The Simple Reality

On Hold

The faucet inside the bathroom was open quarter strength where beneath it had been a white and blue toothbrush being rinsed off. The taste of mint was softly burning at his tongue now, leaving both a fresh and refreshing coolness when he reached for a comb to brush his hair back. The tranquil man was silently moving along his morning routine since he left the bed nearly twenty-two minutes ago.

There was no person to have exchanged words with yet, no messages on his phone which he cared to reply back to, or any calls made. It was his morning to make a peaceful one because all he knew was that this morning he needed it. However, his thoughts alone did not allow a true chance of that silence he was looking for in spite of starting the day as he had.

The attentive man was left to go to bed the night before with too much to consider. With reflection, he found that nothing at all went as expected. Whatever he tried with Agnetha, it failed. It wasn't the worst, but it could have been better. He attempted a connection with her but it turned out to surprise him, like a shock that he wasn't ready to be greeted with. Sure he extended a day for work when he should have been thoughtful that their date together was important as the reason they had decided to have it. Too much change was happening within the month. It was truly necessary and not just for her, but for him as well. Upon his homecoming he wanted her to know that, but the right moment to tell her never arrived. And now with the transition of the end of the night and the morning, he was clear and certain with himself that he would never pick up the phone in bed ever again. That was a start.

The mental notes taken before bed prompted him to wake up and find solutions before he put his feet onto the floor to stand up. He was pondering his way out of the bathroom, then right into the closet to find gym shorts and a T-shirt for an early morning jog while he still had the time to himself. If he decided anything, it was that there wasn't a doubt he needed to talk to her. He just wanted to be at ease and she wasn't always the easiest to read. His conscious was beating himself up even for things minor, all that came one after the other.

Who knows? Perhaps she was in a better mood now and she forgot all about the night before, he thought as he entered the kitchen, moving quickly to grab himself a bottle of water when in the surprise he found her there, too.  Talking to her came a lot sooner than expected.

"Good morning," he started, looking over her morning face very gently.

"Good morning." She was calm, cool, and a perfectly composed woman. He turned a bit and he went on to open the pantry door for a room temperature water. The blonde woman seated at a bar stool lifted her mug and took a sip of tea as she watched him curiously, seeing that he found what he was looking for as he pulled a water bottle out of the case. He turned around and they met gazes from tired morning eyes. Maybe the opportunity was given to him now.

"I'm—"

His mouth opened to speak but the first syllable was broken so unexpectedly. He was interrupted by the call on Agnetha's cellphone, which took over her attention and for just a moment there was relief in him. It was too early, he felt barely awake, and as if he knew what to say to make it better anyway. With his experience he finds, for whatever reason, his words only make it worse.

Björn was gone within the next few seconds and as he left out of the door, Agnetha stood, speaking on the phone with an energy that burst out of her, quite easily released to hear a dear friend. Standing and walking towards the window, she looked past the front of the house to find Björn jogging away, one foot lifting off the ground just after the other. He didn't exactly know it, but despite her being absorbed with the phone call, her mind stayed with him even after he was out of view.

Each had gone about their day, both becoming occupied with different things. They had made attempts to see each other, like when she walked outdoors to where he and their son stood beside the pool discussing why the filter wasn't running properly, or when Björn would wonder and ask things that only she had the answers to. Nothing seemed to work out in their favor and the day particularly seemed against them.