Convergence

Chapter 6

Allafair shook his head and brushed the woman away. He shoved past her and staggered to the wall, his forehead slick with sweat. "Mel...Melline...Lovelace...why...why are you here?" he asked in a hushed voice.

"Allafair...don't you recognize me?" the woman asked. She apparently hadn't heard Allafair's question.

"Why...are you here?" he asked again, turning to face her. "Why are you...the Woman in the Red Dress?" He stared at her in pure shock, his mind reeling. He hadn't thought about what it would be like to actually see her again.

"Is that what they're calling me? Rather unimaginative, don't you think?" she said in answer, seeming to be completely fine with the fact that Allafair stood in her presence for the first time in ten years. "You look pale, are you feeling alright?" she inquired, a hint of worry creeping into her voice.

"It wasn't supposed to be you...you left me...you were supposed to stay away," Allafair muttered, sinking into a chair that sat against the wall. "Why are you the one? What...what are you doing here?"

Melline's face morphed to show concern as she approached Allafair slowly. She pulled a chair away from the nearest table and sat beside Allafair. Having her so close immediately set Allafair on edge again, and he pushed himself to his feet. "Allafair," Melline called after him. Feeling as though his legs were jelly, he stumbled out of the room, through the door by which he had entered, down the barren steps that led to a sidewalk. He wrestled with his jacket, trying to pull it free from his shoulders. When it finally came loose, he threw it on top of the freshly trimmed bushes that lined the walkway to the gala.

A cool breeze washed over him the moment he had removed his coat. He felt like he might collapse. When the dizziness began, he wrenched the bow-tie from his neck and unbuttoned the first few buttons of his shirt. He heard the footsteps of a woman in heeled-shoes, and his heart hammered in his chest. He whirled around to find Melline again, much to his disappointment. He would have given anything for Penny Brighton to sweep him away for lunch. He prayed he could have just one stroke of luck.

The closest he came, was when Melline kept her distance.

"I know...I know we didn't leave things well off," she began, folding her arms over her chest.

"I am not going to do this with you," Allafair told her sternly. He spotted a bench near a lamp post and sank into it, making sure to keep his eye on Melline. She stayed put in the middle of the staircase and watched as Allafair slipped his trembling fingers through his hair. "I want to know what you're doing here," he demanded.

Melline's eyes had begun to tear up but she easily blinked the moisture away. "Whatever you think it is I've done, I swear to you I haven't. Whatever it looks like...whatever you found in that case file...it's all a trick," she told him.

"Just like you swore you'd always be here?" Allafair snapped angrily, disobeying his own wishes. He swore to himself that he wouldn't bring the past back, that he wouldn't relive those memories, but seeing her here...it was nearly impossible. All the nights he had gone without sleep to look for her, all the days he spent throwing things about his house, all of the screaming at the picture of her as if it would answer, and all of the bursts of sobbing in the office were because of her. He needed to know what had changed, whether he wanted to know the reason or not.

"That wasn't my fault, Allafair, we knew it wouldn't last," Melline argued, her icy glare returning.

"Then you had no business making any promises," Allafair said, nearly growling at her.