the man slowly traced the edge of his coffee mug. it was getting cold, and she still wasn't here. of course she wasn't.

he sighed and checked his watch. she said that she would be here at nine, but it was past ten by now and the chair across from him was still empty. of course it was; she may never show, but she did always make sure to leave an empty chair behind.

of course, after waiting here for any hour, there were so many of courses floating around in his brain that he couldn't even breathe in his head without accidentally sucking in an of course. of course she didn't show. of course she didn't bother to tell him that she couldn't, or wouldn't, come. of course he was still waiting. of course he would continue to wait.

he went back to tracing the edge of the coffee cup that sat on the diner table in front of him. his index finger made wide circles on the mug over and over and over again. inside those loops sat the dark coffee which was growing colder by the minute as his finger circled it like a vulture over a rotting corpse. over and over and over. colder and colder and colder.

"sir?" the owner of the diner was now standing at his table. when had he arrived? the man didn't remember. "we're getting ready to close soon."

"just send the receipt over." the owner nodded and left.

staring down into the dark liquid, the man considered drinking it. he never drunk the coffee he ordered when he was waiting for her to not show. perhaps if he had been a little more poetic, he would've thought that the black drink resembled the pupil of her eye, but he wasn't very poetic and he couldn't remember her eye color for his life. he didn't know if he had even spent enough time looking into her eyes for him to have a chance of remembering.

the owner returned with the receipt. the man scrawled a short message on the piece of paper before handing it back to the owner with a twenty dollar bill.

"sir, this is way too much - you only ordered a coffee."

the man shrugged. "you can keep the change. just, if you see a woman who looks a lot like me except older come in, would you give her that receipt?" he chuckled. "i would tell you her eye color, but i don't know it."

the owner looked down at the slip and read it before looking back up at the man and smiling sadly. "of course. thanks for your business."

"anytime." the man nodded and then walked out the diner door, a bell tinkling over his head on his way out.

the owner glanced back down at the receipt before tucking it away in his pocket. on it were four words scrawled in a messy cursive: "i love you, mom."