Ending the beginning - Back Story - Daniel 53

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Breaking up was always hard to do. The times when Daniel had instigated the end of an affair were the times when he felt most wretched about his life. Surely deciding to end a relationship that wasn't going anywhere would be a positive thing - and hell, the people he’d ended it with even seemed grateful sometimes - but he always doubted himself. He was second guessing all the time and wondering if he was actually slamming the door in the face of a better future.

But this time was different. He didn’t think there was much future and he was certain she felt the same. For a while they’d basically been doing the same routine, going out together once a week, failing to do more than that though because one or other of them would be too busy. End of the week, crash on the sofa together, then take the weekend gently before hitting everything again. It was predictable and it was also rubbish thought Daniel. 

So tonight he’d bow out gracefully. No song, no dance, no beating around the bush, just a straightforward ‘this doesn’t work for me or you I suspect' and go their separate ways.

It was a Friday night in summer. The warmth and length of the day was reassuring somehow. There would be an upbeat sense to the world which Daniel was sure would buoy up the split couple as they went their own ways and carved out better lives.

“What do you want to do?” she asked on his answer machine, and he realised he needed to find a suitable backdrop for the dump to happen. He wondered if there were particular places which were the best locations to use when leaving someone, just as there were romantic locations where you could pop significant questions.

He got in touch and she named a park by the river, wishing also for an ice cream van to be present.

Daniel was fairly happy with this place noting that their breakup would occur in the middle of a place populated by people they didn’t know. With luck the end of this affair would not be noticed and the world would carry on as normal. 

As he walked to the place where they’d meet for the last time he wondered if he should just accept that he was destined for a lonely life. Maybe not alone as such - he had a good range of friends from work and elsewhere - buddies who he could go drinking with, play squash or football with - but was he really cut out to have a significant other? Was that really what he wanted, what he was suited to? He was still a young man, still hadn’t entirely decided where his life would go - he didn’t really want to be ‘in sales’ his whole life, maybe there were other hills to climb, and to climb alone. That’s a point, he thought, maybe he should go travelling.

They actually met by the ice cream van. It wasn’t intentional. They both gravitated towards it because it was there and having mentioned it before it seemed obvious. She’d got there first, indulging in a chocolate Magnum. He went and bought a mega cone for himself. Bubblegum flavour with ‘dragons’ blood’ strawberry sauce and a mass of chocolate sprinkles on top (because if there’s an option of sprinkles you should always take it).

He just got his, paid the ice cream man, turned and walked towards the lake when he saw her on a bench. They smiled at each other, mouths full of ice cream, laughed - with mouths full of ice cream - and he sat down next to her.

“Come here often?” He asked.

“Not often enough,” she said. “There’s all kinds of ice cream that guy sells that I basically need. Every day.”

Daniel smiled. “Well, luckily for you no one’s gonna stop you. No ice cream police. No one will ever care if you turn up everyday and eat all the ice cream. Except your dentist, and he - or she - might enjoy the after effects.”

“Imagine ice cream and a chat in the park being banned,” she said, grinning.

“So what you need is dedication,” said Daniel. “Start at the top of his menu, work down and across. Don’t get distracted because you think you’ve found the best one and have to stick with it. The one after that might be better.”

They both ate more of their treat and Daniel wondered if he might just have hit on a way of introducing his intended conversation piece.

“Look, Chrissy,” he said. “I need to say something.”

“Me too,” she said. 

“Oh, OK,” said Daniel, feeling that the job he’d set for himself was about to be taken care of. “Why don’t you go first?”

“How do you feel about becoming a dad?” She asked.

There was a pause as Daniel’s mind span. Another pause while it slowed down and stopped. And then the whole world stopped. And then he knew he had to start it again.

“Chrissy, that’s… that’s amazing. Will you marry me?” he said.