Fiona made her way back into the dining room. Gillian's words continued to play over in her head. She made her way through the tables smiling at various relatives making chit chat, inside her mind was a hurricane. She sat down next to David who had his arm draped across her chair. She looked at him, studying him, trying to work out if he thought he had some magic that erased her principles. David looked back and gave her his broadest smile and she smiled back, however inside she felt that something had changed inside her. The last catalyst had taken effect.

When the time came David took her hand and led her onto the dance floor.

"I am going to need a dollar for all of those thoughts." he said quietly as he held her closely during the waltz.

"I have a lot to sort out David, being here and seeing people I don't want to see is unsettling me." Fiona felt it only fair to warn David about what was about to occur.

"Wanna talk?" he gave her a serious look, "You and I, we need to.., we need to speak about this, us, I suppose you need to process a lot."

"I do." she sighed, "I need to talk to Paul though, I mean really talk to him and then I think I need to work things out with you."

David stepped back with surprise, he stood motionless on the dancefloor, "You need to speak to him?" he was genuinely astonished.

Fiona took his hand and led him to the bar, where she ordered two beers. She handed one to David and motioned for him to sit down in a quiet corner.

"I am confused Fiona, I mean what can you possibly have to say him ?" David pleaded with her.

"Hmm," she took a deep breath, "how does it make you feel that I want some time with my ex?" she asked flatly.

"It makes me boil!" he shifted uncomfortably in the chair, "It makes me so mad with jealousy, I, I don't know why you want to spend any more time with the slimeball!"

"Why is he a slimeball David?" she asked quietly. She was leading him to where this conversation was going to end.

"Cos he hurt you," he grabbed her hand in his, "you were so..., wounded, so hollow, I mean how could he?"

"I don't know David, how could he? How could anyone?" her eyes began to fill, she looked around the room trying to compose herself. She removed her hand from his, "See that's the thing, am I going to be enough?"

"Enough for who?" David pleaded with her, "Honey I think you are trying to tell me something but I am clearly not getting the message."

"David, if someone cheats, then will they always. If I give you a second chance, why didn't I with Paul? What's so different about you David?" David looked at her, his heart dropped to his boots, "David I kind of need to work this out before I make any stupid decisions." She stood finished her beer and placed the bottle on the table.

"Where are you going?" he asked scared to hear the answer.

"To finish my bridesmaid duties, they are cutting the cake, then I am going to talk to Paul and then I don't know." Fiona did know however she needed one more bit of confirmation and then she would be definite in her actions.

"What?" he rose to his feet, "You are what? You don't know?" David was deeply concerned.

David's head began to swim, he watched her leave the bar and he sat back down in the chair. He tried in vain to work out what he had done wrong and what had brought on the change in Fiona. He saw Bill and Heather barrel into the bar, not able to keep their hands off each other. He ran across the bar and spilt the contents of the last five minutes to them both. When he had finished he looked at them both.

Heather wondered what to say. Eventually, she spoke up looking at David directly.

"She may have a point, Boston!" Heather tried not to shout at him.

"Excuse me?" He asked puzzled. What was the amount of crazy these women all had in common?

"Well let's think about it from her perspective. You both took forever to get together, never mind the shit she took from your ex. Then when she gives you the out to just treat it as a fling you say no."

Heather emphasised the word you. Heather knew that Fiona had her plan. She wasn't 100% sure that she would carry it through. It looked now like she would.

Heather took a deep breath in and continued. "Then you make her wait for you and she does. Meanwhile, as soon as you meet someone without a thought you dump her. No sorry, after you banged someone which may I add she would NEVER do. You, on the other hand, knew what that wanker Paul had done to her. Then as soon as you are back in the country you just think you pick up where you left off. A bit presumptuous don't you think?"

"No, it's not like that. I have tried to talk to her. Tried to apologise. Oh, Heather on the first night here I heard her crying in the bathroom. It broke my heart." He shifted uncomfortably looking from his drink to Heather.

"I know what that is like. I spent a whole weekend with her on the phone as she poured her heart out and yes it is awful." Heather sighed, Bill put his arm around her protectively.

David sighed and ran his hand through his hair, "I just want her to be happy."

"Do you mean that or do you mean happy to be back with you?" Heather stated.

"I mean I want her to be happy." David did. He loved her. Her happiness was the most important thing to him.

"Then you are going to have to go at her pace and understand that she may have a lot to work through David. She was totally loopy about you and I am sure with some patience and understanding, from you, I may add, you could be back where you were." Heather warned David.

When Fiona left the bar she walked smack into Paul.

"Woah there Fi you ok?" Paul asked. Fiona looked like she was about to burst into tears.

She looked up at him and laughed trying to hold back the sob stuck in her throat.

"Nope." she managed to squeak.

Paul took her by the hand and began to lead her out to the garden area next to the hall. She gave a half-hearted attempt at resisting and then followed. Gillian watched them from the inside of the Hall her guts wrenching at the view unfolding before her eyes.

Paul led her to a small table where a waiter gave them both glasses of champagne which Fiona gratefully took and drained in one and gestured for one more.

"Steady Fi, you will be wankered by eight!" Paul laughed nervously.

"That," she managed between gulps, "was the idea!" She finished the second glass with a flourish and took a third glass from the waiter who backed off protecting the rest of his hoard. "Ok shoot, you have my full undivided attention." Fiona grinned at him. Paul ran dashed off across the lawn and brought back a bottle of cold champagne and thumped it on the table.

"I think I am going to need this." he opened the bottle and poured them both a glass, "To old friends." he raised his glass and she raised hers.

"Is that what we are?" she smiled, " Friends?"

"I hope at least that is what we are, I," he took a deep glug of fizz, "I really hope that we can be." he sighed. "I have no right to expect anything from you.."

"Don't be so hard on yourself Paul, I ran away so fast and so far, you didn't have a chance to try to fix it, or fix anything." she reached across the table and took his hand, " If I am honest, and I am being honest, the two bits that got me were, why not try harder to find me and well.., why stay with her?" That was the truth. She had lain awake for weeks pondering the answer to those questions.

"Wow, don't pull any punches Fi. Firstly her..? She was there, I know this sounds shitty, so don't hit me, I had a lot to do and tell everyone about what I did and she was there to kind of support me." Paul winced. He blew out his cheeks and scanned her face for a reaction.

Fiona promptly burst into fits of laughter.

"What?" Paul joined in giggling, "What is so funny?" he was at a loss.

"Oh Paul!" she slammed the table laughing, "I tortured myself comparing myself to her! All the time it was a sympathy shag and ....does she know?" she grabbed her sides laughing, tears sliding down her face.

"Oh Fi, she thinks I am still in love with you, she is convinced I am pining away for you." Paul continued to giggle, he drained his glass and poured himself another one.

"Are you? Are you dying inside for me? Are you comparing all women to me? Are your guts twisting at the thought of me with another man?" she mocked, in gales of laughter.

"As a matter of fact, I am!" Paul blurted out, they both stopped laughing and stared at one another for a couple of seconds. They both then fell about laughing again. Fiona clutched her sides they were hurting so much, Paul filled his glass again.

"Listening to you shagging that yank, it was torture! Apart from a couple of million in the bank, a body nicked from a greek god and no doubt a massive cock, what has he got that I don't?" Paul asked.

"Nothing," she laughed, "he is a cheating bastard as well, he is another one," she pointed to Paul, "like you, who thinks it is perfectly reasonable to kick my heart about like it is a football."

"Does he know how quick 'the lady does vanish'?" Paul giggled, " You ran so fast, Heather was like Fort Knox about where you had gone. Your Uncle threatened to smash my face in and no one else would crack. I didn't even know it was London until I went to Gordon's for lunch and I found your Christmas Card to him. That was six months after Fiona, six months! I thought that was it. You had moved on. Then when I plucked the courage up to go to your address in London, fuck..," he blew his cheeks out, " do you live with male models by the way?"

"Don't change the subject, Paul! Continue!" she glugged down the remainder of her glass. she needed to hear this. She craved the closure she needed last year.

"I really only wanted to do this." he motioned between them, "To apologise, try and get a friendship, something.., then of course I saw you, wow..," he sighed, taking her hand again, " it made me realise what I had, the pain of the loss just took the wind out of me, I wasn't the same coming back."

"Bugger off Paul!" she laughed, slapping his shoulder," You had every female at Uni crying themselves to sleep over you and blow me, you are gorgeous, if flat arse Gillian isn't right I KNOW you will find someone else!"

"Not you though?" he smiled. He had one last roll of the dice. 

"Nope, not me, no way, Jose! I am done with scumbag cheaters." she laughed, "No offence." she added.

"I deserved that, I know." he sighed, "Tell me this though," he paused and looked deeply into her eyes, "why are you back with him?"

"That is where he, you and everyone is deluded, after today, he will never see me again." she pressed her fingers drunkenly to her lips, "Shh, don't tell anyone though!"

Paul slapped his head, "Oh, he doesn't know does he?" she shook her head, "he doesn't know that you did the same with me, came back for 'that night'."

"Yup, 'that night', was a good one though wasn't it?" Fiona smiled warmly at Paul. She thought about the last time they were together and it was wonderful.

"Best sex of my life will never be beaten! On my death bed, I will be gabbling about that." Paul laughed, "I so thought we were back together, you just got up, left and without a word of where you were going. I thought it was MAD that you," he pointed at her, "you who can talk the shit out of everything, turned up at the flat with two bottles of wine, stated no talking and then jumped my bones all night."

"Good night though!" she hiccupped.

"Bloody right....., oh shit, this is the same for him, isn't it? Poor bugger, he will spend days of his life, like I did, trying to work out what the hell it was all about..., what was it all about?"

"I wanted to shag you out of my system, I wanted to see if it was a physical or emotional loss. So I thought, one great last night and then ..., I was going to swear off men and become a nun." They both howled laughing at the thought.

"You were everything for me. I will never love anyone as much as you." He stated flatly.

She grinned drunkenly at him. "Yes, yes you will, anyway you are more in love with yourself than any person I have ever met!" she sighed and drew herself up to him and gave him a gentle kiss on the lips, which he gently returned.

"Anything?" he enquired, his eyes searching hers for an answer.

"Not even a flicker!" she laughed slapping his thigh, "It's off to a nunnery for me mate after this, I have shagged him senseless this weekend, then..," she snapped her fingers, "whoosh, gone."

She looked up and saw Gillian standing pale-faced at the door to the hall. Gillian turned to run into the Hall.

"Mate, you are going to have to go after that arse less whore, cos she just looked like she has been watching all of this."

Paul jumped up and helped Fiona to her feet.

"Don't be a stranger eh?" he took her hand as they both swayed across the lawn back to the Hall.

The room was being reset for the evening reception. All the guests had made their way either back to their rooms or were in the bar. Paul guided Fiona towards the bar where they both saw Gillian straddling David trying to snog him. Paul and Fiona looked at each other and burst into fits of laughter. Fiona laughed so hard that she slid down the wall.

"She.., is..., doing, it.., again..," she managed between giggles.

Heather who had been in the toilet for the tenth time that day looked at the scene that met her eyes, marched over to Gillian and slapped her in the face so hard that she fell off of David's lap. She turned to David and punched him square in the face.

"Pair of twats!" Heather spat, before taking Fiona off of Paul and leading her towards her room. "Are you ok babe?" she asked Fiona.

"I am absolutely arseholed, I need to get out of this getup." she pointed to her dress and hair, "That was hysterical, I kissed Paul, nothing, nada, not a thing!"

"You are rambling Fi," Heather opened the door to the room and guided Fiona in, "did you say that you kissed Paul?" she could not hide her shock.

"Yes, we had a chat." Fiona slurred, "Then I kissed him to see if there was anything and honestly," she hiccupped, "it was like kissing my aunt. I," she said proudly pointing to herself, "am totally, and fully OVER him!" she banged off both walls in the hall and made her way to the bathroom. "Now, if its ok, can you take those bags down to the reception and I will be down in ten minutes, when I get all of this lot off and change, I will leave the dress here so that Karen can return it."

"Ok, so are you doing what I think you are? You will be ok here on your own?" Heather asked outside the door.

"Of course, I will be down in ten, don't worry! I am going. Don't tell Bill anything. I have a cab booked to the station and then I am back to London tonight. Then Jersey next month." Fiona shouted over the sound of the shower.

David was frantic. He had to find Fiona and talk to her about what she had just seen, he ran around the venue and around the garden until he eventually spotted Heather down in reception. Bill was still at the bar and he persuaded Bill to go over to Heather and ask.

Bill walked slowly back to David, head bowed, "She is here, she is drunk as a monkey, Heather won't tell me exactly where as I would tell you."

"Thanks for trying bud," David said dejectedly.

"Hey! What were you doing kissing that girl anyway?" Bill nudged him in the shoulder, "that was..., unexpected."

"No shit!" David exclaimed, "She is Paul, Fiona's ex's, girlfriend. Fiona said she was going out for a chat with Paul, then his crazy bitch girlfriend runs in here, saying that Fiona was snogging Paul and then she jumped me!"

"With your track record mate, you can see why Heather gave you both a smack!" Bill laughed. god, he loved how feisty Heather was.

"You know, for once in my life I hadn't done a thing to deserve it!" David looked around the bar for Fiona.

"She might have gone off with one of her relatives for all we know." Bill comforted David, got a couple of pints from the bar and handed David one, "She will have sobered up, you can talk to her about what went on. You know Ninj, she will come round."

"You know, she has been acting pretty weird, not wanting to talk about things.., us.., you know she can talk the devil out of these things." David sighed into his pint. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of red hair dart across the reception area in jeans and a t-shirt.

"Shit!" he said out loud and threw his pint down and took off towards the front of the hotel. He saw Fiona with all her bags her way to a cab. He reached the vehicle as she was about to get in.

"Fiona! What are you doing?" he shouted.

"Leaving!" she shouted back. She was a bit wobbly on her feet. She thanked god for her gazelles.

"What, why?" he grabbed the door of the cab and stood blocking her getting in.

"David, please..," she said in a small voice, she looked at him pleadingly, "please let me go."

"Why? I thought....," he gestured to the hotel, "I thought we had made up."

"No David, we just ended well." she placed her hands on his hips and moved him out of the way, "Please don't try to find me, have a great life, goodbye."

David stood out of the way. Shock rooting him to the spot as the cab took her away. He turned around to see Heather, Bill and Paul in the Hotel doorway. He turned back silently and stormed towards the group.

David pointed to Paul and growled, "You and I are having a talk." David led the way to an empty table in the bar area. Paul silently sat down and faced him.

"What did you both talk about?" David asked firmly. The anger boiled inside him.

"We talked about us, why I stayed with Gillian. Why I didn't try to find her, why she ran away, you know...stuff." Paul shrugged. He was beginning to feel sorry for this guy. Fiona had done a right number on him.

"You know the stuff you spoke about? Well, one-minute buddy, I am with her, then the next she talks to you and makes out with you – apparently." Paul made to interrupt and David raised his hand to silence him, "Then your crazy assed girlfriend jumps on me and tries to get to third base. My girlfriend sees it and then ups and offs, leaving me at her family wedding all on my own." David moved closer to Paul and hissed, "So that STUFF, I think is real important for me to understand."

Paul burst out laughing, "Mate..,"

"Do NOT laugh at me or I will not be responsible for my action so help me God!" David spat between gritted teeth.

"Mate, I am not laughing at you, I am laughing at both of us." Paul blew out his cheeks.

"Please enlighten me into what is so goddam funny about us!" David would take great pleasure in knocking that smug grin right off of his face.

"You know, she is deep that one! When she caught me with Gillian, she laughed at us, I am sure she told you."

David nodded and motioned for Paul to continue.

"What I am sure she hasn't told you is that about a month later, I get a call from her saying will I be in the flat and will I be alone as she wanted to meet. I thought, thank God! You know, I could talk to her, plead with her, possibly get back together. I don't know, it kind of gave me hope. Then, she turns up, good lord she looked hot. You know in that not trying way she has?" Paul looked at David and David nodded, "She had two bottles of wine, stood in our old kitchen, said she didn't want to talk about anything at all but she did want to screw my brains out and get shit faced."

"I take it you did both," David stated flatly, "but I am at a loss of what this has to do with tonight and do with me."

"Well if you let me finish, you will." Paul sighed, "I won't be so crass as to talk about the details but suffice to say it was some of the best sex I had ever had. She stayed all night in my bed, our old bed and when I woke up in the morning she had gone. At first, I thought it was gone to get pastries or a paper, as time went on, I thought perhaps shopping for groceries. Then bam! It hit me, she was gone. As in gone forever!"

"No talk?" David swallowed nervously. This seemed desperately familiar.

"No, nothing, not even a note. So, when we were talking today, I wanted to know from her, why she had gone back to you." Paul stated factually.

"What after I cheated on her?" David looked down at his hands.

"Yes! Why go back to you when she ran away from me?"

"Paul, I am almost dreading what you are going to say next." David felt his stomach hit the floor.

"She said she hadn't and that this was the same for her here with you as the last night we had together." Paul couldn't put it any kinder.

David paled and fell back into his chair he looked at Paul for some reassurance and noted that none was forthcoming.

"I am so sorry mate, I just.., I know what she will do. She will run fast and far, she has planned this. By the time you catch up with where you think she will be, she will have gone. Don't try her mates' cos they are a fortress."

"Shit!" David covered his face, "Paul thank you for letting me know, I have a lot to do now."

David took off from the bar and ran to the room to begin packing. He was disturbed by a knocking at the door. His heart raced hoping it was Fiona coming back, for his hopes to be dashed when he discovered it was Bill.

"Bill man!" David exclaimed. "Help me get packed up and ...," David ran around the room frantically.

Bill placed his hand on David's shoulder. "And what. She has gone, left, she doesn't want to see you. Let her be."

David slumped onto the bed. "How could she? I just wanted to tell her I would never do it again. Tell her how much she meant, means to me and now, now I just can't."

"Look, I know this is NO consolation at the moment. In a month she will have to see you." Bill said helpfully.

David looked up at Bill hopefully, "Why is that?"

"Because I am marrying her best friend. You will be the best man and she will be the bridesmaid- so you have a month to work on your speech."

David sat up and hugged Bill. "Best man! Really - oh I am such a shit mate. I am so wrapped up in me that I forgot to be happy for you!" He smiled broadly. "You are right, there is nothing more I can do tonight. Let's celebrate your amazing news! Can I ask you a favour?"

"Sure you can! I am the happiest man on the planet tonight!" Bill placed his arm around David's shoulder.

"Can you let Heather know that I did not kiss that mad woman." David could not take two Scottish women mad at him at one time.

"Ah sure, she knows! The punch was for shagging Grace. She just wanted to get one in when she had the opportunity."

"Wow are all Scottish women like this?" David asked.

"Hmm, I believe some of them might only verbally eviscerate you every week. They are known as the tolerant moderate ones." he laughed and motioned David to the door, "Look, she has done a runner. No amount of trying to get to her tonight will make her come back. Have a drink, let's try and think about your next move. We can try and quiz Heather on what she might do. Will that brighten you up a bit?"

"Not really, but it beats being in here on my own, berating myself.."

"Good man, now let's get locked and we can drive back tomorrow with force 10 from Navarone hangovers!"

Fiona looked out of the window of the last train back to London. She stared at her reflection in the window and wondered what it was about her that made her so easy to leave. From her mother to Paul and now David. Was it her lot in life to be alone?

Perhaps a move to Jersey with a new job would be her last move. She hoped it was. She would definitely look into becoming a nun or perhaps asexual as she was sure she would never ever fancy anyone ever again.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Well what do you think of what Fiona has Done?

Did David deserve it?

Does it explain the beginning of the book better

Comment and vote!