The Summer of '93

Tonight's the night

I left him and drove to work and paid my petrol bill. I had a nap on the roadside (dangerous I was acutely aware, but better than falling asleep at the wheel.) I turned up, sheepishly at 12pm as I tried not to be too visibly late. The thing is that I do all these extra hours. But my boss was so unforgiving. She openly gave me such a dressing down. I took it. Kim made me stay until 7pm. She had to stay too so that was that. Her attitude changed my perception of Kim, forever. I probably did sixty hours some weeks. It meant nothing to her. My time and commitment held no currency for her.

Mum was seeing Palmer regularly. Weekends for me up until now had been to either spend time with Quig (not really something I wanted to keep doing given what had happened recently.) Ali was stationed a bit longer in the UK. So I started spending my weekends commuting to and from his home in Motherwell instead. The last thing I needed was such a long commute and during my very small amount of free time. But that free time was well spent.

I popped by Quig's during the week to show face but it was obvious that circumstances were irreparably changed.

"Have you visited Stirling?" Ali asked me when he rang me next. It was a call from the public pay phone, from the Scotsman. I could hardly make him out. The background noise was of a singer and his guitar, layered with people shouting in conversation, above the music.

"I did a demo at Airth castle when I first came up to Scotland but that's as far as I've been." That was interesting. It is supposed to be haunted but I didn't see anything when I was working there.

"Right," he said firmly. "I'll call tourist information and book a B&B for us."

"Yep, I'm up for that!" I smiled.

It was a long way to drive for a weekend. Mum thought I was going mad. "You're doing too much." She complained. "You need time to relax and recover from that job you do. I always thought you would hear from Dionisis!" I frowned as I heard the words and his face and expression filled my head. I replayed his last kiss in my mind. I stopped the memory short and I'd tried to put it all behind me. Not a letter, not a phone call, no contact whatsoever.

"I still can't get over why he went to the trouble of sending that plant." she added.

"No," I replied. None of it made any sense to me. I cannot get over how well we were suited, but maybe it was all just a mirage."

"Did you ask Alexandros?"

"I did write to him but simply didn't want to awkwardly involve him. This was between Dionisis and me. Alex mentioned nothing about it. He didn't even ask how my trip went. I presumed that he didn't have to ask because he will have already have spoken to Dionisis about it. I don't know if he would plan a trip to Greece again but it's very rare that I heard about what Dionisis was up to, or indeed Alex, day to day."

"That's men for you." Mum sympathised.

"I really could understand if it hadn't been for us having so much in common, interests, and easy conversation, similar study choices and he said nothing before I left. I have thought and thought about it and again I could have understood if there had been no contact after I came back, but then the plant! What was its motive? Was it a guilt thing?"

"It makes no sense." I doubted I would never know.

I picked Ali up from the barracks. I always felt a bit exposed when I drove up as if I was doing something clandestine. I knew I didn't really belong there, but it was the only place I could meet him, as the building itself was quite a drive from the entrance.

He had a rucksack and was wearing an olive green bomber jacket. I think that was the most casual that I had ever seen him. He was still wearing his denim shirt and jeans. Ali always was impeccably smart, even in casuals. His hair was sharply and recently cut, his skin was fresh and at 22 he had the handsome glow of youth. He smelt great too. However, I always thought there was cunning rather than intellect brewing inside that noggin of his!