24. Craig

Craig

He watched Melanie as she pulled out of the airport car park and slipped into the stream of traffic flowing towards the city. She looked tired, he thought. Like she hadn’t slept in a week and couldn’t find any coffee.

When she stopped at a set of lights she looked over at him and saw him watching her. She smiled at him and in the smile he saw the girl he’d fallen in love with all those years ago. He thought that perhaps she hadn’t missed him while he’d been away but that smile told him she had.

The lights changed and Melanie turned onto the freeway that would take them back to Atlantis. Back home, he thought.

Craig had missed his small town family and his small town life while he’d been in London. It had been great to see his parents and siblings again but he’d missed his wife and kids more and more everyday.

“So Callie’s gonna look after Sam and Joel tonight and tomorrow,” Melanie said, picking up the conversation the two of them had started at the airport.

“That’s nice of her.”

“You say that now but you should’ve seen the evil grin she gave me when she offered.”

Craig chuckled, “Sometimes I wonder about your sister. She’s got a dirty, dirty mind.”

“That she does. That she does,” Melanie laughed.

It was raining lightly and Craig watched the water slide up his window without really seeing it. He was so tired everything seemed abstract to him. He didn’t mind the feeling but he knew he’d feel more alive once he’d slept.

“Your accent’s stronger,” Melanie said after a moment.

“Is it?”

Craig couldn’t care less about his accent. He never really thought about it. While he’d been in the UK everyone had commented on how Australian he sounded. But always in Australia he’d been told that he sounded English. It didn’t really bother him what he sounded like but other people seemed fascinated by it.

“I think it’s cute,” Melanie said.

“Well, I must say that I find your enjoyment of my accent most charming. It seems to me that only the most beautiful peasants are charmed by a real British accent,” he said, putting on an outrageous accent.

Melanie giggled, “Oh, Craig, I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too, my lady. Your beauty is second only to the beauty of our reigning monarch. I say that only out of duty to the state. In truth you’re more beautiful than she could ever dream of being and you don’t have a son who could probably fly using only his ears if he ever tried.”

“Have you been reading Oscar Wilde again?”

“How do you always know?”

“Because you start thinking you’re funny and making jokes about the royal family.”

“Hmmm, really? I’ll have to put an end to that.”

“No, don’t.”

“So you do love my razor sharp whit!”

“I never said that.”

“Then why don’t you want me to stop?”

“Because I love you.”

“You know, Mel, if you weren’t driving I’d kiss you.”

“Wait till we get home and I’ll kiss you back.”

Craig put his hand on Melanie’s leg and settled back into his seat. He watched the kilometres fly past the window and they drew closer and closer to the town he loved so much. Despite how tired he was the closer they got to Atlantis the more excited he was. There was nothing like coming home after a long trip.

[AUTHOR'S NOTE: Yay! I finnaly had a chance to actually write another story. Sorry it's been so long. Uni is a lot more work this semester. Please comment on what you like/dislike or want to hear about.]