The Man on the Moon (The Man Duology)

Chapter 7

The woods were brighter than usual. Elegantly, the sun's ray's teased us from in between the tree trunks. My fingers found themselves trailing them; feeling their flaky oak collapse onto my fingers and stick to them. Like an endless sea, the sky swirled above us and was painted with fluffy, white clouds. A distinct burning smell came from the distance, like somebody was burning unwanted goods. The satisfying feeling of grass blades crunching under my feet could not be beaten. In the tree tops, the birds sang a beautiful afternoon chorus. Nature seemed like a great distraction from my thing.

Scanning the stretch of trees around me, I hugged myself from the slightly chilly, summer air. My mind whispered terrible thoughts -- thoughts that would annoy Harvey if he knew about them. He's stood you up. He isn't coming.
As a trail connected my unusual path to the designated one for dog walkers, a small, abandoned park came into my view -- with Harvey sat on one of the rusty swings. Hidden childhood memories whistled in the wind, flowing in and out of the deserted playground. Children's giggles and smiles painted the climbing frame, making up for the absence of actual paint.

Harvey beamed, turning around to face me. "Eleanor!"

"Hello," I smiled and gently approached him, covering my stomach with my coat.

"How are you?" Jumping up, he wrapped his arms around me and pulled us into a close embrace.

"I'm great," A lie. "How are you?"

He sighed contently, studying my face. "I'm fantastic."

"What has gotten you so happy all of a sudden?" My smiled stretched from ear-to-ear as we individually sat on the swings, gently swinging in sync.

"Laura makes me happier than anyone I've ever met. You have to meet her, Eleanor, properly. And, she really likes you. Trust me, she isn't that bad. She's amazing."

My jaw fell open with disappointment, causing my eyes to become oceans. "Oh?"

Unscrewing the lid on his flask of tea, Harvey carried on boasting about Laura. They weren't officially together, but you could tell how close they were to being an item. My hands were suddenly ice cold in the middle of summer. The throbbing of my stomach became more apparent -- as if the baby knew exactly how I was feeling, and they felt it too. Every good word about Laura was drowned out with my discrete tears and the sound of my heart breaking all over again.

Harvey offered me his flask and I politely declined. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Lie. "Just feel a bit sick again."

"Are you sure that it isn't to do with Laura?"

Shaking my head, I pretended to feel happy for Harvey and his new love interest. "I'm sure Laura is lovely; I'm glad you've found somebody."

The rest of the afternoon was Harvey and me walking around the woods, and taking pictures of beautiful looking flowers. Every other sentence of his was directly linked to Laura and how happy they were, making my heart race and my eyes well up, just like before.

When the visit eventually ended, he offered to walk me home. Feeling like a broken record, I declined yet again and watched Harvey's face fall.

"Don't worry, it's nothing personal." Wracking my brain for an excuse, I played with the tassels on my coat. "My dad has been drinking again and he doesn't want anyone in the house."

He frowned, his expression with a hint of anger. "He is drinking?"

I nodded, biting my lip. Technically, I didn't lie. Julia and Dad probably wouldn't have appreciated anyone coming to our house if Dad was experiencing problems again. Harvey was a family friend, and had been since we were small, but even he couldn't see us struggling. It wasn't his place to fix things anymore.