Melanie looked up as she neared the Sainsbury's. She'd run out of peppermint tea and it was one of the daily indulgences she couldn't live without at the holidays. Ice cream and coffee treats weren't in the budget. But as soon as the green Twinings box hit the rubbish bin it was back on the list.

The day had started sunny and mild, but then cooled. She hadn't checked the weather that morning and her mind kept showing her pictures of her warm winter coat still hung in the closet in her flat. She rubbed her hands together and tucked them under her arms.

Then she saw Caroline. Sensible, perfect Caroline. Shining blonde hair at just the right length, half-up covering her ears but still somehow formal. Her just-right body perfectly wrapped. Just the right color scarf to match her lipstick. Glistening lips competing with and yet still complimenting ice blue eyes. Lined black gloves peaking from the pockets of her well-fitting coat in just the right shade for the season. Navy slacks breaking at her ankles to preview the navy heels that were, of course, just the right height to be practical and sexy all at the same time.

Mel stopped her hand from darting up to her cheek and her newest feature that wasn't in any way just right.

Her shock and joy and discomfort at seeing Caroline turned to anger when she saw the expression that ruined the entire façade for Melanie.

Pity. Caroline's eyes shone with pity and it disgusted Mel. She'd seen plenty of it from others over the last few months and taken it in stride. It was an incarnation of compassion she could abide from strangers. But not from Caroline.

She stopped short right in front of the other woman and gazed up at her. "Don't you look at me like that Caroline. After – everything. Don't you dare look at me like that."

She watched pity evaporate to be followed by surprise and then anger right back at her.

"Yes hullo to you too, Melanie. It's nice to see you." Caroline shifted her weight to one hip, pulled her hands from her pockets and crossed her arms over her chest.

It was mid-afternoon and there was only an occasional passer-by to cast furtive glances at the admittedly odd pair of women and their tense stand-off outside the grocer. It was unlike Caroline to make a scene in public and Melanie banked on that as she willed their encounter to be over sooner rather than later.

"Perhaps. Maybe not. I don't know if it is or not - really nice to see me - and so let's just keep it at this, and go on about our own business." Melanie looked at the store front, the cars passing, the ground. Anywhere but at Caroline.

It wasn't what Melanie wanted at all, to be going on about her business without Caroline and love. But nothing in her life was appealing to the other woman right now. She was sure of that. Broke, disfigured and untrustworthy would sum up Caroline's assessment. And while her own was a little bit more generous she couldn't disagree completely.

Either way, right now she was vulnerable in ways she'd never let the other woman see. Not anymore. She couldn't dwell on what was broken. More than Caroline's disapproval, this was why she kept Greg and Flora at arm's length. There was no point torturing herself by dangling just out of reach the life she wanted and couldn't have. All the years of waiting and wanting, come to this. Whatever else she deserved, this wasn't it.

Caroline reeled at Mel's reaction to seeing her. She didn't know what she'd hoped for, exactly, but this wasn't it at all.

Doubt or surprise maybe - they would have made sense and would have fit. But again she realized this Mel was a woman very different from the one she and Flora had met for ice cream so many months ago.

Beside them the doors to the market slid open and closed. Customers with trolleys and bags made their way around them. Caroline hated how exposed they were and how exposed she felt. She'd wanted to see Mel and she hadn't known how to work it the best way. Clearly this wasn't it.

"I want to go on about my business, Melanie, but I'm having a little trouble with that." Caroline let a plea creep into her voice and expression as she tried to chip away at the brick wall Mel had so quickly thrown up.

Apparently she'd made yet another mistake.

"Are you? I can't imagine why. You've landed right back on your feet, haven't you? A little dust to be swept from your shoulders but right as rain in the end, as always, yes? Sorry you missed a step along the way." Melanie turned her face to the traffic, to the perfect side and the profile Caroline so admired.

The scar was jarring. Not just to Caroline's memory of Melanie's smooth, round, contoured face but likely to anyone who saw her. She knew it would fade over time, but right now it was a nasty, blinding reminder of everything that had transpired in Brighton and the years leading up to the fateful weekend.

Caroline's temper flared with her frustration. She wanted Mel to look at her. She wanted to look at Mel. The other woman kept turning, kept moving and brushing at her hair.

She didn't think and put a hand up. First to Melanie's arm and then to her chin. She turned Melanie's face to hers and then dropped her hand back to her waist.

Melanie glared through Caroline but she didn't turn away this time. "Take a good look then, Caroline, if you want. Get yourself a good assessment of the price I've paid. Decide if it might be enough for you." Melanie's chin jutted into the air.

Caroline's mouth opened and closed. But she did look. And she did assess. And she still didn't know what to think or how she felt. She wanted Melanie back, but she didn't know how to open that door. Within herself, and clearly not within Melanie.

"Right. What I thought." Melanie looked up and sniffed. Tears stood in her eyes when she looked back down again. "So as I said, maybe we just ought to go on about our lives. I'm still in purgatory for you, aren't I? That's no way to live. Not for me, not for you. If you like you can have this count as closure for you, Caroline. Likely the last little bit you need to be shut of all this mess completely. Likely what you were looking for as you skulked about the block here week after week."

Bloody hell. She thought she'd stopped underestimating Melanie.

"I wanted to see you Melanie. That's all. I wanted to and I needed to. I miss you." Caroline shook her head. Watching Melanie cry provoked a sympathetic reaction. She pulled a Kleenex from her pocket and dabbed at her eyes.

"I miss you too, Caroline. But as we talked about in that awful hospital room where you broke my heart, missing and love aren't always enough. Be nice if life were like a fairy tale, like a book. But it's not, is it? Not at all. Not always closure and happy endings." Melanie turned and took a step toward the open market doors. "Not like that at all. So I wish you and Flora so much happiness. I really, really do. Find happiness Caroline, I want that for you. And for myself."

It was all going so wrong. Caroline had lost control of the moment and the conversation. She didn't even have time to savor it as Melanie suddenly put her arms around Caroline and squeezed, a tight firm hug that felt so final only after Mel stepped away and rushed into the market.

She stood flat footed on the sidewalk, hands once again thrust into her pockets and real tears now filling her eyes and rolling down her face. You idiot. How many times are you going to repeat this particular scenario with the women in your life?