He was seventeen
She was twelve
She saw him fixing his uncle's cadillac
over the gap between white picket fences
and lent him her mother's wrench
He flashed her a smile she'd never forget

He was twenty four
She was nineteen
He needed a place to stay the week
She had a small college dorm room
They made it work
through smuggled cafeteria pizza
and gently whispered good nights

He was thirty
She was twenty five
He took her on their first date
all smiles and chivalry and holding doors
candlelit dinner under the new moon
She never wanted it to end

He was thirty seven
She was thirty two
They brought their first child
to their cookie cutter home
with their own white picket fence
and their stolen kisses fizzled and died
under the weight of new responsibility

He was forty three
She was thirty eight
His voice laced with venom
He yelled at her for the first time
traded his family for his business trip
She cried for hours locked in her bedroom
so the kids wouldn't see

He was forty nine
She was forty four
He threw her back against a wall
storms brewing in his big grey eyes
She ran too quickly into the street
tears clouding her judgement
The storms didn't pass

He was fifty seven
She was forever forty four
He waved his last child off to college
He was finding it easier to forget that night
Every now and then her smile flashed
uninvited through his mind
He couldn't bring himself to recall her face
illuminated by the oncoming traffic