Hello June

Two

"... so I told her I'll be back." She tucked her legs under her on the dried grass.

It was early in the morning on a Saturday evening and so, most of the city was asleep. Still, June sat there, a bunch of pretty Lilies in her lap, in the cemetery.

In front of her was a grave she had never grown accustomed to, even after five years. She still couldn't believe her eyes when she saw the name Stanley Romulus Mason engraved in beautiful bolds on the tomb-stone. Her Stanley lay fast asleep somewhere below this very heap of earth, but she could not get her self to agree with it. For her, Stanley was still there. By her side, and inside her heart. He never left. He never would.

In fact, she didn't even believe that the other three graves were there too. To Stanley's right was the twin grave of Mr and Mrs Mason, and then was Alison Martha Mason— Stan's older sister, Alice.

When June had arrived in the cemetery a few hours ago, she said her greetings to Stanley's family and prayed for them to rest in peace. And then had come to sit by Stanley, the extreme left grave of the four, and had been sitting there since.

"She said okay..." June told the earth, and tugged at a blade of grass beside her. She was telling Stanley about her boss, Rebecca. A tear slipped from her eye at her own next words.

"...and she asked if it was still hard for me to know you're not th-there—"

She hid her face in her palms to hide the oncoming stream of tears. Her shoulders shook and her breathing hitched. She was now quietly sobbing into her hands.

She stayed like that for a long time, her shaking made the bouquet of lilies fall to the ground. She wasn't wearing makeup so, when she finally dried her tears on a tissue paper from her jeans pocket, only her  swollen eyes and pink nose showed that she had been crying.

"I'm sorry." She said to the grave, and put her hands back in her lap. That's when she noticed, the bouquet was no longer there. Sighing, she picked it up from the ground, dusted it a bit and placed it on top of the grave.

"These were for you." She whispered to Stanley. "Just the ones you like. Hard to find— but I got them for you..."

She sat there for a long time. People who came to visit other graves just nodded to her, and then kept to themselves. She didn't care about them. She was here to talk to Stanley. Talk about random things like the window she left open at night...

"You know what?" She giggled "I left that living room window open again. And that cat came in again. There were cat paws all over the carpet, and I had to scrub all of them to get rid of them."

She rubbed her wrists unintentionally.

"It took me hours." She continued, dramatically rolling her eyes. "I was exhausted by the time I was done. So, I called Becky and Jen to please grant me a leave—" she made quite dramatic air quotes "— and ask someone else to cover for me. I slept all day..."

And after that, she told him about the stranger at the bookies...

"We had a nice chat, you know?" She pulled her legs to her chin and wrapped her arms around them. "About the books... and my TBR*..." she counted off on her finger tips. Then she remembered "He was interested in the books I was returning. He had already read them. It was nice meeting him. Later that night— the night I met him," she added. "I was thinking that he was a bit like you. Or... maybe it was just the books? But his interest in my TBR reminded me of you... and I missed you so much that night.

"I sprayed your cologne on the pillow and hugged it tight." She put her head on her knees, staring at her feet. "I cried at first. Then fell asleep and dreamed of you. Of the time we moved in together— you remember that right?"

A smile spread on her lips at the memory. Then she giggled.

"You carried me over the threshold and nearly dropped me in the kitchenette..."

The wind blew cold and the sky was getting dark when she said her good-byes. It was hard... so hard that, like every time, she felt as if something was pulling her back towards the gravestone. Her feet didn't move and her eyes watered. Still, she pushed her self forth, and making her way through the graves, reached the entrance.

But she stopped short when she arrived there. For, from the other side, a very familiar blond guy was coming towards her. His hazel eyes looked sad— of course they were sad, he was at a cemetery-- but there was something else too. Something June couldn't place.

As she passed the guy, he looked sideways at her. Their eyes met and June knew there was something wrong.

"Hello there." He said, his accent thick. His hand raised in a half wave as he stopped a few steps from her.

"Hey." June forced a smile and waved too. "Visiting a relative?"

"My fiancée." He replied, a sad smile appearing on his lips. He looked down at his boots, then back up at her.

"Oh." Was all June could say. She was speechless...

"You?" The guy asked, but it didn't feel like he wanted to know. Maybe he was just being polite.

"My boyfriend." June told him. A colour passed his face which she didn't recognise. But instead of asking, she said 'bye' and 'good luck', and tyres away.

She could hear the guys retreating steps into the lonely cemetery, as she exited.

His fiancée. She wondered. It must've been hell to loose some one so close. The look on his face showed that much alright. He looked broken... like a truck had run him over thrice and then he'd been struck with lightening. Hurt to his very core.

Poor guy, she thought. And then mentally prayed for the guy's fiancée too, as she cracked the engine of her car. She knew how bad it was to loose the love of your life. She felt so sorry for the guy.

—————

A/n;
TBR (pile) : to be read (pile). [For further reference, read Georgina Kincad series. I read it online. :) ]