ALMOST A BRIDE (Open On Annie)

7

Three hours later, and about five hundred and seventy five jokes, puns and jibes about Trev and Tess, Chris and I found ourselves finishing desert.  

“Do you want to go for a walk on the beach, walk off some of these calories?” Chris said patting his bloated stomach, and sticking it out for added effect.

“Sounds nice.” I replied.

I always think the beach looks better at night. It has a mystical quality to it. When the sounds of people have vanished and all you can hear are the soft, gentle movements of the water as it licks the shore and crashes lightly on the rocks. The sky looked like a child had thrown silver glitter across it and the sand felt like cool candy- floss.

We walked in silence for a while, before I decided to broach the subject again with a question that had been troubling me throughout dinner. “Do you really not believe in love?”

“No I don’t.” His answer came out fast and was so matter of fact.

“So what happened then? Someone break your heart?”

“No, nothing like that actually. I’ve never been in love.”

“What?” I was taken aback by his statement, “How’s that even possible? How old are you?”

 “33.”

“Okay, okay…”, I stopped walking and turned to face him, this topic deserved a proper conversation, not a half-hearted one, “So you’ve never dated before?”

“I’ve dated. I’ve had a few serious girlfriends, but I don’t think it was ever love. They all ended badly as you can imagine. They all thought they would be the girl to finally melt my cold heart…but they didn’t.”

I thought about those poor women; desperately in love and waiting for reciprocation that never comes.

“I never lead any of them on, if that’s what you’re thinking. I told them all up front that I don’t believe in love.” He added quite quickly and defensively.

My feelings of pity then switched allegiances; it was Chris that I felt sorry for now. Isn’t love something we all want? Crave?  

As if sensing my thoughts he added, “I mean, look what happened to you. All in the name of love. Don’t you wish you’d never fallen in love with Trev in the first place?”

I thought hard about this question, and while it was true that I’d been deeply hurt, I still believed in love and hoped that one day I would find it again.

“Nah, I like valentines hearts and soppy sentimental cards.” I smiled and Chris smiled back. I wasn’t sure I was buying this whole- “I don’t believe in love” act. There was definitely more to this story than met the eye. But I wasn’t sue what.

We’d been talking so much that I hadn’t noticed how far we’d walked until I turned around and saw that the lights from the resort looked like glowing pin pricks. It dawned on me how completely alone we were.

Behind us stood what looked like a large, deserted, beach house. It was obvious that it had been abandoned for quite some time. It was nothing more than a mere skeleton; the doors had fallen off and the windows had no glass in them. Vines and palm trees had taken over and paint peeled off in thick chunks. From the years of wind, the floor had been completely covered in white sand.

“Come, let’s go check it out.” Chris said striding across the beach and beckoning for me to follow. The house was designed in that typical Mauritian style architecture. Deep wrap around verandas with overhanging roofs propped up by imposing columns. I could only imagine what it must have looked like in it’s heyday.