by S M Mala
‘Oh.’
Bea didn’t want to sound deflated.
The night before, when they left the restaurant, he kissed her.
No tongues.
But it was gentle and sweet as if building up to something. She felt it in her chest and knew there was a connection between them. When he agreed to come to her home on Friday for dinner, she could have jumped up and punched the air, but she played it cool.
Now there was a change of heart.
Mylo’s.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said sounding rushed down the end of the phone. ‘I can’t make it. I’ve got all sorts going on at the moment.’
‘Just for a quick drink?’
It sounded pitiful, her need to try and cajole him. He seemed really keen on Wednesday and she was sure he liked her.
‘It’s going to be impossible,’ he said, with a half laugh. ‘I’ll call you.’
‘We can arrange for next Friday if-.’
He hung up.
That was the most blatant way of showing that he wasn’t interested.
Could be her kissing wasn’t up to scratch. Her little heart felt a massive dent.
Mylo was probably being kind because he knew she would soon finish her sessions and he wouldn’t have to see her again. By pretending to be keen about Friday would divert his true intentions.
Bea realised it was too good to be true.
A doctor who owned his own business, wanting to hang out with someone working for local government who lived in a rented flat, wasn’t his thing.
Shaking off the disappointment, she went to her office and sat down. All plans of seducing him seemed pointless. She was better off wining and dining herself at this rate.
Then she heard a commotion from outside before her door was flung open and an angry Chloe stormed in.
‘I hate it here! I really do. Why are all the girls bitches?’
She threw herself onto a chair, arms folded while angry tears splashed down her face. Bea handed her a tissue and knew the child was going to vent.
‘Bruno’s a two timing shit!’ she said, gulping back her sob. ‘His bitch ex-girlfriend, Tyler, just let rip. She says she’s still going out with him when she’s not!’ The scream that was let out after her sentence was extremely high pitched. Bea squinted in response, though she felt like doing the same. ‘She’s a slut!’
‘Hello there.’ Mr Mandelson, the head teacher, walked in and looked at Chloe. ‘What happened this time?’
‘It’s all under control,’ Bea replied, standing up and walking towards him. ‘Troubles on the heart front, if you get my drift. Chloe needs time to let off steam.’
‘Can I have a word, outside?’ he asked, looking perplexed as she stepped into the corridor. He was a very tall man and was wearing his usual tracksuit as he still liked to take physical education classes, much to the dismay of the pupils. He was in his early fifties with a shock of black, dyed hair but a happy disposition, which was hidden right now. ‘Chloe Dewhurst is causing disruption. She practically flew at Tyler Smith at break. We need to do something.’
‘Yes! To those bitchy girls!’
‘Bea, you’re too soft,’ he whispered, getting agitated. ‘She’s feisty, like her mother, who happens to know two of the governors, hence the child is here.’
‘And we’ve got to show them that we can handle her and make things okay.’
‘You’ve got a challenge on your hands. If it happens again and there’s another outburst, we’re going to have to consider excluding her.’
‘That’s unfair!’ Bea cleared her throat, seeing the stern look in his eyes. ‘I’ll help her, like I’ve helped all the others. I deal in behaviour and welfare and that is what I’ll do.’
Turning on her heels, she walked back into her office.
Chloe had stopped crying but was kicking the side of her desk.
‘Don’t do that,’ Bea said, walking past and touching her shoulder before taking a seat. ‘You know how hard it is to get new furniture in this place.’
‘I think Bruno is a shit! I reckon he has been seeing Tyler and using me.’
‘Why don’t you forget about boys and concentrate on your exams?’ asked Bea sounding like her late mother. ‘They only build up your hopes to dash them down. And we, the stupid ones, fall for it.’
‘Someone upset you, Miss Mayon?’ she asked with a little grin. ‘A man.’
‘Don’t fall for someone whose name ends with an ‘O’, because that’s just what you’ll say when they let you down.’ Bea grinned. ‘Oh! You piece of shit!’
Chloe started to laugh.
‘Just for one?’
Fadeem, who worked in the fish and chips shop, asked her the same thing each time he saw her.
Of late, it was just the single helping.
‘Still just for one and it will be for the next decade,’ she sighed.
‘A beautiful girl like you shouldn’t be eating alone!’
She laughed.
He had just come out through the other side of puberty and at nineteen, thought he had charm. What he did have was plenty of chat and pimples.
‘I’ll tell your dad you were trying to hit on me. What would Sunil think?’
‘He’d be jealous I got in there first!’
Taking her food and walking out, she went down the road and thought about how her expectation for that night had changed. She should have been ordering a double portion had Mylo not blown her out. Then she thought he would probably think the meal too unhealthy.
There was a Christmas feel and people were celebrating the season of goodwill in most of the bars and restaurants.
She looked at a chain of large fairy lights linking the posts down the road.
It made her smile.
But at that moment, when she looked down, she saw Mylo.
He was sitting in the French restaurant he had taken her to. And he was with the woman she had spotted him with in the clinic, who was now gently stroking his face to which he smiled.
Her heart went into her mouth because when she was about to turn to avoid the embarrassing situation.
Mylo then caught her eye.
Suddenly his smile slipped and all she could do, to make it less humiliating than before, was to wave at him while clutching her fish and chip supper. There was a discreet nod as a response from Mylo when she walked past, swallowing her hurt pride.
It all made sense why he didn’t want to see her.
‘Total humiliation on a scale of one to ten,’ she mumbled while putting her head down and going at high speed down the road. ‘One hundred.’
‘Oh mummy, what am I going to do?’
Bea was sitting on her living room floor after quickly consuming half a bottle of white wine. She had eaten her meal and now sat staring at the leftover food. ‘I thought he was nice.’
There was no answer, yet again.
And she needed her mum more than ever, especially after she died, mainly to deal with the pain of losing the woman she loved.
Feeling the hot tears splash down her face, Bea knew it was pretty stupid crying over someone who she wasn’t even officially seeing.
But sometimes it was the realisation there was no-one out there for her that made it exceptionally sad.
And she had a little bit of hope with Dr Kearney.
Just a little.
Slowly getting to her feet, she looked up at the sky.
‘Do you know if I’ll ever be happy? Are you looking over me? Daddy’s trying to but the women and I are doing the deed. I think he has gone a little crazy but he lost the love of his life so he has a right to.’ Wiping her tears away with her hand, she looked around her small flat and sighed. ‘Look at me. Still renting and single. Is this what my life’s going to be? Mummy, can you just let me know if it’s going to be all right?’
Bea’s eyes were focussed in the sky.
Then she saw it.
A twinkle of light and her heart leapt to her throat.
Then she real
ised it was a plane flying high into the sky, not a sign from her mother.
Bea let out a disappointed grumble.
Shaking her head and taking her glass of wine, she headed off to bed.
Alone and into the dark, once more.
‘Today it’s not Mylo.’
Leanne said. ‘He had to fly to the States. His colleague Jason will be looking after you.’
‘Great,’ Bea replied, realising he probably didn’t want to see her, hence he took the first flight out of the country.
Bea had built up a speech for Mylo about not being a decent enough man to tell her the truth. Had he not wanted to meet up with her, he should have said.
Then she thought twice.
He would be manipulating her sore leg so could cause some harm.
But she felt deflated and stupid as it had gone around and around in her head. In a way, she felt relieved that she didn’t have to face him.
After walking up to the first floor the fit guy she had seen Mylo talking to, when he bashed into her leg, came up to her.
‘I’m Jay and I’ll be doing your treatment today,’ he said with a bright smile. He was tall with dark blond hair and bluey green eyes. ‘I’ll be gentle. Your notes say you have a low pain threshold.’
‘I’m getting better.’
Flicking a glance towards the room Mylo used, she noticed the door was shut.
After going through the usual checks, she lay on the bed and Jason started the treatment.
‘I’m sorry if you’re disappointed at having me,’ Jason said, concentrating hard. ‘Our star man has been pretty preoccupied. I’m taking over some of his appointments.’
‘I don’t mind.’
‘Then you’re one in a million. I’ve had his flock of admirers getting upset with me.’
‘Are there many?’
‘Loads,’ he said looking at her straight in the eye. ‘They’re going to be heartbroken because I think he’s fallen for someone. Met her for dinner on Friday so I hear. I’ve been away for a month so who knows what happened. Then he had to fly out urgently.’
‘Have you known him for long?’ she asked, suddenly feeling her stomach sink.
‘I worked with him in Chicago for a year though I’ve known him since college. When he said he was setting up back here, I was keen to join the practice. He still goes to the one in Chicago a few times a year and to see some close friends.’
He was obviously visiting his ex-lover as he hadn’t completely wiped her from his mind and soul, from the sound of it.
She swore she heard Jason chanting and there was some clicking of fingers around her forehead. Bea didn’t have a clue what was going on.
Afterwards, Bea got up and put on her shoes and jacket.
‘You’ve got one more session booked in for next Wednesday. I’m not sure if Mylo will be available but I’ll leave it to him to-.’
‘I’ll see you then,’ she said, knowing she didn’t want to see Mylo. ‘I think you really helped.’
‘Really?’ Jason started to laugh. ‘Okay, that’s great! I’ll see you next week. We’ll email confirmation of the appointment.’
Bea smiled and went to the stairs, walking quickly down before getting to the reception.
Then she felt deflated and knew Mylo was killing time with her.
It all made perfect sense as she walked out into the cold air and realised she had nearly made a fool of herself again.
Luckily, not for a third time but the humiliation still didn’t stop her heart hurting a little bit more than usual.
‘I’m a little pissed!’
Bea said to the taxi driver when she dropped her purse on the floor and scrambled for change. She had been to the work Christmas party, where she drank to numb her pain about Christmas, her mother and Mylo.
It was when she walked into her home she realised how inebriated she was.
Slipping down a step and banging her left backside, a massive pain shot through her leg.
The first thing she did was jump to her feet and run up the stairs. Taking painkillers and drinking a large glass of water, she crashed out on the sofa.
When she woke the following day and unbeknown to her how she managed to get into bed, not only was her head banging, there was a throb in her leg. Trying to stand, her left foot wouldn’t go down to the ground without causing an immense amount of pain.
Bea hobbled to the bathroom and took a shower, hoping walking about would help.
She was wrong.
After taking some anti-inflammatory tablets she rang to cancel her last appointment at Mylo’s clinic. Going straight to an answer machine, she said she was otherwise postponed and to charge her health insurance because it was less than 24 hours’ notice. And to make sure they got the message she emailed them before sitting on the sofa and resting her leg.
Then her phone started to ring and it was the clinic.
‘Hello Leanne,’ she said, dreading the telling off for the late cancellation.
‘Bea, it’s Mylo. Why aren’t you coming to your appointment?’
‘Ah,’ she said, not prepared to hear his voice. ‘I’m not feeling very well.’
That wasn’t a lie.
She was feeling like shit.
‘You need to keep on coming,’ he said gently down the phone. ‘We have to assess if you’re okay.’
‘Can we do it after New Year?’ Bea replied, waiting for the pain to subside. ‘I’m really tied up here.’
‘No.’
‘No?’
‘You need to come to your appointment at five o’clock, bottom line.’ She heard him take a deep breath, then she noticed the Christmas card she had wanted to give to him sat on the side. ‘If you don’t come to your scheduled appointment, I will tell your health provider and you can be penalised, which means your premiums will go up.’
‘I think that’s a bit unfair!’ she replied, outraged by the comment. ‘I want to re-arrange my appointment. You rearranged my appointment last week and I got Jason.’
‘I was out of the country. Five o’clock Beatrice and you’ve got a free massage booked as a complimentary treatment.’
‘I don’t want-.’
He hung up.
She had six hours to pull herself together and make sure she could face Dr Kearney, the heartbreaker.
‘Thanks.’
After getting out the cab, she was determined to walk without a limp.
It was failing fast as she got to the clinic and practically hopped in.
‘Are you okay?’ Leanne asked, looking alarmed. ‘Do you need some assistance?’
‘I’ve got an appointment. I’ll head on up.’
By sheer determination, she got to the lift and noticed Leanne was calling ahead.
When the lift stopped and the doors opened, Mylo was standing waiting for her, this time with his arms folded.
The infectious and friendly smile was nowhere to be seen.
‘Beatrice, glad you could make it.’
‘I had no choice.’
Then she waited, pulling herself together before walking out of the lift. She noticed he raised his eyebrows as she limped towards Jason’s room.
‘You’re with me,’ Mylo said, walking beside her and looking at her leg. ‘Doing the exercises as advised?’
‘Yep!’ she replied, hopping to the room and collapsing onto a chair.
‘Do you want to tell me what happened?’ He sat behind his desk and a small smile started to appear. ‘I know, for a fact, you weren’t limping yesterday.’
‘How?’
‘I saw you when I was driving down the road. You were practically skipping.’
‘Last day of school.’ Bea let out a little huff, knowing she could barely make eye contact with him. ‘You’re probably in a rush so we better get a move on.’ Then she caught him smiling. ‘What’s funny?’
‘You.’ He got to his feet. ‘Stand up, please?’
Taking off her shoes and trying not to show how uncomfortable it was
, Bea stood. For as much as she tried, she couldn’t place her foot down on the ground. It reminded her of a puppy with a sore leg, bent in agony as their paw couldn’t touch the surface to walk.
Right now, she felt like a wounded animal.
‘What the hell did you do?’ he asked, standing behind her. ‘Your alignment is totally out.’
Then she screamed.
He poked her in the left buttock and the pain was like a hot, sharp pole running through her arse and leg.
Next thing she knew, he had escorted her to the table because it was evident the experience made her feel faint.
‘I was drunk last night and tripped up a stair on my way in. I thought it would go but it hasn’t.’ She winced. ‘I’m sure it will be fine tomorrow.’
‘Okay,’ he said, looking at her and bending down. ‘This doesn’t look good and I need to manipulate your leg. I don’t want to hurt you.’
‘I’ve heard that said to me by many a man before,’ she said forcing a smile and was met with a frown. ‘And they certainly like to speak a lot of bollocks, don’t they?’
‘Please stop.’
Lying on her back, the pain was intense. She had to put her arm over her eyes to prevent the tears.
‘I’m being as gentle as I can.’
‘Believe me, you’re not!’
Bea avoided looking at Mylo so decided to stare at the ceiling or cover her face, all the time counting down the minutes to the end of her half hour session.
‘I know you’re going to hate what I have to say,’ he said gently. ‘You need more sessions.’
‘I can’t afford it.’
‘This isn’t going to go away and you have to be careful.’ Then she felt her arm being pulled away from her face, as he looked down at her. ‘You’ve got to do the exercises every day, stretch out your muscles and widen the gap in your spine. I told you to do the core strengthening ones. Did you?’
‘Did I do what?’
‘Bea, this isn’t going to get better if you don’t make an effort.’
He was right.
She couldn’t carry on with the pain.
‘I’m going to work on you a little longer. Turn onto your other side and I’ll be gentle as possible but it might hurt.’