Dreams in Moonlight

Part 16

The next evening, at sunset, he walked the beach alone. His eyes scanned the sand dunes, counted the lamp posts and when he reached ten, he knew that he was in the right spot. Even so Greg was surprised to see her sitting exactly where they'd bumped into each other a few days back. She was staring out toward Kapiti island.

"Hi." He said quietly, and still managed to startle her.

"Oh, hi." She replied and he heard the anxiety in her voice. She tipped her head back so that she could meet his eyes, but with him silhouetted against the sunset, she could only see shadows.

"This your favourite spot?" He jammed his hands into his pockets and debated whether to ask if he could join her.

She shrugged. "It's a nice spot to watch the sunset." Which is not exactly what she did when she sat here. She came here, and let her thoughts wander. It was a place where everything could just be allowed to be. She could wallow in the what might have been, could think about ways to cope with the changes in her life, and could pretend that all was well in her life.

"You come here every evening?" Greg asked as he glanced behind and did a quick re count of the lamp posts. Yes, definitely ten.

She nodded her head. "Sometimes." She said quietly.

"Mind if I join you?"

That clearly startled her. She looked flustered. "er, sure." She had yet to work on a strategy to cope with bumping into him, knowing that he saw her as nothing more than an associate.

He smiled, then turned and sat alongside her. Both just starred straight ahead, their focus on the slowly setting sun.

Silence descended once again. The sun dipped lower, and the sky took on a faint orange purple glow.

It was only when half the sun remained above the horizon that he said, "We had our first date here." He finally said, turned, looked at her, noticed that she kept her eyes on Kapiti island in the distance. "This exact spot." He turned back, to look unseeingly at the horizon. "I counted the lamp posts." He glanced across at her and wondered whether she'd question the fact that he too remembered the significance. "Was that just coincidence, or do you choose to sit here deliberately?"

She shrugged. "I've been coming here for years. It's a great view." Which didn't really answer his question. But then she knew she wouldn't be able to answer it, not truthfully, not if she wanted to leave with some measure of composure.

Silence descended for several seconds.

"We need to figure out a way to get past our history together." He said quietly.

"What?"

"I want my children to grow up here." He glanced over at her, to see how she was reacting. "And I don't want my wife to have to deal with the situation between us." It was pretty obvious that despite their chat from a few days ago, things were still tense between them.

"Situation?"

"Our past." He sighed. "It's in the past. Long gone. We need to move on. For both our sakes. You and I, we have nothing but ancient history between us. We need to move on."

"You don't think we have moved on?"

"You're sitting where we had our first date." He pointed out.

"I've been coming here for years." She replied.

"Exactly. You need to let it go. Move on."

"You're making one mighty big assumption." She said quietly.

"Oh? You don't sit here for sentimental reasons?"

Mallory huffed. "Consciously no. I sit here because it needs the least amount of effort on the dunes to get here, as it is the shortest easiest route, and still leaves me with a fantastic view." Which was partly true. "Unconsciously yes, I probably do sit here because it has memories." She decided to be honest. "But I'm not going to avoid all the places we've been together just because they dredge up memories. What we had might not be important to you, but it was important to me."

"It is ancient history." He looked at her. "I don't want that history to ruin my future. This town is where I want to bring up my children."

"So, what are you saying? You can't do that with me around?"

"No. That's not what I'm saying." He looked out to sea, "I'm saying we need to stop using the past to dictate how we behave toward each other now. I don't want Jack or any of our friends to feel uncomfortable when they are around us, just because we once went out with each other. Hell, Jack and David have probably been out with half the town, and they manage to live in the same town as their ex's."

"I'm not sure what you expect me to do, differently?"

"I want us to be friends. To be able to bump into each other in the street without other people feeling uncomfortable. Without us feeling uncomfortable. Amanda was really uncomfortable the other day." He looked at her, "People are starting to notice that we avoid each other."

"Avoid?"

Greg blew out a long breath. "You didn't come in? To the fundraiser." He reminded. It had ruined his evening, he'd realized. For he'd been expecting to see her in there, and when she hadn't shown up, his world had suddenly gone flat. It did not make a blind bit of difference, having Amanda with him, he felt as if something was missing. "Amelia said you phoned to say you'd been delayed." He remembered listening to Amelia and wondering whether to tell her he'd met Mallory at the gate earlier.

"Change in plans." She told him.

"Before or after you saw Amanda and me?" He challenged. If he could push her, maybe they'd be able to move on.

"My cousins actually." She wondered when lying had become so easy.

"Your cousins?"

"Family emergency. I was waiting for my cousin." She reminded him. Then she looked away into the distance, "I'm sorry if it gave you the wrong impression. I promised Amelia I'd be there, but things changed. At the time I bumped into you and Amelia, the plan was still to go in, but then they phoned to tell me about the family emergency, and that changed my plans." She turned with a smile on her lips, hoping to move him off the topic, "So you and Amanda eh?" She tried to sound upbeat. "She's a nice person."

"Yeah, she is." But she isn't you, a small voice niggled in his head. He tried another track. "Amanda tells me her brother proposed to you." That news had felt as if someone had punched him in the gut. Mallory looked across at him in surprise. He was looking away. "Did he?"