A favorite seat is kept, and waiting over tea becomes an evening routine. Perhaps someone forgot, perhaps they travelled away: the lyric does not establish the reason for absence or a completed reunion.
The 72 BPM arena-power-ballad direction opens clean guitar and synth pad into distorted chords, wide drums and full female choruses, with guitar solo and final key-change ideas. 1988 describes a retro production image, not the recording date.
Between love and memory, songs leave many kinds of encounters. Watch this film, then explore another visual edition when there is one: different images need not replace each other to be worth keeping.