“You think we can sit down, Martin?” Jane asked, her left arm hooked with Martin’s right.
“Sure,” Martin answered, relieved. “There’s a park bench over there.”
The couple walked a few more steps through the brisk autumn night, Jane’s heels clicking against the sidewalk. They ended up near a black bench and sat down. The park was quiet other than the distant sounds of car horns blaring and dogs barking. Lights on the downtown skyscrapers twinkled overhead, substituting for real stars.
“What a perfect night,” Jane said, looking up at the skyline.
“Uh, yeah,” Martin croaked and cleared his throat. He fingered the small velvet box in his left coat pocket. Almost ready, he thought. She’ll never expect it. The approaching moment had been a long time in coming, and Martin was both anxious and excited.
“Are you okay?” Jane asked beside Martin.
“I’m fine, just cold,” he answered. Jane shifted her against Martin’s. She put her arm around him. He looked at her, hair cascading over her shoulders, beautiful eyes, glimmering earrings. He fell in love with her all over again.
Jane turned to Martin and planted a light kiss on his lips. As Jane moved away, Martin pulled her back and the two shared a passionate kiss. Martin noticed a dirty old homeless man had been watching them from a nearby trashcan and pulled away.
His brow furrowed and he stood up. “Hey, beat it!” he yelled. “Get the hell outta here!” Martin shouted and took a step towards the fleeing transient, who waddled off into the darkness with haste and disappeared behind a bush. Jane grabbed Martin’s wrist and she pulled him back down on the bench, giggling. Martin shook his head. “Geez,” he muttered.
“I wonder how many other times we’ve been watched like that,” Jane wondered aloud.
“Yeah, well we normally don’t display public affection, so probably not that much,” Martin answered.
“Sometimes we forget to close the blinds though,” she said.
“Janie,” Martin elbowed her and chuckled. Jane laughed again. She put her hand on Martin’s knee. The two sat for a couple minutes and then Martin opened his mouth.
“Martin, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about something,” Jane asked before he could say anything. Oh great, Martin thought.
Martin cleared his throat and mumbled, “Oh…really?”
Jane nodded and she stopped, as if forming the words in her mind before speaking. Martin’s heart began thumping a little faster. He had to make a conscious effort not to breath too loud as his thumb felt the box in his jacket.
“Well,” Jane started, “I don’t know how to say this.”
“Jane, I have someth-”
“But I think we should maybe…take a break.”
Martin’s mouth hung open and his eyebrows rose in surprise. Jane turned away from him again, embarrassed.
“Huh?” Martin grunted. “I mean, what?”
“Well,” Jane thought about it, “It just doesn’t feel like…we’re going anywhere?”
I’m about to propose to you, Martin almost screamed. “Well, I’ve had something in mind to…” he said, but again was cut off before he could speak.
“I mean maybe we should take more than a break,” Jane said. “Maybe we should break up.”
“What are you talking about?” Martin asked, again surprised. He thought it was pretty clear that she wanted to marry him. They’d talked about it plenty of times.
“I don’t know if we should do this anymore,” Jane said, not looking up.
“But I thought tonight went great-”
“Martin,” Jane cut him off and patted his hand.
Determined, Martin got up and stood in front of her. He took a knee and produced the dark purple box, opening it. The contents reflected light onto Jane’s face and her jaw dropped.
“Jane Irene Baxter,” Martin began.
“There’s someone else, Martin,” her voice was unwavering and direct. This time she looked him right in the eyes, as he knelt there with his arms outstretched like a fool. Four years together, and now another man just pops in and throws it all to waste? He thought she was better than that. He knew she was.
“What the hell?” Martin asked.
The two locked eyes and were silent. A breeze blew Jane’s hair around and she zipped her jacket higher and then turned her head away. Martin was still kneeling, holding the ring, frozen solid by a wave of awkwardness.
From above came a dull sound, something roaring. Jane looked up towards the noise, and Martin followed suit. Their eyes widened at the sight of a glowing object that flew down and struck the park bench and exploded. Martin was left covered in dust and dirt, his face charred black by soot. He blinked a few times as the dust cleared. The wedding ring was also now completely covered in ash, but Martin closed the box anyway and put it in his pocket.
The park bench was gone; it had been tossed off somewhere leaving an empty concrete rectangle in the grass where it had sat. To the right of where it had been was now a large smoking crater with dirt piled up over its edges. At the angle Martin was looking from, he could not see into the crater, but he could see Jane’s two legs sticking straight out, her heels pointing to the sky.
The ugly homeless man shuffled out of the darkness and looked into the crater, an amber glow lighting his face.
He turned to Martin and shrugged. “Well…that made things simple,” he said, and disappeared.