Page 68 of A Seaside Escape
Chapter Thirteen
Mallory spent the few days after Greg’s revelations decorating the house. The thoughts whizzing around her mind were so mixed up she found it hard to focus. She began to wonder why she had stayed in the first place. With Sam gone, and the mixed feelings around her relationship with Greg, it felt like she had outstayed her welcome. The house was thoroughly beautiful and it should have been a happy place.
She freshened up the paintwork and put a splash of colour in some rooms. It looked nice, homey and a lot different than when she and Sam had fallen in love with it.
This will make someone a wonderful home, her subconscious taunted her. A sadness washed over her that there was a possibility it wouldn’t be hers for much longer. After everything that had happened, she had instructed an estate agent to come and give her a valuation and discuss house selling packages. After briefly explaining her situation to the estate agent he had left her with a pile of documents to peruse. He said he understood and that the decision she made would be the right one.
Mallory called Josie to fill her in with what had happened with Greg.
‘Oh, Mally, babe. Are you sure coming back here is what you want though? Does it really matter that he has a piece of paper that connects him to another woman? If you think there’s a future with him you shouldn’t give up. What if you regret it?’
‘He lied by omission, Josie, but it’s still a lie. Whose side are you bloody on?’ Mallory snapped.
Josie sighed. ‘Yours obviously, that’s why I don’t want you to make any rash decisions. He clearly adoresyounot her.’
Josie just didn’t get it. He had kept something huge from her. It should have been the first thing he told her. He had opportunities before they were even drawn together. He didn’t take them. It was over.
She hadn’t seen much of Greg; only at shift changeover at the pub. She had swapped shifts in order to avoid awkward meetings with him. She couldn’t bare the hassle of seeing him. Their relationship had been tumultuous to say the least. But she had enough pain and anguish to last her a lifetime.
Greg had been taking Angus into the pub on his shifts. The furry canine always came over to say hello and she always greeted him with a big cuddle – funny how dogs didn’t show any loyalties when it came to break-ups.
After a great deal of soul-searching, Mallory had taken the decision to instruct the estate agent to market Sealladh-mara Cottage. She had been informed that the market was slow and there were more houses available for sale than there were interested buyers. Secretly she hoped that it would be on the market a long time. She wasn’t quite ready to let go, but felt like she had to take some form of action in a positive direction.
*
September 2015
August turned into September. The temperature had become noticeably cooler. Her relationship with Greg had become a series of ‘hello’s or nods out in the village. He had kept his distance and she had been glad of the fact.
She had awoken early one Saturday with no plans for the day apart from preparing for a couple who were coming to view the cottage. Everything was presented superbly. She had even followed the advice of the clichéd TV shows and made fresh coffee so that the tantalising aroma would permeate every room. Fresh seasonal flowers filled every available vase and all her personal photos had been replaced by those of Scottish scenery. She was selling the lifestyle after all.
When she realised she had no milk left she decided to wander over to see Colin and Christine. They had been heartbroken when the For Sale board had been knocked into the ground outside her house but she had promised she’d keep in touch.
She grabbed her fleece to ward off the autumn chill and walked up the lane in the direction of the shop. As she got to the main road she took a slight detour and ended up at the midpoint of the bridge.
‘Oh, Sam, how wrong it all went,’ she sighed. ‘If you had been here things would have been so different.’ She stood for a few minutes looking at the view they had both loved.
She heard voices coming from behind her and turned out of sheer curiosity. Her heart skipped a beat. Walking towards her was Greg. He was with a stunning blonde woman.How fickle he must be, she thought as jealousy and anger knotted her insides. The couple was chatting and the woman kept touching his arm. When he saw Mallory, he stopped in his tracks. The woman looked over in the direction of his gaze and her face dropped.
Slowly, he approached Mallory. ‘Hi, Mallory.’ He smiled. His voice was just above a whisper.
‘Greg.’ She forced a smile in response.
‘Mallory… erm… this is Alice, Alice this is Mallory.’
Oh, good grief it’s her! He’s introducing me to HER!her subconscious screamed.
After looking her up and down, Alice held out her hand, but didn’t crack a smile. ‘Hi Mallory, I’ve heard a lot about you.’
‘I’m sure you have,’ Mallory replied sardonically and shook her hand.
Greg jumped in as if afraid of where the conversation might lead. ‘We were just taking a walk, you know, clearing the cobwebs.’ His gaze shifted nervously between the two women. He was still terrible at small talk so at least some things never changed.
Mallory began to step away. ‘Lovely. Well, enjoy yourselves. I need to get going,’ she said tersely and walked past them in the direction of the shop. She realised the fact that he was being so cordial with Alice probably meant they had ironed out their issues and were giving their marriage another go.So much for all his protestations of love for me.Unwelcome tears welled in her eyes but she bit the inside of her lip to fend them off and didn’t look back.
Once she had picked up some milk from the shop she wandered back along the road towards her house. Much to her chagrin, Greg was sitting at one of the tables outside the pub. She couldn’t avoid passing him and although she wanted to run her legs chose that moment to forget how to work.
Come on Mallory, you can do this, just smile and walk by, don’t let him upset you, not again.
