“Come on, Reed,” Arin said to his new dog. Reed lay on the ground outside the phone booth, tired from their walk. “I know. I’m tired too. But we have to meet someone and tell her something. Hopefully, she won’t call the cops on us for it.” 

Arin and Reed found the correct address about fifteen minutes later. He wished he owned a car. He was pretty sure Reed did too.

A cute, small yellow house stood before them. More plants than Arin thought possible for an old lady to take care of covered the neat yard. Taking a breath, he knocked on the door, hoping this meeting would go smoothly.  

A short, petite woman with dark skin and gray hair opened the door. She had a kind face. “May I help you?” she asked.  

“Uh, yes, ma’am. This may seem a little weird, but are you Ellie Reed?”  

“Yes,” the woman said with a confused look. 

Arin was sure he was a sight to see with his wrinkled, dirty clothes. “Hi. I’m Arin. I work at the hospital. I’m a friend of Mr. Reed.”  

Mrs. Reed made a horrified face. Arin realized how he must sound. “No! He’s not—I mean, he’s at the hospital. He’s fine. I mean, he’s not fine. He’s in a hospital. But he’s not . . . like . . . dead or anything. He’s there, at the hospital.”

Arin took a big gulp of air and released it slowly. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Reed. I’m all over the place. I don’t know where to start,” he finished, feeling like an idiot.  

Mrs. Reed’s face softened, and she chuckled. “Please, call me Ellie. Would you like to come in?” 

She held the door open for Arin and Reed to step inside, as Arin began to explain why he was there.

“Ah yes, his bucket list. He started that when he was sixteen. I can’t believe he still has it. I started seeing it less and less as the years went by,” Ellie said as she pet Reed’s head.  

“Yeah, it’s quite the list,” Arin replied from the floor. He refused to lay his dirty body on Ellie's nice couch, despite her protests for him to sit down.  

“Such a wonderful thing for you to do for him. Such a wonderful boy,” she said.  

This was the second time he had been called wonderful today. Probably the second time in his life.  

“I actually came here for number ninety-six,” he said, handing her the list.

She picked up her reading glasses from the table beside her and squinted at the paper. Then, she smiled sweetly. “That man sure is something.” 

“If I may ask, what happened between you two? The way he talked about you, it seemed like you two were so in love.”  

Ellie looked at Arin, smiling. “And we were,” she said.

“We were very happy for a long time. Sometimes, things just happen. We still care for each other and even still love each other. But we weren’t in love anymore." Ellie sighed.

"It felt like we were just cruising through our marriage, waiting for something to happen. We didn't talk as much. He stopped bringing me flowers. I stopped making him morning coffee. Little things that really shouldn't matter but did. I'm not really sure how to explain it. We . . . fell out of love, I think,” Ellie finished.  

“You never remarried?” Arin asked.  

“No,” she said, laughing. “There was never anyone else. I know it may seem silly to you. If I didn’t love anyone after him, or anyone but him, why did we separate? I don’t really have a solid answer. It was just something we felt we had to do.” She sighed. “Sometimes things just don’t work out.”  

“Mr. Reed said the same thing. . . .” Arin sat quietly for a moment before asking, “Do you mind if I video tape you? For him?”  

She smiled and shook her head. Arin turned on the camera and pointed it at Ellie. “Mr. Reed would like you to know that he loves you very much,” Arin said.  

Ellie continued to smile as her eyes began to water. “And I would like you to know that I love you too, Charles.”