“Are we jumping in the lake?”
“No, but if you carry on, I’ll push you in.” Megan searched the benches one by one. “It should be around heresomewhere.”
“If you tell me what you’re looking for I can help?” Ashley trailed behind, confused. Megan rounded a large bush onto a small patch of soil at the lake’s edge. There sat a solitary rustic bench.
“Here it is.” Megan dusted off the silver plaque with her finger until the inscription became clear.
“What does it say?”Ashley said.
“After all these years, I still hope for your return. This bench signifies my ever-lasting love for you. Always yours, Christopher.”
“Who’s Christopher?”
“I’m glad you asked. Take a seat with me, I’ll tell youthe story.”
The bench had seen better days. Ashley guessed it must have been one of the oldest, but it was sturdy. The view across the lake was the perfect settingfor a story.
“In 1958, a man called Christopher was set up on a blind date by his friends. They arranged to go to a local drive-in cinema—that’s where he met Nancy. She was a senior in high school; he was in his first year of college. He initially thought he would find her immature, but on meeting her he couldn’t have been more wrong.” Megan turned towards Ashley. “Do you believe in love at first sight?”
“No, I think the idea is nice, but it’s notrealistic.”
“Well, this meeting, in Christopher’s eyes, was love at first sight. The feeling was exquisite, electrifying, and simply magical. After that first date, they spent every waking minute together. Nancy fell behind on her studies because she was so obsessed with him, she couldn’t concentrate or focus on anything other than him. The months passed by and Nancy finally introduced Christopher to her parents. They were devout Catholics, attended church every Sunday, and lived their life through the eyes of God. Christopher was the opposite, he was the son of a construction worker, he didn’t believe in any religion, he was seen as a bit of a bad boy, he never got in trouble with the law, but in his neighbourhood, he had a reputation for being good withhis fists.”
Megan glanced to check Ashley was still listening and then turned back towards the water.
“In other words, he was quite the opposite of what Nancy’s parents wanted for her. That didn’t stop them. Even after her parents discovered Christopher’s lifestyle and grounded Nancy, she would sneak out every night to see him. They continued that way for almost a year. Then one day, Nancy got home from school and her parents told her they were sending her away to live with her grandparents in Charlotte, North Carolina. They’d known all along what she was doing and when she didn’t stop seeing him, they saw no other choice,” Megan paused.
“Surely she didn’t go?” Ashley probed.
“She had no choice. It was differentback then.”
Ashley swung her right leg up onto the bench in an attempt to get more comfortable. “Carryon, please.”
“The next day, Nancy moved away. She didn’t even get the chance to say goodbye. She wrote a note before she left and handed it to her best friend, who lived next door to Christopher. The letter never made it. He thought Nancy had up and left without any attempt to contact him.”
“Why didn’t he get the letter? What happened?”
Megan smiled, “Why don’t you let me finish the story and then you’ll find out.”
Ashley held her hands up, apologising. “Please, continue.”
“Christopher, now heartbroken, tried to find out her new address, but her parents refused to give any information despite his pleas. Eventually, he had no choice but to move on with his life. He met someone else three years later and got married. As the years passed by, he thought about Nancy often. It wasn’t until a high school reunion twenty-five years later that he saw her again. It was 1983, and Christopher was pulling out of the local gas station when he caught sight of a woman getting out of her car in his rear-view mirror. He slammed on the brakes, the car screeched, causing the woman to look his way. It was Nancy. He couldn’t believe his eyes; they spoke briefly about why she was in town and he asked if she would have coffee with him.”
“She said yes, right? Is he still married? Is she married?”
Megan playfully hit Ashley on the right knee. Instinctively, she tried to stop it, catching Megan’s hand in hers. The accidental touch was the first form of intimacy between the pair. Ashley welcomed the feel and Megan, in return, didn’t pull her hand away.
“Christopher was still married and so was Nancy. On their coffee date, he found out she had been married for twenty years and had two children. They exchanged pleasantries, but it wasn’t until the end of the conversation, when Christopher asked why she didn’t try to contact him, that he discovered Nancy did write him a letter. The best friend I told you she gave it to? Well, that was now Christopher’s wife of twenty-two years.”
“YOU ARE JOKING?!” Ashley yelled.
“Nope. She never gave him the letter because she’d always had a crush on him and saw her opportunity once Nancy left. Scandalous, right?”
Ashley nodded in agreement, “What a shitty best friend she was.”
“So, after the reunion, Nancy went back to her life in Charlotte. Christopher eventually split from his wife after the revelation. They’d never had children because Kathy had never been able to. At the age of forty-four, he took his half of the money from the house sale and opened a bar in Midtown Manhattan; he calledit Nancy’s.”
“He named the bar after her? Wow.”
