"We both knew this was going to happen eventually, Stanley."
"I know. I just thought that you'd take the different road," Stanley's voice cracked as he spoke. Crushing Mimi's heart when it was already smushed to oblivion. The sunlight shone on his face, so that the tears running down his cheeks glittered, "I thought we were in a serious relationship, I thought we were in love," he said.
"We were," she answered, "I still am. It's just…" she walked closer to him, "We both want different things, you're the farm boy that wakes up at four to milk the cows, and is ready to settle down and start a family," she moved closer and placed both hands on his chest, one of the many tears brimming her eyelids slipped out and rolled down her cheek that was already looking less freckled. Her voice cracked as she began to speak again, "And I'm the city girl who drinks Starbucks and detests the domestic mother look."
"Mimi, don't go. Please don't go," Stanley pleaded.
Mimi shook the tears out of her eyes, "Your begging isn't a good enough reason to stay."
"Then let me give you a good reason to stay!" Stanley said. The crack in Mimi's heart deepened as Stanley knelt to one knee.
She took in a quick and squeaky breath and let it out in a shaky sentence, "Please don't make this harder than it already is."
She turned to leave, but he grabbed her. She would have pulled away and bolted to the bus waiting for her, but his eyes held the heartbreaking replica of her broken heart, and his voice sang the melancholies ringing in her soul.
"Before I went to fight in New Bern I told Jake I was going to propose."
"Then why didn't you?" she stuttered.
"I wanted to, when I got home and saw you sleeping there, all I wanted to do was wake you up and marry you then and there. B-but I wanted one of the few things that matter to me more than the farm to be done right. So I spent all this time planning the perfect way to ask, and now," he looked at her one hand he held in both of his, rubbing it between them and bringing it to his lips to kiss. He looked back up at her, "Now it's too late."
She didn't pull away, she savored the feeling of her hand in his.
"Look," he said, "All I have is the exact opposite of what you ever wanted. And if banking gets back to normal, I won't even have that. I've got less than nothing to give you, but I swear I can give you more than anyone else ever could," his eyes were so pleading, so desperate, "Just give me a chance to prove it to you."
"You already did," Mimi answered in a crying voice, "But it's still not enough. Things just-" she choked on the words, "Things just-"
"Changed," Stanley finished for her.
She looked at him and shook her head, "No, they went back to normal."
Tears did not fall down her cheeks like they did so freely on Stanley's but her eyes sobbed dryly. Throwing her arms around him they kissed one last time. She was the one who broke it off. Holding their foreheads together she place her hands upon his tear-stricken face, "I'll never forget you," he whispered.
He stole a greedy, quick, dry kiss before she turned away from him and ran to the bus. Standing on the narrow step, she looked back at him until the doors screeched shut, creating a permanent barrier between them as the bus drove her away to New York.
Stanley heard the loud thud of wood on wood behind him. Jumping round, he saw his sister, a pile of wood before her feet, eyes widely focused on the bus. Looking at Stanley for an explanation, all he could do was look at her with eyes clouded by tears. She ran. Screaming Mimi's name as the bus drove further and further away from her. Stanley thought of what Bonnie's running figure must have looked like to Mimi, through the dusty widows, going from small to smaller so fast. At least Mimi didn't see Bonnie buckle to her knees when the bus disappeared from their sight.