Met my old lover at the grocery store(1)

"I was at Lipp's on their enclosed terrace having a drink--there was a taxi stand there and a cab pulled up to discharge a passenger and damn if it wasn't Hadley. Hadn't laid eyes on her since our divorce."(2)

I stood behind her in the frozen foods
And I touched her on the sleeve
She didn't recognize the face at first
But then her eyes flew open wide
She went to hug me and she spilled her purse

And we laughed until we cried.

"As I approached her, she saw me, gasped, and threw her arms around me. Having her up against me shortened my breath. She stepped back and looked at me.

We went to have ourselves a drink or two

"I invited her into Lipp's for champagne."

We drank a toast to innocence
We drank a toast to now
We tried to reach beyond the emptiness
But neither one knew how

"All things truly wicked start from an innocence."

I said the years had been a friend to her
And that her eyes were still as blue

"'My goodness, Ernest,' she said, 'you look the same.'
"'Not you.'
"'Oh?'
"'You look even lovelier.'

She said she saw me in the record stores
And that I must be doing well

"'I follow you in the newspapers. A Farewell to Arms was wonderful. You're a romantic, you know.'"

She said she's married her an architect
Who kept her warm and safe and dry

"'You still married to what's his name?'

"'Yes, I'm still Mrs. What's His Name.'"

The beer was empty and our tongues were tired
And running out of things to say

"'And I'll always love you, Tatie. As I loved you in Oak Park and as I loved you here in Paris.' She raised her glass and touched it with mine. She drank the last of her champagne and put down her glass."

We drank a toast to innocence
We drank a toast to time
Reliving, in our eloquence
Another "Auld Lang Syne"

 'I must go to my appointment,' she said.

"'Good-bye, my Tatie.'

She gave a kiss to me as I got out
And I watched her drive away
Just for a moment I was back at school
And felt that old familiar pain
And, as I turned to make my way back home
The snow turned into rain.

"The light changed to green. Hadley turned and kissed me, a meaningful kiss; then she crossed the street and I watched her go, that familiar, graceful walk.'"

The shore lights began to appear in the distance and faraway music skimmed along the water. Ernest leaned his head back and closed his eyes...(3)

As Gregorio steered toward the approaching dock, Ernest said, "That was the last time I saw her."

He was asleep now. (4)

...

Reluctantly, I stood up and crossed the room, the stab of his thin, seeking voice forever in my ear: "How can he know that it will be the only true love of his life? How can he know?"

I quietly let the door close to its latch, hoping my friend was dreaming of being in his favorite room at the Ritz, on the garden side, in a huge brass bed with a heavenly companion who, I'm sure, is Hadley.

1.Same Old Lang Syne, Dan Fogelberg (1980). 

2. Hemingway In Love, A.E. Hotchner (2015), ch "Paris Is Sometimes Sad," conversation with Hemingway July, 1955; Hemingway meeting with Hadley undated.

3. Hemingway In Love, "Paris Is Sometimes Sad," Hotchner's description.

4. Hemingway In Love, ch "That Room at St. Mary's, 1961.