Robert Redford’s death at 89 didn’t just close the chapter on one of Hollywood’s greatest careers; it ripped open a wound in Jane Fonda’s heart that she admits may never fully heal. For more than fifty years, their connection crackled through every frame they shared — from the giddy romance of Barefoot in the Park to the tender intimacy of Our Souls at Night. She fell for him, over and over, while the world watched and believed it was only acting.

Now, Fonda is left with a memory that hurts as much as it comforts: she had planned to visit him, to make sure “they were all right,” but waited too long. Her warning is as raw as it is universal: when the people you love reach those final years, don’t postpone the call, the visit, the apology. She didn’t get her last moment with “dearest Bob.” The rest of us still might with the ones we can’t afford to lose.