Dreams in Moonlight

Part 2

Tina snorted. Her lips curled in a semblance of a smile. A smug smile. "Greg dumped her. That was really embarrassing." Reveling in the chance to humiliate her cousin, she tacked on " Imagine being dumped like that. One day dating, and all loved up and the next day just ancient history. He even left town to avoid her! In any case, Dad would have had a fit if Mallory had continued to date Greg!" Tina replied as if that was enough reason.

"Oh." None the wiser Harriet wondered why anyone would object to having their daughter date Greg. "Why?"

It didn't take Tina long to fill Harriet in, on the issue at the time. "Greg left school with no qualifications. Not even one certificate. At sixteen. Dad said Greg would never amount to anything. In any case, we all knew that it wouldn't have been what Uncle Charlie had wanted, for Mallory to throw it all away on an uneducated labourer! It was just as well Greg dumped her. But, it is embarrassing; to be dumped by an uneducated labourer!"

Mallory winced. Greg was not an uneducated labourer. Even then. He'd left school to take up an apprenticeship. He had ambitions. They had talked about his ambitions, what he wanted, how he was going to make it happen. He was someone with plans, and dreams, and ideas. They'd talked about how he hoped to set up his own business, run his own company and make it a success. She understood the drive he had, the way he'd talked about building his business. She knew, even then, that he'd make it. She assumed she'd be alongside when he did. Because he'd used her as a sounding board, talking aloud about his plans, his dreams. Teenagers they might have been, but they had big plans, and their plans were to share those dreams together. Funny how life turned out. When they were dating, life was so certain. So simple. They were destined to be together. How much had changed.

Mallory couldn't help but frown at her cousin Tina and that spurred Harriet to say with open conviction, "Well, no offence Tina, but your father called it wrong."

That statement did nothing to stem Tina's vitriol. In fact it made her even more vitriolic. "No he didn't." Tina corrected forcefully, she looked at Mallory and her lip curled in amusement and disdain, "Mallory and Greg? Long term? Hardly going to work." Tina snorted again and shook her head to endorse her position, "Come on! Mallory's a wannabe dancer, who had a brief shot at fame, then crashed and burned! He knew that would happen. Greg is fit. Even at school he was gorgeous!" So why he'd seen fit to date her cousin and not her had always been beyond her comprehension. He'd gone out with Mallory, despite Tina's father telling Mallory in no uncertain terms that she was not to associate with the boy. Despite being told repeatedly that they were disappointed in her and that she was letting the family down by being seen with a high school drop out who was nothing but a labourer, Mallory continued seeing him. Nothing they could say would put her off dating Greg.

"Tina!" Harriet admonished astonished by the callousness and the ease with which Tina derided her cousin so publicly. Harriet wanted to shake Mallory; she didn't understand why Mallory allowed her cousin to denigrate her in this way. It was as if Mallory simply did not care.

Tina pretended to show remorse, by shrugging sheepishly. But her next statement put paid to that false impression. "Well, he is bloody gorgeous. He can have any woman he wants. He's not going to settle for a disabled dancer. Certainly not now! Is he?"

"Tina!"

Harriet silently willed Mallory to defend herself. But Mallory didn't. She'd had years to get used to her bitchy cousin and had long determined it was not worth the hassle. So Mallory ignored Tina.

Harriet on the other hand had only lived in town for two years before moving away. She was visiting for the weekend, because she and Mallory were friends. Harriet had met Mallory's cousin, Tina, a couple of times when Harriet had lived in town, but they had never been more than passing acquaintances. Now, Harriet was rather pleased that she had steered clear of this particular cousin. Tina was clearly spite personified.

"Your father got it wrong." Harriet stated bluntly. Harried frowned when Mallory didn't take Tina to task, then she turned toward Tina and said, "As we call know, Greg made it big time. And Mallory made it big time too."

How ironic, Mallory thought. Now, no doubt Claude would probably throw her at Greg, and Greg, no doubt would throw her back. How life worked was still a mystery. Mallory's lips twitched with suppressed cynicism. Inher mind she was reviewing the fact this man had proposed to her, and then left town. Reviewing those events dredged up feelings that she thought she hadfirmly buried a decade ago. Feelingsthat came with thorns, scouring her heart with fresh wounds. She was grateful that her training allowed her to function while her heart stutteredand her brain ignored the pain.

Tina ignored the admonishment and didn't botherto alter her position on Mallory. "Yes, he's made it, which means Greg can have any woman he wants. Let's be honest here, here, Mallory had a brief spell as a dancer, garnered ten seconds of fame, but she's hardly what one would call an Alister, is she? Hardly the type Greg is going to bother with now? Is he? I'm just stating facts. They may not be palatable, but that doesn't stop them from being true." Tina ignored Harriet's glower. Mallory ignored Tina period. There simply was no point in arguing with Tina. It just gave her an incentive tovoice even more vitriol. Tina was the type who thrived on being the centre of attention. She liked the adulation.

In any case, Tina was right. Mallory's claim to dancing fame was short lived and it was hardly likely that Greg would be interested now.