It was the end of the day and you both knew that opportunities had been missed. Sometimes you have to cling on to those brief moments in time as hard as you can, but holding on to them don’t make them last. You both had to let go. She did, you could not. And there was such beauty too, don’t forget that. You gave her a moment that she will never ever forget, although she admits to tryin’. And didn’t she give you yours? Didn’t she try to give you what you wanted towards the end and that’s what ruined everything? She will never forgive herself for that—that last minute involuntary decision to give up the fight, relent, and succumb to the dreams you were selling. If she could only take that split second back. You were standing next to her on that rock looking all hangdog and she was sad but too high on everything—too much happiness after such a long time without it. The taste of it must have loosened something in her—all of her sensibilities unraveled and she was unfettered. She tugged down the straps of her wet bathing suit and gingerly stepped out of it, tossed it into the dirt and stood on that rock in front of you naked as anyone could be and let you see her. Just stood there looking at you out in the middle of the river on a rock, the overpass buzzing and vibrating right over your shoulder, both of you fools in plain sight.

And then she jumped.