CHAPTER ONE
Dara wiped the tear from her cheek. It was the second day of her week-long vacation: a vacation that she and Daniel were supposed to be on together; a vacation to exotic locales, to parts unknown, to the bedroom. All that changed six months ago with a fateful phone call.
Dara's cell phone had rung at work while she was in a meeting. She had quickly checked it, realized it was Daniel and allowed it to go to voicemail. "I'll call him back later," she reasoned. That later never came. His message to her was that he was being called to their European office for a summit, and would be home by their anniversary the next week. He was flying out on the corporate jet, but he would call her the minute he landed.
The authorities told her that the plane's wreckage would never be recovered from the ocean. The point of impact was in a spot too deep for divers, and they were abandoning all hope of any survivors. At that moment, Dara's whole world fell apart. Her desolation was a large as the ocean that had consumed her Daniel.
The family went through the motions of a memorial service, but it did little to console Dara. For months, she wandered around in one of his shirts, desperate for a whiff of his cologne. She wore his socks to bed. Anything to feel closer to him.
Finally, her mother came to her, and said, "Dara, baby, I know you're hurting over Daniel. He'll always be a part of your heart, but he would want you to go on with your life. I know your vacation is coming up. Please, baby, please take that time to do some things that you used to love doing. Go to the movies. Call your friends and go out to dinner. Just start living again. For Daniel. For yourself."
Dara looked at her mom, and in a soft voice whispered: "I'll try, Mom."
So, here she sat, trying to decide what to do today that would perhaps give her a little bit of her life back. "I guess I could go to the movies," she said to no one, "at least there it's dark and I can still sort of be by myself …" With effort, she pulled herself to her feet and went into the bathroom to put on some makeup and brush her auburn hair. She looked at herself in the mirror, and saw only the hollow sadness of the last six months. "I've got to start somewhere trying to put the pieces back together," she thought as she brushed her teeth, "maybe this is a step in the right direction."
CHAPTER TWO
Michael found himself standing in front of the movie theater. It was odd that he found himself there: he hadn't been there since breaking off his engagement with Liz about six months ago. Movies were one of the passions they shared, often engaging in lively debates over characters or cracking each other up with witty remarks during the show. When he found her in bed with his best friend, a part of him died. And he couldn't bear to be even near the theater, must less go in and watch a movie.
He had come home early from work that day. It had been a particularly stressful day at his job as an ad exec for a high-profile firm: his boss had read him the riot act for what was, in the boss's estimation, a shoddy presentation, he had missed his lunch to work on another idea that was now completely in shambles since the company decided to go in a different direction. It seemed nothing he touched turned out right. The only place he knew he could find solace was in Liz's arms. And he couldn't wait to get to her.
She had been his rock for 5 years. They were each other's best friends, lovers, confidantes. At least, that's what Michael thought. He burst through the door, running upstairs, drawn by her lilting laughter. What he saw when he opened the bedroom door would change his world forever: Liz sat, covered in only a sheet, her blonde hair luminescent in the sunlight streaming through the window. Michael had only to blink once for his eyes to focus beyond Liz's beauty to the naked man lying next to her.
"MICHAEL!" Liz shrieked, "What are you doing home so early?!"
"I had a lousy day … imagine this. It only manages to get better." He hoped his sarcastic tone covered the sound of his heart breaking. "And you'll be leaving … when?!?" He looked at Liz … no, he looked THROUGH Liz.
"I'll get some things. We can talk later. Robert was just leaving …"
"And lucky for Robert, I will allow him to leave with his balls intact." Michael watched his two best friends in the whole wide world dress, pack, and leave his life forever.
Michael shook the memories from his head. Looking at the marquee, he decided that he had let those kinds of memories keep him from the things he loved far too long. He bought a ticket, bought some popcorn and a huge drink, and slowly made his way into the theater. He decided to sit in the back, a place normally reserved for new lovers, but there seemed to be no one in the theater to care where he sat. He chose a seat in the exact middle. It's where they usually sat, but this time, he was there to prove that he could do this on his own.
CHAPTER THREE
It was all Dara could do to get out of her parked car. She stood in the parking lot, her delicate hand shielding her eyes from the sun as she read the marquee. She chose a movie that looked as if it would be something that would hold her attention, and she scurried across the street to the theater. She bought a ticket, but realized that she was about 30 minutes early for the show. She dawdled near the concession stand, but thought that her stomach was too full of butterflies to even be able to enjoy a snack of any sort. Instead, she decided to quell the growing unease by going into the theater to sit and wait until the movie began.
She smoothed her skirt down where the wind had blown it, and stepped into the theater. Looking around the dimly lit room, she saw a man sitting on the back row. She decided to sit in the back row, too, but not too near the stranger. She flopped down in the cushioned seat just as the preview questions began to roll.
His voice startled her as he inadvertently shouted out the answer to the trivia question. She looked in his direction with a hard look. A look that said 'you've just invaded my quiet time'.
"I'm sorry. My girlfriend and I used to sit and answer these when we were together. It's the first time I've been here since we broke up." Michaels soft brown eyes met Dara's, and she felt his pain.
"It's okay," she whispered. "It's first for me, too. My husband was killed in a plan crash a while ago. This is the first time I've been able to do something on my own."
