Page 110 of Summer in Greece

‘How are you?’ he asked softly.

She nodded. ‘You know how it is, a bit emotional. DJ has just finished his first year at university. I so wish . . .’

He put a finger on her lips. ‘I know. Shall we have some coffee first? Do you want to sit and talk for a while?’

She shook her head. ‘I’d rather go straight to the room, if you don’t mind, Simon.’

‘I understand. We’ll talk after.’ He took her into his arms again and held her tenderly, rocking gently from side to side. ‘I wish things could have been different, Shelly. I know it’s only once every two months, but it’s hard enough for me to handle our meetings. God knows how you’ve managed to accept the situation for so long.’

‘It’s love. Such a wonderful thing, but it also beats us up terribly.’

Simon opened the heavy oak door and Shelly went through, as she had every first Sunday of every other month for the past twenty years. ‘I’ll wait out here,’ Simon said.

Shelly didn’t hear him, her eyes were fixed on the overweight, middle-aged man at the toy table, his face, soft, rounded, and line free. A face that had seldom laughed or cried and had not known the frown of worry for twenty years. Shelly pulled a chair up and sat next to him.

‘Hello, David.’

He cocked his head sideways, but didn’t turn to look at her. He was trying to push a yellow brick into a triangular hole in the lid of a bucket. The brick was square.

‘It’s Shelly, David. I’ve come to tell you about our darling son. We had a baby boy, nineteen years ago. I told you, but you may have forgotten. His name’s David John, like you. He comes from a long line of Davids, you know; though everyone calls him DJ.’

She bit her lip hard, her heart breaking, smashing into tiny pieces, yet she forced a smile. Longing to take his hand, touch his cheek, kiss his ear – yet she knew better. She picked up a triangular brick and placed it in front of him. He stared at it for a moment, then picked it up. After a few attempts, the brick clattered into the bucket, yet he remained emotionless.

‘I’ve been on holiday, David. I went diving, to one of the most magical wrecks in the world. I always go diving, just for you, so I can tell you about it. This dive reminded me of our holiday together, when I was sixteen. I wonder if you remember any of that, at all. If you do . . . any little thing, me . . . your friend, Simon, who is outside right now, how happy we were?’ Once again, she bit on her lip to clamp a threatening sob, then smudged a rogue tear away.

‘Dear David, Simon came with us on that holiday. You got the tickets really cheap off Teletext, for you, Roger and Simon, but Roger came down with mumps, remember? Please try and remember. Poor Roger! I ended up going in his place. Oh my, as I said, I was only sixteen so it was a real adventure. I’d been so sad, so full of guilt because my mum had been killed going for my Christmas present on Christmas Eve.

‘I was in love with you, desperately, head-over-heels in love, and you pulled my leg about it all the time. But in truth, I knew you were in love with me too.’

She watched his hands for a moment. ‘Do you remember, you got that busker with the guitar at the airport to sing, “She was Only Sixteen”, and you twirled me under your arm. “She was Only Sixteen” became our song.’ She sang the first lines, staring at his face. ‘It’s still our song, my darling David. It always will be.’ She swallowed hard. ‘I wish you could hold me for a moment, just once. One hug. One.’

David picked up a cylindrical brick and tried to push it through the triangular hole.

‘When we landed on the island of Paros, we got a bus from the airport to the town centre. Do you remember the promenade, that gorgeous little white church with the brilliant blue dome? And the big windmill with a thatched roof, David? Oh, those huge sails of white canvas, just next to the ferry port. Someone had painted PAROS CORNER in big blue letters on the wall behind the windmill. We lugged our cases onto another bus which took us to a beautiful little village on the edge of the sea . . . what was it called now?’ She stared at him, her mind begging for him to say the word, or even glance up and acknowledge her. ‘Naoussa, yes, I remember. How amazingly beautiful it was. All the pavements painted like crazy paving. Narrow alleys. Such a magnificent white church that towered above the village.’ She recalled the scenes they’d enjoyed so much. ‘We slept together, all night in the same bed, for the first time . . . for the last time. I remember snuggling up to you and thinking it was the happiest moment of my life, and it was.’

A nurse came in and asked if she would like a cup of tea. Shelly shook her head and returned her attention to David as she left.

‘You made me get up to see the sunrise, David, you were crazy to photograph it. At first everywhere was a little dull and grey, and the air was so still, as if the world was holding its breath. Everything changed when that huge sun came over the horizon. What a drama, magnificent, the world turned golden, the water, the sky, Oh, my goodness, the sun moved so quickly. I wanted it to stop, wait for me to catch up. Does that sound silly? I’ve never forgotten that morning, my first sunrise, David.’

She swiped her tears away, sniffed, and forced a smile. ‘Please, just look at me if you remember it. Just glance my way if you know who I am.’

He stared at the brick in his hand, turning it over and over and rocking back and forth slightly.

Exasperated, she said quietly, ‘Then we stood on our heads and ate giant slugs.’

A reaction, something, please, oh, David, please. One small thing, just a glance, and then I’ll come back!

Nothing, not so much as a pause or frown. She might as well not be there. The time had come.

‘David, I have something important to tell you. I saved somebody’s life, recently, and it seems to have changed me. Like the event restored a kind of balance to my own life, and now I can move on and stop living in the past. I’m sorry to tell you, David, I’m not coming back. I realise you won’t miss me, and that you don’t even know who I am, but I felt I had to come and tell you myself.’ Even now, she longed for the smallest response, anything, please, even anger. There was nothing, and that nothing weighed so heavily on her, she gave up trying to hold back the tears that now ran freely down her cheeks. ‘You’ll always be in my heart, darling David,’ she sobbed. ‘You see, true love never dies. I’ll continue to cover your extra costs here, but I do need to move on. I have learned the hardest thing is to let go, but I must.’

He took the block from her hand and tried to push it through the round hole.

‘Our son, and I suspect in not too many years, our grandson, will also need me. And as for myself, I think I’ve found love again, after all these long, lonely years.’

Shelly turned and stared out of the window, seeing nothing but a blur of green through the tears that were still falling. After dragging one of Gordon’s big white hankies from her handbag, she dried her eyes and blew her nose.

‘Sorry about that. I really want to give you a hug, hold you close to me and kiss you – and the pain of not being able to – not once for twenty years, is more than I can take, David. Do you understand?’ She sighed, frustrated. ‘No, of course you don’t, and perhaps it’s just as well. So goodbye, my darling; be as happy as you can be.’ She stood and watched him for a moment, his attention never wavering from the coloured bricks and the bucket.