Heartbeats in Moonlight

Chapter 39

This silence was different to the previous silence. The seconds were loud in her brain, like canon shots. Remember this is a business meeting. But her heart was telling her it was different.

David looked over his shoulder, and met her gaze, "Do you ever wonder what would have happened between us ten years ago?" It was something that kept resurfacing in his head. Ten years between the time they met and now, with 2 years where they could have sorted this issue.

Her immediately response was, "Sorry?" She pretended not to hear David's question.

"I asked, do you ever wonder what would have happened between us? You know, ten years ago?" Preparing for this meeting, he had spent a lot of time, just rehashing their meetings, in particular, the rugby camp meeting. He couldn't understand why that particular event still had so much control of his behaviour. One moment, had so much influence on his actions: the way he handled her appearance at his town, the way he spoke to her, the way he talked about her to his friends, despite the fact that he knew he had stockpiled his feelings about her.  If it wasn't for his brother's relationship with her friend, he would have kept his head buried in sand. He had never considered himself to be a coward, but he knew the cache in his heart and head was ignored, because he opted for the easy route for the last two years.

"No." Of course, her heart and head corrected. She'd spun dreams around what could have happened. Especially over the last two years.

"What, never?" David scowled. That can't be true. Surely she had reviewed their history.

Ella all but gulped, this was not expected. His question suggested that he had wondered about their relationship, but his actions, his behaviour over the last two years in particular, contradicted his recent statement. "Nothing was ever going to happen between us." Her tone changed. Back to an icicle. She could not allow this conversation to go off on a tangent. 

Having shared that meal, talked with him, without returning to that elephant in the room, but now, she felt she had been lulled into chitchat about that elephant, again. Her defences were down. It was the fact that she had enjoyed his company, really enjoyed preparing and eating that meal. As if it was normal for them. She enjoyed his company. Loved their conversations. It was more than pleasant, it was amazing.  Like those days at the rugby camp. Time to resurrect her defence mechanism: time for ice.

He narrowed his eyes as he watched her eyes and watched her shutters close. What happened to that camaraderie during that meal?

"Then how come ten years on, you still kiss me like ...."

She glanced at him with her eyes wide open, despite the fact her shutters in her eyes kept her emotions hidden, as she interrupted, "You kissed me!" She interrupted then pulled herself up and added a touch defensively. "I was just taken aback." He took in her statement and he saw she meant it. But the question was, what took her by surprise, the fact they kissed or the fact that the kiss was incredible.

He told her as he turned around to face her, braced is arms planted his hands on the counter top, "No sweetheart, you were going forward."

Ella squirmed as she watched David's eyes. He was right. David carried on, his statements were blunt, "Signal loud and clear. I was there." And just in case she forgot, he reminded her. "For both kisses, the school car park and the hall." David's shook his head as the image replayed in his mind. He knew he had to keep his attention on her, here, not just on the memory of their kiss.

She moved briskly past him. "I'm sorry."

"What?"

"It was a mistake. This was a mistake." He saw the camaraderie of the last hour disappear like a morning mist on a sunny day. Without stopping to explain, she headed for the door, muttering, "If you don't want to talk about the plans, I'll say goodnight."