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FACEBOOK’S LOST LOVE

    By
    Ron Shillingford

    SMASHWORDS EDITION

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    Facebook’s Lost Love
    Copyright © 2011 by Ron Shillingford

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    “Facebook again Mel? Don’t run away with him,
you’re a married woman remember?”
    “Four beautiful kids and stretch marks to
prove it, Connie. How could I ever forget being married to Mr
Perfect?”
    “All this correspondence with Justin can’t be
good though. What would his wife think?”
    “He’s happily divorced, no serious
girlfriend, one adult son who lives with his mum. I’ve told you,
Justin was my first serious boyfriend and when he contacted me
recently, we just clicked again. So much to catch up on.”
    Melanie was in denial. Facebook emails,
swapping of photos and messenger conversations had become her daily
afternoon thrill with Justin.
    Connie was worried. “It will all end in
tears. You’ve got so much to lose, Mel.”
    Twenty-six years after she transferred her
affections from Justin to date Paul who eventually became her Mr
Perfect, Melanie hadn’t given her former boyfriend much thought.
Justin was a skinny, poorly paid nerd working thousands of miles
away in England in the local library in Orpington. Until he
contacted her on Facebook out of the blue, Justin had barely
registered on her radar.
    There was no need to. They weren’t a great
match really. Anyway, it was only their mutual love of books that
brought them together in the first place. Science fiction,
paranormal, crime and fantasy were their favourite genres.
    James Bond novels were a particular source of
entertainment too. Justin Bilton wished he could live like Ian
Fleming’s character and despite his nerdy persona secretly
identified with the 007 super-agent. The only things Justin really
had in common with his hero were his initials.
    As soon as the more extrovert, dynamic Paul
came on the scene at the dentist surgery where she worked as a
hygienist, Paul could extract from Melanie whatever he wanted as
far as she was concerned.
    Paul Reardon’s expert dentistry and
impeccable chair-side manners set clients at ease. A keen rugby
player with all the injuries to prove it, apart from a repeatedly
broken nose, Paul’s chiseled face was unblemished. The crooked nose
was often a talking point, which he didn’t mind if it set patients
at ease and generated more business.
    The patients’ pristine teeth he sent to
Melanie’s surgery made her working life easier. After Paul’s flings
with a couple of dental assistants, the months of bursting for him
to ask her out were more painful than an untreated abscess.
    When it came to a straight choice between
Justin and Paul, it was a no-brainer. Life after Justin more than
lived up to Melanie’s expectations. Sort of.
    Now living in the Coral Cables district of
Miami, Paul’s British accent, polished manners and excellent
working standards had elevated him to millionaire status. They
lived on a two-acre estate overlooking Biscayne Bay in a seven-bed,
nine bathroom, two-storey villa. Cinema room, a wine cellar, a
library with fireplace, large patios for entertaining, manicured
lawns and the swimming pool were all testaments to Paul’s success.
Hired help kept everything immaculate. The dream life Melanie
wished for growing up in a tiny terraced house in Orpington had
finally arrived. Sharing a cramped bedroom with two sisters
throughout childhood was horrendous.
    From an early age she dreamed of escaping the
claustrophobic atmosphere at 43 Oakhampton Avenue. Outside toilet,
tin bath and no central heating for most of her formative years,
the