Bridge Over the Atlantic

by Lisa J. Hobman

  His eyes became glassy again and his voice strained, “Mallory, I don’t love her. I still love you. It’s always been you; since we first met.” He took her hand in his again. “I know you feel something for me. I know you do. Why deny it?”

  She tried hard to be annoyed, but it was so hard when he looked at her that way. “Greg, stop. I’m not going there again. It doesn’t matter how I feel.”

  “Just let me kiss you. It’ll all melt away; all your doubt.” He leaned toward her and slipped his hand into her hair.

  A betraying tear escaped her eye. “I can’t,” she whispered. She removed her hand from his grasp, pulled herself away and climbed out of the car, closing the door behind her.

  The following day she had a second viewing on the cottage from one of the couples who had seen it. Having them in the house made her feel uneasy. Her mind raced with a million different conflicting thoughts. Could she let go? Was it right to leave? The young couple walked around making very positive noises. They were first time buyers. Mallory knew that if they offered, there would be another massive, continental shift in her life. Was she ready? She wasn’t sure.

  ~~~~~

  Greg was friendly at the pub and as time went on, but he seemed to become more resigned to how things were between them. Mallory’s heart broke a little each time she saw him, but felt that at least things would be more straightforward. Greg’s song choices became more generic and Mallory simply stopped looking for the hidden meanings and messages that he used to send in the hope that her heart would change. He even stopped making eye contact with her when he sang. A line had been drawn in the sand. It was over…for good.

  Greg had started to play at a variety of other venues following being signed up to the entertainment agency ‘Class Act Talent’. His bar work at the pub became less and less.

  Mallory missed him. When she did see him he regaled her with tales of the other venues. It sounded like he was having fun. Mallory chatted with enthusiasm and suggested songs for his set list. He was attracting a lot of attention from the opposite sex too. Women were slipping him their numbers on a regular basis. But why wouldn’t they? He was, after all gorgeous.

  “Aye, they loved me over by Fort William. I got handed three phone numbers! Can you believe these women? It’s like I’m some celebrity. I still can’t believe it.” He laughed, shaking his head as they washed glasses at the end of one shift.

  “Well, you must be doing something right.” Mallory tried to sound happy despite the ache in her chest.

  “I just feel like a piece of meat.” He joked dramatically. “They only want me for my body. Never mind my talent.” He played the camp act well, making Mallory giggle.

  “You should be so lucky.” She flicked him with a towel.

  “You’ll have to come along with me to one of the other places sometime.”

  She forced a laugh. “What? To watch women fawn all over you? No thanks.”

  Greg shrugged. “Your loss,” he simply stated and walked out the back.

  ~~~~~

  One night late in October came the inevitable and dreaded news that he had met a woman he liked very much. Mallory’s heart broke a little more. The woman was called Kate and she was a curvy brunette—which made it worse. She was the daughter of one of the venue owners and was training to be a nurse. He hadn’t taken her out yet, but was considering asking. Mallory listened to his excitement as he told her all about Kate and her heart sank. She kept reminding herself that she and Greg could have no future. The fact remained that he was married. If Kate was okay with that then more fool her. Or perhaps he was stringing her along too?

  “She’s really nice. I really like her. I just don’t know whether I should take the plunge, you know?” he spoke, but not really to Mallory.

  “Well, maybe you should just go for it,” she offered without enthusiasm or emotion.

  Scratching his beard he thought for a moment. “Aye, maybe I will…”

  ~~~~~

  From that night, Mallory visited Yorkshire at every given opportunity. Josie and Brad were starting to see more of her than Greg did. She tried her best to be convivial, but Brad and Josie knew she was just going through the motions.

  She covered in the shop a few times and enjoyed being back on the frontline again. She caught the train in just because she could. It was like old times and it felt comfortable.

  On one of her journeys back to Josie and Brad’s she got chatting to an elderly lady, quite out of the blue. The lady had enquired as to her marital status, as old folks tend to and when the train had broken down due to an engine fault, she had found herself telling this complete stranger all about Sam and Greg. It felt good to talk to someone who just listened without preconceived ideas and without prejudice. The lady, who introduced herself as Edith, spoke candidly, reminding her of her Aunt Sylvia.

  “You know, my dear, in the war things were tough. I was very young, but I loved my husband to be so dearly. He was called Geoffrey. He was such a handsome fellow. He was a bit older than me. I couldn’t wait to be his wife. But then he was called up to serve his country and my heart broke. He was killed in action the first week out. I couldn’t believe it. I never thought I would ever love anyone again. But it just goes to show that love doesn’t follow strict timings.”

  “What goes to show, Edith? What happened?” Mallory asked enthusiastically.

  “Well, there were all these ‘yanks’ as we called them. Stanley was one of the ‘over- paid and over here’ lot.” Edith chuckled at her memory. “He was handsome, sure enough. But I was grieving for my Geoffrey. The trouble was, Stanley fell head over heels for me and was determined to make me do the same.”

  “What did he do?” Mallory was intrigued by the romance of the story.

  “Oh…he gave me extra rations for my family…he brought me silk stockings and chocolate when they were virtually impossible to get hold of…he picked flowers for me.” She smiled fondly. “He was a true gentleman and slowly but surely I realised that life is too short to look backward. I was never going to get Geoffrey back, but I had a chance at happiness again.” She looked directly at Mallory “If you love someone enough, it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks, dear. It doesn’t matter what is in his past. If he truly loves you and no one else and you know that deep in your heart…well, I wouldn’t be sitting on a broken down train chatting to some daft old biddy.” She squeezed Mallory’s hand and Mallory immediately realised that the story had come back to her and Greg.

  Mallory’s eyes stung. “But…his wife…he lied.”

  The old lady took a deep breath. “Now dear, I think seeing as I don’t know you, I can be brutally honest. The wife he has is what you youngsters these days call ‘emotional baggage’. He doesn’t love her. It sounds to me like he doesn’t even think about her long enough for her to become a concern for him and that’s why she never came up in conversation. What you need to decide is whether you are prepared to accept that?”

  The train jolted into life again and Mallory sat back, open mouthed at the clarity that Edith had brought to her situation. The train pulled into the next station and Edith rose to alight the carriage.

  “Edith!” Mallory was shaken from her thoughts. “What happened…to you and Stanley I mean? Did you get your happy ever after?” Mallory was desperate to know.

  Edith smiled warmly. “Dear, we were married for fifty four years, blissfully happy until I lost him to the dreaded cancer.” She shook her head. “I never regretted a single moment of ‘rushing into it’ with him, dear. He was wonderful. Now see that you don’t miss that chance at happiness. Take care.” And with that, Edith was gone like a fairy godmother.

  ~~~~~

  “I’m going to get a tattoo.” Mallory announced the next morning over bacon sandwiches.

  Josie nearly choked and Brad burst out laughing, spraying soggy bread and tea everywhere.

  “You’re what?” Josie spluttered trying not to join Brad in fits of hysterical laughter.

&n
bsp; “Yes…I’m going to have it done on the small of my back.”

  “What are you going to have done? Donald Duck?” Josie mocked, making Mallory even more determined.

  Brad slapped his thigh. “Or…or a big arrow pointing downwards that says ‘kick here’” He howled with laughter and rolled backward on the sofa.

  Mallory bristled at his reaction. “I have a design that I’ve picked and I have an appointment at noon. My mind is made up.”

  Brad’s brow furrowed. “Why?” He asked. And he followed the question up quickly with “You do know they hurt like hell don’t you?”

  Josie’s laughter stopped. “You’re serious aren’t you? What on earth has possessed you to make such a decision, Mally? It’s permanent you know…once it’s done it’s there for life.”

  Mallory didn’t speak. She simply carried on chewing her sandwich.

  “I’m not sure this is the best idea you’ve had, Mally.” Josie sighed. “Do you want me to come with you?”

  A grin spread across Mallory’s face.

  Mallory arrived at the tattoo parlour and was greeted by a large inked up man with lip and eyebrow piercings and a shaved head. He looked like someone she would normally shy away from, but it turned out that looks were most definitely deceiving as he was a really nice and quite well spoken man. He put her at ease immediately and introduced himself simply as ‘Stubbs’. She showed him the design and he said it would take about an hour and a half to complete.

  “Are you having it done for a special occasion?” Stubbs asked as Mallory lay on her stomach with her trousers low around her bottom.

  “I need to remind myself of a few things and I think this will do the trick.” She informed him.

  “Well it certainly will for the next few days.” He chuckled. The buzzing began and Mallory gritted her teeth.

  ~~~~~

  She arrived back in Scotland just in time for the Halloween bash at the pub. Stella had texted and asked her to come in and help decorate the place with accessories for the party and she had cordially agreed to do so. She was so excited. She had done a lot of thinking about things whilst she was away, thanks to Edith and of course there was her tattoo. She was looking forward to seeing Greg.

  Before going to the pub she had something important to do. She had phoned and made an appointment the day before to see a little shop in Easdale just up the road from home. Easdale, with its whitewashed one story buildings, had a nice community feel with restaurants and little shops where Le Petit Cadeau would fit in very well.

  She had visited it with Sam when they were on holiday and they had chatted about how nice it would be to, one day, rent one of the little shops there. The place she viewed had been perfect. The amount of space had been just right and the owner had welcomed her interest. He had given her some figures to look through and she was going to peruse them to see if it could work out running the two shops concurrently. It was an exciting prospect. She couldn’t wait to tell Greg. After the viewing and a look around the other shops in the small retail area she had set off for the pub with butterflies doing the Highland fling in her stomach.

  When she arrived at the pub he was there. She grinned like a Cheshire cat when she saw him and had to restrain herself from running into his arms. She was about to shout a greeting to him where he stood behind the bar pinning up streamers. But before she had a chance to speak and much to her dismay, a pretty dark haired woman, presumably Kate, walked in from the back and slid her arms around him. Mallory’s heart sank. Oh. Ship = sailed. Her subconscious mocked her. Her tattoo rubbed against her jeans.

  Later on Greg made introductions and Kate seemed very nice, but a little cagey around her. Mallory had no clue why. She tried hard to be cordial, but found it tricky considering that Kate kept on making romantic gestures toward Greg in Mallory’s direct eye line. She was like a cat marking her territory. Cringe-worthy, Mallory thought. Greg looked uncomfortable.

  Between them they blew up enough balloons to almost make the pub take flight. The streamers were strings of orange pumpkins and black bats cut out of shiny plastic. They placed carved pumpkins complete with tea lights all around the place. It looked fantastic. Mallory was looking forward to the party. The staff was dressing up in costume for the occasion and Greg, aka Dracula, was performing a secret list of songs for the occasion.

  Chapter Twelve

  On the Sunday night of October thirtieth, Mallory pulled on black tight jeans over a fitted black all in one T-shirt body. She tied her wavy brown locks in a high pony tail and donned contact lenses and an eye mask. She drew on fake whiskers with eye pencil and attached a tail to her jeans that she had made out of a fluffy black scarf. She looked in the mirror. It’ll do, she thought.

  She’d had to buy new jeans whilst she was in Yorkshire as it appeared her curves were returning. She could’ve felt down about that, but she reminded herself of Josie’s words ‘Men LOVE curves!’ So she felt comfortable in her changing shape and happy in the knowledge that when the next Mr. Right came along, he would love her for her just as Sam had.

  She wrapped a warm coat around her and headed for the spooky pub. Greg was there in his Dracula costume. She hated to admit it, but he made rather a sexy vampire. Kate came through from the back carrying a tray of sandwiches to pass around. She was dressed as Morticia from the Addams family. Mallory smiled and said hello. Greg swung around when he heard her voice and Mallory saw him do a double take. His eyes widened as he scanned her body. Mallory couldn’t help smiling to herself.

  Greg took to the stage at eight and the atmosphere was electric. Many of the customers had dressed up in costume. Colin had a fake axe attached to his head so that it looked like it was embedded in his skull. Mallory thought it was hilarious. Ron had even joined in, dressing in a suit and a very tall hat. When asked what he was dressed as, he indignantly informed people that he was an undertaker and couldn’t seem to understand why this wasn’t blatantly obvious.

  Stella had painted her face white, back combed her hair and made herself up as a zombie; Christine was a mad scientist in a white lab coat covered in fake blood. Frankenstein was there, along with a giant pumpkin, a werewolf and several vampires, amongst many other ghoulish guests. Everyone was having a brilliant time.

  Greg kicked off with ‘The Monster Mash’ and managed to somehow to follow that with an acoustic rendition of ‘Thriller’. The tone changed slightly, however, when he announced his next song.

  “Now I know this isn’t a high school disco, but I have to say that all these decorations are taking me back. I think, in true high school disco fashion, maybes we’ll have a smoochy number. So if you’re here with a loved one, grab them and give ‘em a cuddle. This one is dedicated to all those who are lucky enough to be in love.” He smiled and briefly looked at Mallory for the first time in a long time whilst he was performing. As he looked away he announced, “This one is by The Calling and it’s a lovely song called ‘Wherever You Will Go’.”

  People in the pub paired off and smooched in the small space. Greg’s rich voice sounded gravelly and filled with emotion as he sang the beautiful lyrics. He hadn’t done this in quite a while. She wondered if she was being conceited. Maybe the song was for Kate. She looked over to where Kate was sitting only to find her gone. She looked over to Greg who was now singing with his eyes closed, oblivious to the absence of his girlfriend. Mallory felt unable to move as the tears pooled in her eyes and she listened to Greg, hoping that the message in the song was meant for her.

  As the song was finishing, Mallory’s thoughts transferred to Kate. She had been there at the end of the previous song so where was she? Wiping her eyes, Mallory decided to go outside and check. She clambered through the freakish, smooching couples and made it out into the chilled October evening. Kate was sitting, shivering on one of the seats outside. She was crying. Her make-up was now streaked down her face. Mallory immediately felt sorry for her.

  Making her approach Mallory asked the sobbing woman, “Kate? Is ever
ything okay?”

  “No. Everything is most certainly not okay. I’m an idiot!” she blurted out.

  Mallory twisted her hands together. “Mind if I ask what’s wrong?”

  “You really need to ask that?” Kate scoffed.

  Feeling affronted by the unspoken accusation she asked, “Have I done something, Kate?”

  “He won’t let go of you will he? He still thinks there’s a chance. I was willing to get passed the marriage thing until it’s dealt with but, oh no, Mallory can’t be replaced.”

  “Kate…I’m sorry but Greg and I are not…together. We’re friends but that’s all. He is with you now and I won’t stand in your way.” She swallowed the lump that had appeared in her throat as she spoke the painful words.

  “Well don’t waste your time helping me. He lives in hope that someday you will forgive him. He told me tonight that he can’t see me anymore. That it’s unfair whilst he still loves you.”

  Mallory’s heart skipped a beat. “Oh, Kate, I’m so sorry. Really I am. I did have feelings for him. But…Look you should come inside and I will call a taxi for you…if you like.” She offered.

  “Thanks. I’d appreciate that…but I’ll wait here.” Her resolve appeared to be set firm.

  Mallory went inside and called a taxi for the broken hearted woman. She waited near the door to make sure that Kate was alright. The taxi turned up ten minutes later.

  Before making her getaway Kate looked over to Mallory. “You know, I don’t know you so I can’t pass comment on you as a person, but I think I know Greg well enough now. He’s such a wonderful, caring man and he clearly adores you. You’d be silly to let him go over a piece of paper that means absolutely nothing to him. If I were you I’d be getting back in there and telling him how I felt. And if you say you feel nothing then you’re kidding yourself girl.” She climbed in the taxi and it pulled away.