Act two

"When he looks in her eyes he sees only the truth,
telling him he's been living a lie.
Over and over like a line in a song,
about all the love he let pass him by."*

She steps out of the club into the halo of light beaming down from the street lamp. Paused in front of the door, she is playing the scene over in her mind. It was his eyes. She felt something as soon as she looked into his eyes. Chemistry. Sparks that ignite the body on fire. Taking a deep breath and moving toward the curb to hail a cab she realises that her heart is beating wildly in her chest and her hands are sweaty. It's been a while since she's felt moved by the sensuality of a common glance. Probably because glances like that are rare, precious moments in our lives.
His eyes...
As she settles into the taxi she can't seem to stop thinking about the man sitting at the bar. His features, the way that he watched her. She felt him when she walked past him to her table, a tingle and goose bumps on her skin. She felt childish, but then again, like I said, it's been a while. She wanted to dance tonight, to feel the beat of the music rising from the dance floor like mists comming from the water on a cold morning by the ocean. She wanted to feel the strength and gentleness of hands around her waist, on the small of her back. Held tightly in and embrace as they sway in tandem, a perfect partnership.
"Why didn't he approach me?"
She walks slowly up the stairs to her apartment deep in thought. The air is cool and she hurries to get inside out of the cold, out of the silence and darkness of the night. Inside she flicks on the lamp in her bedroom, greeted only by the purring of her cat and the scent of lilies purchased that morning. Loneliness steals into her heart as she plops on the bed, another night alone. There are tears behind her eyes waiting to spill out, but she checks them. Instead she runs herself a bath seeking the comfort and caress of the warm water on her skin...

"To her he might be the man of her dreams,
to find what she's been hiding inside.
Broken and battered it really don't matter,
her heart's like a wave and he's the tide."*

She walks to the corner of the room and stands in front of the full length mirror. Her shoulders are slumped and have not the confidence of the previous hours. She pulls in her abdomen, stands straight and turns slightly to get a side view. Checking the line and fall of her dress and the style of her hair.
"What didn't he like?"
She sighs and her hands are trembling slightly as she unzips her dress. She pays attention to the sensual feel of the silk as it falls to the floor. That was one of the main reasons that she purchaced this particular gown, the softness and the gentle way that it laid against her hips. Standing now in her black lace bra and matching french cut panties, the silk stockings, bought especialy for the occasion and the stilletos. She turns again from side to side looking at the figure in the mirror. First with arms down and then with them lifted trying to get an objective view of her ever aging body. She removes the chopsticks that held her hair loosely arranged in an upsweep and it falls in fairy-like curls around her shoulders. She unclasps her bra and slides the underwear off. Bending to unbuckle the diamond ankle straps of her favorite shoes and off come the stockings.
It's a hard thing for a woman to confront herself this way. Totaly nude, with nothing to hide the flaws behind. Sometimes reality can be a harsh task master and we find ourselves the recipient of an emotional beating.
The gentle, delicate hands run lightly over her forhead and the corners of her eyes. Laugh lines.
They move over the skin of her neck and through her hair.
Gray ones.
Down over her breasts and stomach and over the curve of the hips. It's a road map she is so familiar with. The stomach is a little pouty, the breasts not quite as firm or round as they were years ago. Thighs that were once rock hard are not now. She moves her hands around and down the small of her back over her backside. She turns her back to the mirror and lifts one leg with her toes pointed flexing a calf. She can feel her hair sway on her shoulders and the cat rubbing in and around her ankles. She tries to imagine herself through his eyes. His eyes...

"They remember too much about what went wrong-
it might be they should learn to forget.
Forget themselves in eachother,
and leave what was wrong in the past.
Carry their hearts like a new born child,
'cause it's only the moment that lasts."*

She slips naked between the sheets of her bed, warm and relaxed from her bath. She is tired and dreamy, and yawns with her eyes closed. Another night alone. "Work tommorrow, grocery shopping, cat food, laundry...His eyes... I wish he would have asked me to dance."

"They're not forever, just for today.
One part be my lover,
one part go away."*







*Bonnie Raitt/M. O'Keefe "one part be my lover"