She stepped back and gently shut the door. It made that weird clicking sound which meant the latch hadn’t fully connected with the frame; it would rattle annoyingly until he opened it again and slammed it closed.

Out of instinct he reached over.

He grabbed the handle and paused, squeezing the cracked leather as the windows fogged up around him, his breath swirling languidly in the air.

Wait until she’s inside.

That made sense to him. Otherwise- what?

A wave?

An awkward smile?

The “oh, you” shrug?

She had all of these gestures down pat.

He looked through the passenger side window but it was too dark.

And cold.

The frost was building up.

He wiped it off with his sleeve to little effect.

He could see, in a shadowy way, the outlines of her roof, jutting upwards against the faint stars overhead. He thought he heard her footsteps crunching down the graveled path, past that spinning flower thing he had never understood, receding into the dark.

He wasn’t sure though.

The engine clicked and sighed to itself as it cooled, cracking metallic joints in the silence of winter.

He pressed his face towards the glass. Thought about rolling down the window, but worried she might hear.

The crunching stopped.

He thought.

Maybe.

The roof looked the same- a void across the sky. A deeper dark.
A sliver of light appeared.

Golden yellow.

Warm.

It grew, expanded, became a perfect rectangle of dazzling platonic form, shining outwards like a protest against the night.

He saw her shadow outlined in the brilliance.

Was she looking towards him? Away?

The light winked out and the shadow followed.

He still looked- he thought he could see the inner darkness, the shadow where the light had been. An emptiness.

A hole.

Like something taken away.

He breathed out, exhaling in silence all the words he should have said, the ones he had been saving.

The keys were still nestled firmly in the ignition. A patina of oil coated the key ring, a residue of her favorite meal eaten together an hour ago.

He turned them slowly and drove away

He never got around to closing the door.