw him holding my hair when I was sick
I saw him dancing badly at our wedding, making me laugh
I saw wrinkles and gray hair and the same damn eyes
Looking at me the way they're looking at me tonight
And I knew — I knew before he finished his sentence
I was going to love this man for the rest of my life

He never knew what happened that night
He just thought I was being quiet, being polite
He doesn't know that's the night I fell
He doesn't know I saw it all
He doesn't know I read ahead

I saw Sunday mornings and burnt toast
I saw fights in the kitchen, reconciled on the porch
I saw him holding my hair when I was sick
I saw him dancing badly at our wedding, making me laugh
I saw wrinkles and gray hair and the same damn eyes
Looking at me the way they're looking at me tonight
And I knew — I knew before he finished his sentence
I was going to love this man for the rest of my life

He's still talking
I'm still watching
And I'm still in love
With the man across the table
Who doesn't know yet
That I've already lived our whole life
In one Friday night