Heartbeats in Moonlight

Chapter 63

A week after Amelia and Jack returned from their honeymoon, Ella returned to town to finish up her packing. But she hoped her return would not be a big mistake. She could have a company to pack up her stuff. But she had promised Amelia that she would come back. So she came back. She also knew she would have to meet David, at some point. She was excited and worried. She knew she couldn't avoid David because he and Jack were close, and Jack getting married would not change that, so she would spend time with David.

She would be in town for two weeks. And she had robust tactics: She practiced trite responses for all eventualities! Well, at least the eventualities she could think about. If it were just the two of them, just her and David, she would say little. That was the best option. That way, he would be bored and he could walk away! If they were in a group, she could furtively move to the periphery of the group, extricate her from that group and latched on to another group, or even better, leave. And with a bit of luck, he would miss that. If he insisted on a conversation she would use responses that did not warrant any replies from him! Short, closed, responses to any standard questions and no doubt he would become fed-up and he would move on.

The trouble was that when she'd thought about her visit back to the town, it didn't include a strategy to address a safety issue for Nic! Or the timescale and the effect it would have on her visit. Two weeks was enough to pack up, but it looked like some of her time would be away!

She knew that Amelia and Jack were still in their honeymoon phase and that everything was going well with David's home's renovations because she had found reputable workers. She was pretty sure that David was happy with the work. So there was no need to meet him to talk about the renovations. She would email her invoice to David at some point, and will leave David to settle his account by paying via electronic banking. Simple.

But that simply wasn't possible! Typical. Her plans were scrambled by fate.

Ella was dragooned into a plan, devised by a really worried Ben, where he wanted Ella to pretend to be Nic because of an unexpected predicament. In Ben's plan David, Jack, Amelia and Ella, with Ella pretending to be Nic would take them all to the South Island. Ben hoped that his plan would work. But it was rife with danger, given a stalker was looking for Nic.

David and Ella had their own reasons for their agreements to Ben's plan. Ella agreed because she felt she owed it to Ames and Nic because Nic was good to Amelia on that cycle camp trip. But there was a fly in Nic's ointment for this predicament: David! Nevertheless, when Ella heard that Nic was in trouble, in real danger, Ella felt she could not ignored Ben's plea for help, or Nic's situation.

And David thought the interisland ferry would give him several hours to have a heart-to-heart chat with Ella. If he went to her house to talk to her, she would leave him at the doorway! If he cornered her at a public place to talk, the whole town would know about it. And rumours would start. Ben's plan gave David perfect cover for his tête-à-tête with Ella. Even better, on a ferry, Ella couldn't leave! That appeared to be her default reaction to difficult circumstances. But the bonus, is that they would be away from the nosy audience in his town. So he agreed to Ben's plan. The only problem is that if he pushed her too far now, she would not return at all after this trip. The first time he challenged her caginess, she used the excuse of her sister's pregnancy to avoid him! The second time he challenged her reserved manner, she decided to move and left the town without any warning! This would be the third time, where he would challenge her reticence to talk about their issue. He just prayed she would not leave him. It was hard for a man, who was used to having his orders followed. His plans were always simple, because everyone involved always followed his instructions. But this plan, with Ella, was different. She has never followed his instructions. If any thing, she did the opposite. His plans, like engaging her to do his renovations, like pushing her to consider her role as a maid of honour, resulted in more problems. So now, he really needed a plan that has no fall-out. Generating more problems to sort out given he hasn't sort out the current problems, would leave him in a quandary.

Fortunately for David, Ben's plan left no time for Ella to reconsider.

The plan was imminent and the timeline left Ella with no time to review her strategies. She was not prepared for spending extensive time with David. Typical. Her own strategies were scraped before she could even start! But now, she had no time to brace for her meeting with David. The time, between telling her about her part in Ben's plan and meeting her co-conspirator, was scuppered. And she knew within seconds, that their meeting would not just be about a few minutes, it would be hours. Actually, it would last a few days.

Her mind was reeling from the fact that she was going to spend lots of time with David. Just the two of them, and her pulse started to race. How was she going to forget him, her mind warned her heart? Her decision to move away, from this town, was to help her to forget him. Her heart and head agreed to work together. Well, not exactly. His image was etched in her heart and her brain thought the best way to erase him from her heart would be to move away. The problem was that her brain didn't recognised that her feelings were entrenched and carved into every facet of her makeup. Her feelings were based on a ten-year-ago-interaction, but that interaction impacted on her heart and it was dominant.

She knew David had moved on, given her brain consistently reminded her, by simply flashing images of him kissing his girlfriends. But even those flash-images had not defeated her feelings for him. She knew, physically she has prepared to move, but emotionally, she hadn't moved at all.

How she felt and what she wanted didn't tally. In her mind she wanted to forget him, given he didn't like her, but her heart wouldn't let it go. Love is not logical. How could she love him? Based on what? Those questions didn't stop her feelings. And those questions made a fool of love. Sanity of love was an illusion. Just a mirage. It didn't make any sense, given she barely knew him. But, for some reason, she really knew him. She knew she loved him. Some day, someone would explain love to her. Just a shame that their interactions were tarnished by an old rendezvous and just a shame that she didn't know what to do, apart from running away.

Feeling far from happy with her slide into gloomy thoughts, silently she decided her best option was to pretend for two days. She could ignore him in private but in public, pretending to be Nic, she could be nice to David! How exactly, her mind challenged and her pulse raced. She blew out a breath. She was sure that David would have reached the same conclusion. He would avoid her. He would be nice in public and when they are alone he would ignore her. That should work, she thought. Assuming they have the same plan, have reached the same conclusions and don't have different agendas.

In any case, it could be a lovely trip. She had never taken the island ferry before. Perfect, this trip could be great. A simple weekend holiday, she convinced her brain. Her heart sighed as she registered Ella's ignorance.