Heartbeats in Moonlight

Chapter 39

Not again, he thought. They have skirted this issue for years, and he thought they should review their problem, head-on. But her strategy was to ignore it. And the more he thought about this, that appeared to be her strategy: If you can't ignored it, avoid it by leaving. He watched her face, and he knew that forcing this conversation would be counter productive. She looked like she was about to scramble way. And David didn't want this meeting to end up the same way as her last two visits to his home. The last hour was perfect. To throw away that ambience would be wrong.

"Ella, please." He tried to be fair. "I am sorry, Ella, I didn't want to upset you."

"I am not upset."

Another lie, he was sure, given her eyes, and the change in her tone. David kept his frustration banked as he said, " I just want us to sort this." He caught up with her, planted a hand against the doorjamb and stopped her.

Ella looked at his hand on the doorjamb and looked at his face, and glared. David ignored that. "And I know, that now is not the right time. I get that, ok. Ella, I get that."

The glare continued.

David said, " Ok, we both know this is not the right time to rehash our memories. Ok. But we will need to talk about this. We should talk about, especially as my brother, Jack, and your best friend, Amelia will mean we will meet often."

Ella's chest rose and fell as she contemplated his words and reminded him, "I know that. But I came here to talk about your home." This was not going to plan. What plan? Her brain challenged.

"Oh, I get that. I know that. You came here to talk about the job. I get that." He kept his hand on the doorjamb, "But I am just telling you, up-front, that we have an issue, and we need to deal with."

"Why?" She mumbled. Her back became ramrod straight, her shoulders squared, and her eyebrows winged their way to her hairline as she said, "We managed for the last two years." Her head maintained her defence mechanism.

"No we didn't. We didn't manage anything. We just avoided it, and us!" David said bluntly. "I get that you and I have different ways of dealing with issues, but this can't go on. Especially after Saturday." Silence for a few seconds. "We really need to talk."

Ella grumbled under her breath. "You could have phoned." As her feelings rose to the surface, she knew she was upset by the fact that he didn't call her. She groused again, "If you wanted us to discuss that mess,.."

Peremptorily he interrupted, "Mess?" Irritation threaded through his statement as he muttered, "I thought Saturday was exceptional ..."

"I meant the rugby camp." Ella interrupted and then added, "Saturday was fine." It was better than fine. That was the problem. Her heart was overtaking her head.

"Ah." David rubbed the back of his neck and muttered, "Saturday was just fine?"

Ella ignored his quiet statement "If you wanted to talk about that, don't camouflage it with a whimsy business meeting to talk about your home." She complained as she held onto her composure. She couldn't afford to review Saturday right now, as she knew she would concede.

"Ok." He accepted her statement until she added another statement.

"In any case, I am not sure that we have any events to rehash!"

David's frustration was evident in his tone, "Ella, I know you are not a coward." Ella glowered at him. He could tell that Ella was not cowed. "But your last statement was a fib." Ella tipped her head back in an attempt to buy her some personal space as he moved closer. "You know that." She folded her arms, providing the fence she needed at that moment to keep him at bay. 

"Back off, David." She said firmly.

He could see in her eyes that she was ready to leave. He took a breath, reviewed his options, and then David grumbled, "Ok. Your way. For now." Ella sighed in relieve. "For now, let's talk about the plans." For a second it looked as if she was going to ignore his request.

Seconds became a minute, and David wasn't sure if she was going to stay. "Ella?" He prompted. "Let's talk about the plans." David was starting to understand Jack's frustration. Jack thought Amelia was stubborn, but David was sure that Amelia got that trait from a professional leader, like Ella.

Obstinate and headstrong were not a good combination, David banked his exasperation. "Accept my apology." He muttered as he banked his irritation and he stepped back, conscious of the fact he'd hemmed her in.

"Ok." Eventually Ella nodded. Time to move the conversation from personal to business.

"Good. Shall we get on?" This could have been so romantic, his mind mused idiotically.

"Start with any room." Nothing in her voice to suggest that she had accepted his apology. David waited a second and then nodded again. But, with his face in shadow, she had difficulty reading his eyes.