Part 8

The two men were walking alone the promenade. They had spent the morning walking around the shops in Brighton and had lunch in a lovely Italian restaurant that overlooked the seafront.

It was thinning out now as people were going home from their day-trips or back to their holiday accommodation or for locals back to their homes.

"Fancy a stroll along the beach Sy?"

Syed smiled and nodded back. They walked down the steps and onto the pebbles. Both of them were wearing flip-flops and they headed nearer to the sea and then found a quiet spot to rest for a while. The sun had been out today and for May it had been quite warm and the sun was starting to go down over the horizon.

They sat in companionable silence for a few minutes watching other people. A couple passed by with a young baby and the young lady had long dark hair and reminded Syed of Amira in some respects. He was deep in thought and didn't realise Christian was looking at him.

"It's alright to think of her you know."

"What do you mean?"

"Amira. We should be able to talk about her, she was part of your life Syed. I don't want there to be things that we can't talk about."

Syed picked up some pebbles and started throwing them towards the sea edge.

"You and me we've had a lovely time here so far. But I feel that there's this stumbling block when it comes to your marriage."

"I just feel awkward talking about her. Seems weird somehow."

"Why because she's not here anymore?"

"Sort of and because it reminds me of how I let her down."

Christian sighed "Look Syed you know the counsellor has said that you mustn't blame yourself. You have to look forward and not dwell on it. But we can talk about her and should. Things we did together the three of us. She was part of your life for some time. You shouldn't act as if she never existed."

"I guess you're right."

They were silent and Syed watched the couple walking off hand in hand.

"It's funny looking at them with their baby and knowing that could have been me and Amira."

"Is that what you would have wanted?"

"I've always wanted a family but I know that marriage for me wasn't right."

"A baby wouldn't have made everything better you know."

"I know that. I have friends who seem to have rock-solid marriages and then when they have kids, it all seems to fall apart. They are still together though as they have to. What sort of life is that?"

"A half one. A bit like the one you were living I guess."

Syed glanced over at Christian and didn't deny what he said. He nervously picked up some more pebbles. Christian decided to change the subject.

"So what do you fancy doing tonight? We could go clubbing if you want."

"Yes sounds good."

"I know a brilliant gay club just along from here. We could eat at the hotel soon and get ready afterwards. What do you say?"

"Yes fine."

They both stood up and started to walk back to their hotel. It was a few streets back from the seafront but was a lovely quaint hotel. They had booked separate rooms and much to Christian's disappointment their rooms weren't even next to each other but on different floors. They arrived at the hotel and went their separate ways to get showered and ready for dinner and then clubbing.