Only The Beginning

Chapter Ten

A/N Thank you to everyone reading and voting! I hope you enjoy this latest installment.

There was a long pause on the end of the line, but Craig could hear her breathing. He stopped walking. His heart rate had calmed significantly since storming out of his father's house five minutes ago. He stood on the bridge overlooking the train tracks that led to the docks. The moon shone bright enough to reveal the cracks in the sidewalk.

He tried again, this time softening his voice. "This would be the same Melissa Legacy who orders her steak medium rare, likes Pink Kitty, and snores in her sleep."

There was another pause, then she cleared her throat. "I...um, I don't snore."

Even though the argument with his father still clung to his nerves, Craig smiled, feeling the knot at the base of his neck ease somewhat. "Yes, you do," he said. "A little bit."

He thought he detected a stifled laugh, then her words tumbled out. "I'm glad you called, actually." She cleared her throat again. "I wanted to tell you why I didn't give you my real name."

"You mean why you lied?"

"Not a horrible lie though, nothing that would change the course of history."

Craig picked up a small rock and threw it over the bridge. He lost it in the dark. A few seconds later the distinctive clatter of it hitting the tracks below echoed back up to him. "Okay. Why then?"

She let out a sigh. "In that moment I wasn't sure of myself and the whole thing kind of felt like a dream so..."

"So?" he prompted. He hoped for more of an explanation. The day had already been full of misgivings. He started walking again. The steady pace of his shoes on the sidewalk helped him focus. There was still one part of the mystery unsolved.

"So the fake name came out," she said. "It was no grand scheme on my part to deceive you, only a knee jerk reaction to being in a situation I hadn't been exactly prepared for. And when I met you in person I was too embarrassed to explain that I'd lied."

Craig thought he heard a hint of remorse in her voice. He wasn't sure what he expected, but he wanted to recapture some of the easy comfort from the afternoon. Not just the bedroom moments, the lunch with her had been the first time, in a long time, when he'd felt so naturally at ease and...God, dare he even think it, happy.

But her tone put him on alert. "Do you regret meeting me?" he asked. The question came out quickly.

Thinking back to the argument with his father and brother, the evening was made for confessions, apparently.

"What?" She seemed surprised. "No, I don't," she said. "Do you?"

"No."

They were both silent for a moment. Craig continued up Young Avenue. The larger homes of

Halifax's most influential loomed on either side of the tree lined street. He fought the urge to sprint out of this pretentious neighborhood. Even though he grew up only a block away he never felt like he belonged here.

He made it to the four-way stop, pausing at Inglis Street. A group of students disembarked a bus and made their way around him like water around a river rock. A few of them wore Saint Mary's University sweatshirts.

"How did you get my number?" she asked.

"You left your contact information with my father's receptionist." He crossed the street, jogging the last few steps.

She let out a groan. "I had no idea you were related, Craig. I only realized when I saw your high school graduation picture on his bookshelf. And I had no idea I was going to be meeting him. It was a lastminute appointment." She stopped and took a breath. "I wanted to leave you a note, but..." Then she let the sentence go, the words evaporating on the other end of the line.