Remember Me by Heather Moore

was
unimportant, all that mattered as far as Catlin cared was that Maria was back
in the room with her and not off on some voyage to the past.
    “I
apologise, but when you’ve heard my story, our story, I am certain you will see
why it is that this has had such an impact on me.”
    “What
do you mean, ‘our story’?” Catlin asked, but had a horrible stomach-knotting
feeling she was in possession of that answer already.
    “Mine
and Ben’s,” Maria replied, confirming Catlin’s suspicions and sounding like a
guilty mistress who had been confronted by the betrayed wife.
    It
took considerable will power on Catlin’s part to remember that Maria, who was
gazing dove-like at the photo again, was not only speaking of a different
period in time but that she was a woman of nearly seventy years old and keep
from scratching her perfectly lined eyes out of her skull.
    “Ben
and I met shortly after he came out here to chase his dream of being an actor.
I was quite the spoilt princess back then. My father was wealthy, even by
today’s standards, and had many influential friends. The combination ensured I
had no difficulty in finding my way into the same industry Ben was slogging his
guts out in to gain the slightest amount of recognition.  It should have been
the other way around. He was far more gifted than I ever was.
    “We
met on the set of some police show, both of us as extras. Oddly enough, he was
not my type of guy, and our very opposite social circles meant that normally
I’d not have mixed with him, but there was no way a girl could ignore those
looks of his, not that he thought of himself as good-looking or remotely
handsome, which I suppose made him all the more attractive.” Catlin understood
that all right. “He was quite unlike any man I’d met before and there has
certainly never been anyone like him since. Intelligent, caring, funny, quiet and
serious, nothing at all like me. I used to drag him to the best nightclubs, the
swankiest parties and he hated it. He did his best to get me involved in his
interests, but in those days I threw a tantrum if I had to go without a
hairdryer, so camping or hiking through the mountains were not high on my list
of things to do of a weekend.
    “I
guess we weren’t remotely suited, but he was so rare a find I held onto him by
any means necessary. Don’t get me wrong, there were good times together, but he
didn’t quite fit in with the lifestyle I sought and I did the best I could to
change him. He refused to allow me to use my connections to help advance his
career, would not give up this poky little den and take a residence in an area
where I didn’t have to be embarrassed to bring my friends, despite his having
the money to. He said it was a waste of money, to move into a five bedroomed
house when it was just him and that it shouldn’t matter to his friends where he
lived, be it a palace or a park bench and if it did, they weren’t friends at
all. Stupid, wasn’t I? After falling for him because he was different from the
other men I’d dated I did my utmost to make him into one of them.
    “Then
his break came – Ben was offered the lead role in a movie, one which would have
made him a world re-known star. That photo was taken the night our gang went
out to celebrate. The young lady there, she was his leading lady in the film.
They began to spend a lot of time together, rehearsing together, nothing more
to it than that, but I was a jealous creature and when a mutual friend hinted
their on-screen relationship had crossed over into their personal lives, my
possessiveness and spoilt nature took hold of me. I flew into a rage and
marched around here one evening and accused him of having an affair with her.
He kept saying it was rubbish, but I was having none of it. I told him he was
useless, a failure and had no hope of succeeding as an actor and that it had
been with my assistance that he’d got the role and had nothing to do with his
alleged talent. For good