Side By Side, Then Shattered

[Verse 1]
We learned each other's coffee cups
Your crooked teeth
My nervous laugh
Paint on the kids' room
Year by year
Sunday lists on yellow pads
You held my wrist through sleepless fevers
I kissed your scars
You nursed my pride
All those seasons at the same small table
Two worn chairs
Side by side
[Chorus]
Tell me again
We were always on the same page
Tell me again
Every vow held every day
I built my heart around your promise
Brick by gentle brick
Now every memory cuts and twists
Side by side
Was it all like this?
[Verse 2]
Hospital light on your pale blue veins
TV humming
Flowers tired
I read your favorite book out loud
Lost my place when my throat caught fire
You smiled slow
Said
“I’m not afraid
Just hold my hand
I’ll be alright”
Then you turned to him
Your lifeline
"Anything you need to say
Say it tonight"
[Chorus]
Tell me again
We were always on the same page
Tell me again
Every vow held every day
I built my heart around your promise
Brick by gentle brick
Now every memory cuts and twists
Side by side
Was it all like this?
[Bridge]
He said her name
Like it lived inside him
Like a song he'd hidden in his teeth (oh God)
“Once
I broke you
Long ago
With someone you will never meet”
My throat went dry
The room grew smaller
Your fingers flinched inside my own
You tried to speak
But the line went flat
Your hand went slack
And I was alone
[Chorus]
Tell me again
That we lived an honest story
Tell me again
That love is more than faded glory
I gave my lifetime to your silence
Year by careful year
Now every soft and common day
Feels sharp and strange in here
Side by side in every photo
Side by side in every lie
I’m the widow and the stranger
Same red eyes
Tell me again
We were always on the same page
Because you waited
Till her very last breath
To say your betrayal's name

Intimate indie ballad with female vocals, close-mic’d and fragile. Soft fingerpicked acoustic and warm upright piano carry the verses; subtle brushed snare and low pads bloom in the chorus. Bridge strips back to solo voice and sparse chords for maximum tension, then full band swells on the final chorus with layered harmonies and a slightly distorted guitar bed to underline the emotional rupture.