Dreams in Moonlight

Part 12

They managed to keep out of each other's path for well over a month. It was a mutual effort. Though neither would concede that.

Mallory wondered whether they would walk by without noticing her. She knew with her luck that was very unlikely. Sitting just behind a small sand dune, her knees up against her chest, her arms folded to provide a base for her chin, she was used to sitting here watching the sun. She came here when she needed to think. It was a bit of an effort, because she couldn't use her walking stick to help her walk on the sand, but the five or so minutes of stumbling along the dunes was worth it. The peace and quiet of the stretch of the beach was exactly what she needed. Sitting here calmed her. She didn't understand why exactly, but sitting at this spot, usually helped her relax.

But this evening was different. She'd only been sitting for about ten minutes when she heard voices coming closer, and closer. Voices she recognised. Amanda and Greg.

"Mallory!" Amanda greeted in surprise. "Didn't see you there." With her arm still tucked around Greg's waist, she walked purposefully toward Mallory. Mallory envied the couple their ability to travel across the sand without it looking as if they had limbs that did not understand the concept of walking. When she walked, or a better description would be stumbled, across the sand, it always felt as if her legs did not remember they were connected to the rest of her. She felt gauche. Amanda smiled warmly, "I was just saying to Greg, how romantic it is to stroll along the beach at sunset."

Mallory wrapped her arms around her legs, and pinned a forced smile to her lips, hoping the couple would not hover for too long. She nodded to signal she had heard Amanda's statement.

Mallory wondered if he would remember. This was where they had their first date. They had gone to the local fish and chip shop, bought two fish suppers and had come down to the beach to sit and eat their supper in the moonlight. To Mallory, her first boyfriend at fourteen, sitting on a beach, eating fish and chips, it had been heaven! It had never occurred to her, until just now, that the spot she had chosen to sit, and think, and had done so on many occasions over the years, was the very location she had sat with him on their first date. Ten lamp posts along from the car park, over the first set of dunes, and just ahead of the second.

"So what brings you out here?" Amanda asked when neither Mallory nor Greg had picked up the conversation baton. Despite the fact neither of them had spoken the air had definitely crackled with tension. Amanda wondered what it was that made these two, usually charming people, suddenly behave so poorly.

Mallory glanced away to look at the setting sun. "It was a beautiful evening." Mallory said quietly. "It seemed a shame not to enjoy the sunset." Though if truth were told she had paid little attention to the sky line horizon. Instead her thoughts had been on the man who now stood just a few feet away, with his arm wrapped around another woman's waist. Mallory had been struggling to shift thoughts of him out of her mind and feelings for him out of her heart.

"We are going to have to find you a guy!" Amanda teased with a broad grin. "Greg, you can help me set up a blind date. Got any single friends?" She asked as she looked up at him and all but demanded he take part in the conversation.

Mallory froze. The last thing she needed was to go on a date with any of his friends. Looked like he had the same thoughts.

"I don't think my friends would share Mallory's interests." He stated bluntly much to Amanda's astonishment.

"I am surprised you know what my interests are." Mallory retorted softly. Her eyes reached his, the challenge open as she waited for him to respond to her statement.

Greg tensed as her comment penetrated. He shrugged, pretended it was of no great importance. Then he said with even more obvious antipathy, "Given your reading habits, I'd say high brow. High culture." He all but sneered as he tacked on, "My friends are more interested in people."

Mallory threw him a supercilious look. Just because she liked the man did not mean she had to pander to his ego. "You don't know my reading habits." Mallory challenged with equal measure of derision.

Greg removed his hand from Amanda's waist, shoved his hands in his pockets and stated, "I was in the book shop when you collected your book." Greg reminded her. He knew they were both behaving badly, and yet for the life of him, he was not willing to concede first.

"That was for work." Mallory told him. 

"Well, as I said my friends are interested in people."

"And I'm not?" She demanded, his words finally pricking through her wafer thin shield. Mallory wished she could stomp off, but given her leg, she'd probably keel over in front of him.

Amanda picked up on the accusation in Mallory's words and wondered what she could do to stop the situation from detiorating.

"I'm not the one sitting on a beach admiring a sunset," He challenged with sublime arrogance as he made a pretence of looking around before refocusing on her, "on their own." He added bluntly.

"Oh, well, er Mallory is a people person." Amanda decided that she needed to do something before this disintegrated any further. The trouble was that neither Mallory nor Greg appeared at all interested in curtailing this rapidly escalating war of words.

Greg did not take his eyes off Mallory. She could read the derision in his gaze, as he made no attempt to spare her. "I wouldn't want my friends to be mislead." Greg replied without thinking. He knew that his words were flying out of his mouth before his brain had a chance to veto them.