And she felt him thanking her for finally explaining why she had disappeared on him with that hug. Even though he thought the explanation was a lousy one.

And she felt him saying goodbye with that hug.

And she returned the hug so she could say goodbye, too.

And Jimmy received the hug.

And they finally got to say goodbye.

And break up.

Officially.

Jimmy slowly pulled away and held Sandrine by the shoulders and said, “Thanks.” The thanks were for the apology. And for the explanation. As belated as they were, they were exactly what Jimmy needed.

Because now he was free from wondering about what had gone wrong with Sandrine.

And he could move on.

And he let go of Sandrine. And let his hands fall to his sides. And Sandrine said, “You’re welcome.” And she waited to see if he had anything else to say. And he didn’t. So she said, “Bye, Jimmy.”

And Jimmy said, “Bye.”

And they felt like it would probably be a good long while before they talked again. If they ever talked again. And Jimmy ached. And Sandrine felt relief. And she turned and started to go. She had taken only a couple of steps when Jimmy called to her. “Hey!”

Sandrine stopped and turned back to Jimmy.

And he said, “I’m glad you got found.”

It took Sandrine a second to understand what Jimmy was saying.

And when she did, she said, “Thanks, Jimmy.” And laughed at the weird congratulations or blessing or whatever it was. “I am, too,” she said. And then she almost turned to go but stopped and said, “I hope you get found, too.” And then she shrugged and realized how corny that sounded. And she tried to make it less corny by qualifying it with, “If that’s something you want.”

Jimmy didn’t know if he wanted to get found.

But he did know that he still wanted her.

But he wasn’t ever going to have her, so he needed to get over that.

He just didn’t know how he was going to do that.

Sandrine slowly turned and headed toward the front of the Moose Paddy and out onto the dance floor to be with the girls who had thrown her her bachelorette party.

And Jimmy was so sad. Because all that had been lost had been found—but lost again. For good.

Jimmy saw the girls welcome Sandrine back with a joyful roar. And they all hopped and bopped to the song about girls wanting to have fun and made Sandrine drink something purplish-pink. And she did. And the girls cheered. Jimmy witnessed all this joy from afar. And it washed over him and made him feel about as joyless as he had ever felt.

Then he sat back down in his chair and was about to finish his Bud when the waitress returned and said, “Hey! Sorry! Somebody said you were wavin’ me down!” She was a bit out of breath. “I didn’t see you,” she continued, a little frazzled, “but it’s so busy! Friday night! Whew!” Another round of joyful whoops emanated from the bachelorette party as the song about girls wanting to have fun faded out, replaced by a song about a guy who said he had friends in low places.