Hannah Parker. It was a name Susan knew. When she’d met Mark first, he’d been standoffish, happy to go out with the gang of friends but reluctant for anything more. Susan heard on the grapevine that he’d been in a relationship that had ended badly. A brooding guy with movie-star looks, she hadn’t been the only woman who’d been interested in nursing him back to health.
It hadn’t been luck that had led to her sitting beside him at a friend’s barbeque. She’d filled her plate, then stood and waited till she saw him do the same, watching as he scanned the huge garden for somewhere to sit. He’d ignored the women patting the seats beside them and headed to a bench slightly cut off from the melee.
As soon as he sat, Susan wandered over, trying not to run, keeping her eyes open for anyone who might beat her to the prize. But by then, most of the women had given him up as a bad cause.
‘D’you mind if I sit?’
His mouth was full of burger so he merely nodded.
They’d been mixing with the same group of friends for weeks so he knew her name and she, of course, knew his and more: the university he’d been to, the law school he was attending, where he was from. And of course about his last disastrous relationship.
‘What was she like?’
He took another bite of his burger and spoke with his mouth full. ‘Who?’
She’d nothing to lose. ‘This woman who everyone says has ruined your life forever and a day.’
‘Forever and a day?’ He wiped a hand over his mouth and turned to look at her – really looked, seeing her for the first time. ‘Who the fuck said that?’
She waved a hand around the assembled group. ‘Take your pick.’ She speared a sausage with the plastic fork she was holding, lifted it like a trophy and waved it at him before taking a bite. ‘So tell me about her.’
He seemed amused. ‘What do you want to know?’
‘Her name for starters.’
‘Hannah… Hannah Parker.’
‘Nice name. What was she like?’ He looked off into the distance and she didn’t think he was going to answer. ‘It helps to talk sometimes.’
It wasn’t till he’d cleared his plate and finished his bottle of Bud that he spoke again. ‘She’s beautiful, exotic almost. Made me laugh and do crazy things.’
‘Like?’
‘Like…’ He smiled, then laughed out loud. ‘Like once, we went to visit an aunt of mine in Hawkesbury. I took her for a walk to show her the area and into the church. It was open, and you can go up to see the bells, but she insisted we climb the tower and get out at the top so we could admire the view. The door out is only about three foot high. She’s slim, agile, got out without any problem and egged me on to follow. I managed with great difficulty and the view was fabulous.’ He laughed again, longer, louder, drawing curious glances. ‘It was getting back down that was the problem. I thought we’d have to ring for help when I got stuck in the doorway.’
I imagined the almost six-foot man trying to manoeuvre through a three-foot-high door and laughed too.
Story after story he told. Things Hannah had done, things she’d said, how funny she was, how much better his life had been with her in it, how stunned he’d been when she’d dumped him, out of the blue. Leaving him gutted.
‘You did ask,’ he said finally.
Maybe she’d looked stunned. She probably was. How could any woman compete with such a goddess? ‘I did.’ She put a hand on his bare arm. ‘And thank you for sharing.’ She felt the muscles in his arm tense, then relax.
‘You were right, it does make it easier.’
That was it really. Next time she was out with the group, he made his way to her side. ‘Can I get you a drink?’
She’d put her empty glass down only moments before. She’d been drinking water. But water-drinking earthlings had no hope of competing with goddesses. ‘Thank you. Prosecco please.’
It was impossible to compete with the vision that was Hannah, so Susan didn’t try. She wasn’t beautiful or exotic, but she was pretty and dependable. Maybe even boring. She wondered later, when they were a couple, if it was this that had appealed to Mark. The fact that she was so different. A contrast. The absolute opposite.
Hannah had left the area. It should have made it easier but there were times when they’d be out somewhere and she’d notice the faraway look in Mark’s eyes. She didn’t need to ask where he’d gone, knowing immediately that something had triggered a memory of Hannah. Competing with a memory was difficult. Feeling second best was painful. She might have given up if she hadn’t come to realise that he needed her.
‘What are you planning to do when you finish law school?’ she asked him one night, when she lay in his arms.
‘Haven’t given it much thought.’
She pushed up on one elbow, rested her hand on his chest and looked down at his face, expecting to see him smile. He wasn’t, his eyes were shut, his breathing deep and relaxed. ‘You need to start,’ she said. But he was already asleep. It was in that moment that she realised he was handsome and kind but weak. He needed a strong woman. Not a beautiful, exotic, flighty one. He needed someone like Susan.
A year later, when Mark asked her to marry him, although she wasn’t sure she loved him, she’d no hesitation about saying yes. The love had come, and it had lasted because they were made for one another. His good looks, charm and education, her strength, get up and go, her pure determination.
When he made partner, the pinnacle of his career, she relaxed.
Perhaps she shouldn’t have done… Maybe a rich successful, handsome man like Mark, at the top of his career, needed someone dazzling on his arm. Susan had been pretty enough in her day. Recently, she’d heard herself described as a nice-looking woman. Nice.
Pretty hadn’t compared to beautiful and exotic all those years before. Hannah would have aged, of course, but maybe she’d retained that certain something that had made Mark so crazy about her.
Perhaps she still had it.
And now she was back.