She sighed. ‘Yes Greg, I know. Come on, let’s get you home. We’ll collect your car tomorrow, eh?’
‘No… Fuck off!’ He swiped her hand away as she tried to take his arm. ‘You just fuck the fuck away, am stayin’ here with my Mairi.’ He wasnota pleasant drunk.
Annoyance washing over her, she snapped, ‘Oy, don’t swear at me.’ She grabbed his arm and wrapped it around her neck and struggled to get him to a standing position. ‘You can’t stay here, not in this state.’
He swayed. ‘Am shorry, Mallilly. I don’t mean to swear at you. You’re my best friend, you know that?’
‘Yes, Greg, so you said. Now come on. You’re going to feel like shit in the morning and I need to get you home. You’ve had me worried sick,’ she scolded him.
He chuckled like a little kid. ‘Whoops, you swore. You saidshit.’ His accent had become stronger in his drunken state. If this situation wasn’t so sad Mallory would’ve been amused by drunken Greg.
Stifling a giggle, she said, ‘Sorry for swearing, Greg, now come on. You can’t stay here. It’s a road not a campsite.’ They wobbled and swayed towards her car.
Suddenly Greg stopped and looked back at the moonlit mountain. ‘I met her there on that wee path. I’d been out walking and I was on my way back to the car. She dropped her map and tripped over her bootlaces trying to pick it up… I caught her.’ Greg was now seemingly lucid and Mallory was struck as to the similarities between his story of meeting Mairi and hers of meeting Sam.
They stood in silence.
Greg looked down at Mallory. ‘She was so beautiful, Mally, so beautiful. Long red hair, green eyes.’ A tear rolled down his unshaven cheek. ‘I miss her so much. I don’t want to be alone. I hate it.’ He brought his hand up to cover his eyes as he was taken over by his emotions. His lower lip trembled and his body shook much the same as hers had that night on the beach when he had rescued her. It was her turn to rescue him now. She hugged him and let him cry.
Eventually he wiped his face on his T-shirt, took a deep breath and looked down at her again. Sadness gripped her too as she gazed up at the broken man, fully understanding his pain. Unexpectedly he reached out and slipped his hand into her hair and lowered his mouth to hers. She froze. He kissed her softly but it wasn’t the simple kiss of one friend to another. There was something else lingering between them that she didn’t want to acknowledge but her heart skipped in her chest. She noticed the taste of whiskey and remembered why she was here.
Her mind snapped back into action. ‘Greg, no! What are you doing?’ She stepped back from him glaring.
He wobbled a little. ‘Shit. I’m sorry, Mallory, I-I don’t know why I did that.’ He touched his lips as he stumbled backward.
‘No, neither do I… Let’s just forget about it. Come on. You need to get home to bed.’ She knew he was drunk. She knew he was grieving, but boy was she going to have to work on forgiving him for that latest development.
She helped fold him into her car which wasn’t really built for huge hulking men. Fastened his seat belt and slammed the door almost off its hinges.
When she had climbed into the driver’s seat he was looking at her.
‘You’re mad with me, aren’t you? Please don’t be mad with me,’ he begged. ‘I couldn’t help myself, I really couldn’t. I’m sorry. I know you don’t see me that way.’
She huffed. ‘Youdon’t seemethat way either when you’re sober, Greg. You probably won’t even remember this in the morning.’
‘Mallory?’
‘Yes, Greg, what is it now?’ she snapped.
‘Itismorning.’
