He got up from his comfortable place lounging on the sofa and went to make them both coffee. He could be magnanimous, he thought – but he made sure that the coffee was just a little stronger that she would have normally liked and that she got the blue mug with the chipped handle which dug into your hand as you drank.

She thanked him, even smiled a very little but to his disappointment she drank with the mug turned so that she cupped the body without ever touching the handle. He suddenly remembered that she always held her mug that way and that he had forgotten. It made him sad that he would eventually forget everything that had made him love her in the first place and then a little resentful when he realised that she would perform the same unconscious excision of her memories of him.

She seemed to want to part on a good, if subdued note. “I did love you, you know,â€? she said quietly.
 “Yeah,â€? he agreed quickly. “Me too.â€?