Free Wishful Thinking (a journey that will change lives forever) by Melissa Hill Page A

were lucky to be together, and I did feel that you’d be the one I’d end up spending the rest of my life with.”
    Dara realised that he was speaking in the past tense. Did all of that mean that his love for her was past tense too?  Stupidly, she asked the question.
    “Don’t you love me anymore?”
    Noah sat forward and took both of her hands in his.  “I do love you.  But things have gone a bit weird lately, and I really think we need some time apart. For both our sakes.”
    “But how much time?  If you go off travelling with Charlie, who knows when you’ll come back? And when you do decide to come back, what makes you think I’ll still be sitting here waiting for you?”  She knew she sounded petulant and childish, but she couldn’t help it. 
    “That’ll be up to you,” he said.
    But something in the way he said it made Dara decide he didn’t really care one way or the other.  With that, she went on the defensive.
    “Well, go then, Noah Morgan!  Go off on your big round-the-world trip!  Go to Asia and India and wherever you like! You can go to bloody hell, as far as I’m concerned!”
    It seemed Noah had also reached the end of his tether. “Fine!” he countered. “I will! To be honest, anywhere would be preferable to sitting here listening to you going on and on about bloody wedding bands, and ‘dinky invitations’!” he mimicked cruelly.  “Jesus, Dara, you should hear yourself sometimes.  These days, you’ve turned into a bloody psycho!”
    “A psycho!” she countered.  “A psycho! Well, now that I think of it, perhaps you’re right! Maybe I am a psycho, because only a psycho would put up with someone like you, Noah Morgan.  Someone who after three years of a bloody good relationship could just up and leave like that.   Someone who says ‘Oooh, I want to take a break, Dara!  I feel trapped, Dara!’ You never had any problems being trapped when it suited you though, did you?” she accused angrily. “You never had any problems being trapped when you decided to quit yet another job that didn’t suit, and your psycho girlfriend had to pay your rent for you, did you?”
    With that, Noah picked up his coat and headed for the door. “Talk to me when the rant is over, Dara,” he said caustically and then, giving her a final appraisal in her wedding dress, told her. “Talk to me when the Dara I fell in love with comes back.”
    With that, Noah slammed the door behind him. 
    For a very long time afterwards, Dara sat on the couch, stunned and defeated, hot salty tears running down her cheeks, and staining the delicate satin of her ‘borrowed’ wedding dress.

Chapter 6
     
     
    “So, what happened then?” Ruth asked, hiccupping slightly when Dara had finished recounting her mortifyingly embarrassing ‘Bridezilla’ story.  Although, she had to admit, the ensuing years (and the few tequilas) had dulled the humiliation somewhat.
    “What?”
    “Well, surely that wasn’t the end of it,” Ruth went on.  “I mean, if the two of you had such a brilliant relationship, then surely you had it all out properly before Noah went away.”
    Dara shook her head.  “Not really.”
    Notwithstanding the fact that she’d been ashamed and embarrassed by her behaviour, Dara was also incredibly hurt by Noah’s rejection of her – his rejection of a real future together. “He phoned a few times and left messages with Clodagh, but I didn’t want to talk to him.” She sighed. “I was playing mind games I suppose, stupidly thinking that if he knew how upset and hurt I was, he might not go away.”  When Ruth made a face, she tried to explain. “I know, I know, it sounds pathetic and incredibly childish. But our relationship was a bit like that. More often than not, my little sulks and tantrums worked because Noah normally hated arguing with me.” She smiled, remembering.  “He was always the one to give in and be peacemaker.  Stupidly, I presumed the same thing would happen