Heartbeats in Moonlight

Chapter 23

A day later, Amelia asked, "So how did it go?"

Ella knew what Amelia was talking about. "Fine." Ella took the seat opposite Amelia. She unbuttoned her jacket and then discarded her jacket. Pretend this is normal, that yesterday her heart had been trampled.

"That rough huh?" Amelia was one of the few people who saw Ella for who she was, mainly because Ella dropped the mask when she was around Amelia.

Ella grimaced, closed her eyes as she once again felt the tears gather in her eyes. "I can't believe that even after all this time my heart still hammers when I go anywhere near that bloody man!" She shook her head. I'm not sure I'm going to survive this, she thought, as she tried to hold off her tears. "Me, the ice cold frigid bitch!" Ella said.

Amelia winced even though she knew that many men used those terms to describe Ella. Ella massaged her temples, as the headache began to make its presence known. A stress headache settled in. Seeing a man that you love and see him kissing someone, not once, but twice, was not good for your mental health, her heart reminded her mind as her headache flourished in her head as the memories raced around her head.

"I shouldn't have mentioned you to him when he was talking about looking for an interior designer for his house." Amelia mumbled with a sigh. "I am really sorry, Ella, I should have kept my opinions to myself about your work and..."

"It's fine, Ames." Ella interrupted, and just ran the tips of her fingers beneath her eyes, removing traces of her tears "You were drumming up work for me." Ella attempted a smile, but that headache prevented the appearance of that smile in her eyes. "I appreciated that. Honestly, Ames. I really appreciated your PR."

Amelia bit her lower lip, "Pull out." Amelia told her bluntly, seeing the distress in Ella's pinched features.

"I can't." Ella sighed with a huff, then she delved for a tissue and blew her nose. With a sigh of pure exasperation she added, "I need to do this." For my own sake, she reminded herself. "In any case, he told me, apparently, that I am the only interior decorator within travelling distance of this town. Actually, if I remember correctly, he said within a fifty mile radius! Can you believe that, he stretched his radius, just to avoid me!" Then with a smile of thanks she took the glass Amelia gave her, and before taking a sip, she added, as if it was just a passing remark, "Loretta Ascot was there."

"The solicitor?" Amelia asked with a frown, and Ella nodded. The corners of Amelia's lips turned down. "Ohh."

Silence. Ella sipped and looked away. Why didn't they tell you at school how to handle unwanted memories? With rote learning you learn to retrieve those memories, automatically. But what if you don't want to retrieve memories generated by real experience. Ella sipped again.

Amelia watched emotions flitting through Ella's eyes.

Ella looked over at Amelia, blew out a long breath and finally said out loud "I had just finished taking notes for one wing of his home and I had to go past the kitchen to get to the other wing, and I walked in on them kissing." Seeing David kiss someone else was like having open-heart surgery with a raw rusty knife and without anaesthetic. Ella knew that the pain would never lessen, no matter how many times she thought about it, said it, or acknowledged it.

"Oh no!" Amelia grimaced, as she understood why Ella looked upset.

Ella heard the sympathy in her friend's voice. She dabbed at the tears that escaped her eyelashes, again. She sniffed, "He did it on purpose."

"The bastard!" Amelia snapped. She was going to talk to David about his behaviour. Actually she was going to tell Jack, and would expect him to have a word with his brother! "Honestly, I would expect better of David. I mean, I know he has girlfriends but he doesn't do PDA. And he would never just do that, knowing that you were there. He doesn't do PDA!"