Lost Love: Part two
It took Mandy a while to get over Shaun, but eventually, she put the pieces of her life back together and met James.
James was a lovely young man. He was tall, dark, and handsome—similar to Shaun, but not quite as tall. James was a teacher in the local school, and Mandy was a nurse. They were both relatively new to their chosen careers, having qualified only recently.
Mandy and her friends Lauren, Jane, and Marie thought they’d have a night out at the town club where she met James. She and Lauren were on the dance floor dancing, and Jane and Marie had gone to the bar. James and his mate Todd went over and cheekily cut in on their dance. James grabbed Mandy and put his arms around her. Mandy demanded that he go away, but James didn’t take no for an answer. Todd asked Lauren if she wanted a drink, and Lauren accepted, leaving Mandy with James. They talked after the song finished, and they got on well. Mandy liked him and his cheek, and at the end of the evening, James told Mandy he would call her…
“And how do you suppose you’re going to that?” Mandy asked
“You are going to give me your number!” James grinned.
“Oh, I am, am I?” she smiled back.
“Yes!”
Mandy did give James her number, and yes, James called her, and they went out for a drink. That drink made them see each other more and become quite the item. Todd and Lauren also got together, often forming a foursome when they went out.
Lauren and Todd were the first to get engaged. Then Lauren found out she was pregnant, so they brought the wedding forward. They were married a few months later as they wanted to get married before the baby was born.
They had a beautiful wedding, and it was then that James decided to propose to Mandy. He got down on one knee on the hotel’s veranda where the wedding was being held. Mandy accepted… She was overjoyed, so she flung her arms around him and kissed him. They didn’t tell anyone until after the wedding, waiting until Lauren and Todd returned from their honeymoon. They didn’t want to take the limelight away from Lauren and Todd…
Months after Lauren gave birth to a beautiful little girl, they named her Abigail. She was lovely and weighed 7 pounds and 4 ounces when she was born. By then, Mandy and James’s wedding preparations were in full swing. It wasn’t long before the wedding, and they seemed to be running around like headless chickens in the run-up to it.
Mandy and James had a wonderful wedding day. James had sorted out the honeymoon, and Mandy didn’t know where they were going; James had kept it a secret.
They flew to Greece, and when they got there, James carried her into their room and placed her on the bed. His lips moved lightly over hers, making her want to respond. She slipped her hand around his shoulders, allowing him to pull her closer to him as he caressed her long, dark hair.
“I love you, Mandy.”
“I love you too”
As she pulled his t-shirt over his head, she moved her hands slowly down his chest, making him want her. He liked her so much. He proceeded to take off her t-shirt. He looked at her, wide-eyed and full of promise. He bent his head down, the warmth of his breath on her neck. He kissed her gently, moving their lips over each other. Undressing each other, they made love tenderly. Eventually, they fell asleep wrapped around each other.
The following day, they went down to the beach to bathe. Mandy wanted to go back home with a beautiful tan. Later, they went for a stroll hand in hand along the shore. It was so hot except for a warm breeze wafting around them, blowing Mandy’s hair around her face. James thought it made her look very sexy.
They had a lovely honeymoon. It was very romantic, and James had made everything perfect.
Nine months later, they had a beautiful bouncing baby boy whom they named Ethan. Life felt complete. Mandy was happier than she ever thought possible. She loved being a mother, and James was a doting father. They settled into a comfortable routine of nappies, sleepless nights, and endless smiles.
Then, 15 years later
She saw him on a misty autumn morning while browsing in a local store. Shaun was standing near the frozen section, his back to her. He looked thinner, his shoulders slumped.
Mandy’s breath caught in her throat. Her heart hammered against her ribs. She wanted to run, hide, and disappear into the stacks of frozen. Foods, but a strange, almost detached curiosity held her rooted to the spot.
Too late, he had spotted her “Mandy ?”
His eyes, which she knew so well, were shadowed with a pain that mirrored her own.
“Mandy,” he said, his voice barely a whisper.
They just stared at each other for a moment, the silence thick with unspoken words and unhealed wounds.
“Why?” she finally managed to ask, the word raw and trembling. “Why did you leave?”
He looked away, his gaze fixed on the floor. “I… I didn’t, unable to finish the sentence.
Mandy frowned, confused.
He finally looked back at her, his eyes filled with desperate sadness.
Suddenly, the confusion that had haunted her for the past two years began dissipating, replaced by a strange mix of pity and anger. Pity for Shaun; at least he wasn’t ill, she thought.
“You should have told me what the problem was,” she said, her voice barely audible. “We could have figured it out. We could have faced it together.”
He shook his head, tears welling in his eyes. “I know. I know that now. But I was spooked, Mandy. And I thought… I thought it would be easier for you if I just disappeared.”
He was wrong. So devastatingly wrong.
Mandy stared at him, her heart aching with a familiar and new pain. The anger, confusion, and heartbreak were still there, but now they were tinged with something else: a profound sadness.
She knew, at that moment, that their story was truly over. Not because they didn’t love each other but because the weight of his choices that now shadowed them would forever hang between them.
Suddenly, a woman came towards Shaun; it was his wife. Shaun introduced Anna to Mandy. Anna said hello and told Shaun she was going to the clothes section.
“Goodbye, Shaun; it was good to see you,” she said softly, turning and walking away, leaving him alone in the frozen section.
It had been years of deliberate avoidance, of resetting her life, of trying to forget the ghost of what they’d been.
“Meet me tomorrow at the Flying Eagle?” he asked, his gaze unwavering. The Flying Eagle. Their spot. The place where they’d shared countless sunsets and whispered secrets into the twilight. The place that now felt like a cruel, mocking monument to a broken promise.
“Why?” Mandy’s voice was guarded.
“We need to talk.”
“There’s nothing to talk about,” she countered, tightening her grip on the grocery trolley. Every word felt like a betrayal of the careful walls she’d built.
“There is a lot to talk about,” Shaun insisted, his voice softer now, almost imploring. The wind picked up, mirroring the turbulence in her chest.
Mandy wanted to refuse, walk away, and pretend she hadn’t heard him. Every instinct screamed at her to protect herself, to stay away from the volatile mix of longing and heartache that Shaun represented. Deep down, he was a fire she’d barely managed to extinguish, and she knew that even a flicker could reignite the inferno.
She knew she shouldn’t even consider this. She knew she should tell him to leave her alone, that she was moving on, that he was in the past. She knew all the logical, self-preserving things to say. But logic seemed to have abandoned her.
Thank You for Reading
Deborah C. Langley
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