He was silent for a while, just staring off into the distance. This was it. It was over. The defining relationship of his life to date, over. An awful, twisted feeling sank into his gut.

Finally, he did speaking, saying: "I suppose it's not entirely unexpected...We were separated so long, and--"

His voice broke, and he stopped momentarily.

"Pardon me, I believe there's something in my eye..." he turned away from her, ashamed of his own inability to control himself.