Home Again

Chapter 8 ghost of the past

At seven o’ clock, he was standing in the middle of the hotel lobby looking up at the skylight, when Melanie walked up behind him. “Hello handsome.”

“Your early,” He jumped.

“No, your early. I was already here, don’t you remember? I live here temporarily.” She had her arms around her back-swaying side to side.

“Yeah, but I can’t imagine you walking around in your hotel room looking that stunning every evening.” He scanned the blue satin as it hugged her tightly.

“Your right. I don’t usually look like this. I usually walk around with these huge pink curlers, a green face mask and those ugly slippers. Oh, and don’t forget my fleece housecoat. It’s my favorite. But Dang it I wasn’t ready to scare you off yet.” She smiled watching him playfully.

“Well, if I would have known that I could have worn my Scooby pajamas and we coulda had a pajama party.” He smiled towering over her. She was radiant and the moon shined off her hair through the skylight just perfectly, she looked like an angel glowing.

“I knew you’d be here an hour early; somethings never changes.” She smoothed the front of her dress.

“You fidget when your nervous, I agree some things never change.” He took her by the hand. “Shall we?”

“Yes,” She allowed him to lead her out the door and toward a huge black Toyota. She could see her reflection in the paint. Wow, still living high class, she thought.

He opened the door for her and held her hand as she stepped up to get in. He closed the door and walked around, and he took a deep breath. Here goes nothing, he thought.

They sat in silence for just a few minutes, but it felt to Melanie like decades. She could smell his cologne, which was stronger than it should have been. He must spend a lot of time in his truck. She thought, “So how have you been?”

“Busy I work a lot.” He gripped the wheel harder.

“Annie must keep you busy. She told me she is a cheerleader, a ball player and she is in a horse-riding club at school.” So, she was fishing for information. It’s not like she could google him online or anything he guessed.

“Well, Dena kind of handles all the school stuff. My schedule at work, Ann understands.”

“No! That’s terrible Bradley...” She paused, “I’m sorry it’s not my place.” she looked down at her unusually high heels from hell.

“Did she say something?” He frowned.

“Just that you’re not around a lot and she hoped you would marry someone else so that way you’d have to be home more.” She dared not meet his gaze or tell him the whole conversation.

“Oh, I guess I have been absent a lot since Daph died.”

“Daph?”

“My wife. I’m sure Dena mentioned her”

“She told me you were a widower but...”

“Yeah, Annie never got to know her” He interceded quickly. The topic of his deceased wife was not the subject he wanted to go into with her on the night he hoped they could pick up where they left off.

“She must have been very special to be able to tie down the uncatchable Bradley Wayne Singleton.” She glowered at him.

“She was a very special person, caring, loving and even smart. Smart enough to know that I didn’t really love her as much as I should have.”

“Oh?”

“I was in love with someone else.” Wow did I just say that! Way to go Brad, just shove that foot further down your throat buddy!

“Then why?” The air felt heavy and Melanie thought she would suffocate. Brad definitely had not changed straightforward and to the point as always.

“Why did I marry her? Isn’t that obvious? Annie!” His face was one of torture, he regretted a lot she could tell just like Dena had said. This was not the boy that walked away from her; this was the man that, without her, that boy had been forced to become.

Rick’s place hadn’t really changed all that much. The old model televisions had given way to flat screens and the paint had been updated. The same old jukebox sat in the corner, where many of the dances had taken place, even their first kiss, she recalled. The tables were even the same. Brad led her to the table in the back really close to one of the televisions which was playing a court show on it, Judge Bailey, she thought it said. She wasn’t really that interested but Brad seemed to be drawn to it. When he motioned for her to sit, she realized this was their table. They had their first date sitting across from each other much like now. Then many dates there after sitting side by side cuddling together right here. The memories were bittersweet because this was also the last date table. A lot of history has happened here; they had even carved their names into the wood. She traced their carvings Brad & Mel forever. “Oh Brad” She almost whispered.

“I thought you’d remember”. They shared a smile and Brad instantly got sucked into the current case on the television. That was the lawyer in him, she guessed.

“She wasn’t planned?” She pumped for more insight, “Annie” she reminded him as he seemed to be confused.

“No! I got drunk and she was there.”

“You just got drunk” That was not like Brad to drink and frolic.

“Oh, come on Mel!” He glanced at her sternly

“What?”

“Don’t play dumb Mel. I heard that song on the radio about your new family, your twins and your new happy life. I knew you had forgotten all about me. I realized it was really over, so I was drowning my sorrows here at Ricky’s and there she was. My life was over because you had moved on and that was that.”

About nine years ago…

This place is old and dank, he thought. How he couldn’t wait to take her away from this sad, pitiful life. He hated her being here and couldn’t believe the life she was leading. He shut off the engine and waited, glancing from this window to that window in the small truck stop and dinner. Ralph’s pit stop it was called; he double checked the sign. Her brother Dillion had made a scene at the grocery store acting like he had dropped a receipt and offering it back to him. The boy had always been weird, but calling him sir took on a whole other turn of strange. One would have thought after he had dated the boy’s sister for years and even been engaged to her, he could at least call him by his name. Hell, they were practically family. None the less, he took the paper and turned to talk to him, but he had taken off before he had a chance to ask him anything about Melanie. He had taken one look at the address and realized this must be where he could find her. It was like the girl had fallen of the face of the planet after their spat outside the ranch house. He had called Dillion and he said he really didn’t have time to talk but it would be in his and Melanie’s interest for him to check out that address on this night at about this time. Finally, his eye caught her in his peripheral vision. She was glowing and didn’t fit the environment at all, but her glow was tainted by a look of tiredness and stress. She was working too hard. It was high time he took care of that. In their new apartment, which was located just enough off campus that she would still be near while he was in class and she wouldn’t have to worry about work unless she wanted too. She could focus on her music. He was excited about telling her about it. He had taken a step inside when he noticed she wasn’t alone, she was laughing. Who? Justin. What in the world? He thought. The two were apparently parting, but for how long? He helped her up out of the booth and that was when he noticed. The glow wasn’t just her normal beauty and being radiant. Her abdomen was swelled up like a balloon, she was pregnant!!! He felt like he had been kicked in the stomach. Justin had won her, He quickly backed out the door into the rain, staring through the window as Justin kissed her cheek and went out the side door. He watched her only a moment longer, as she moved gently through the booths serving coffee. She truly had meant what she said. She wasn’t waiting for him. She had moved on and, worst of all, with his own cousin. He got back in the truck and began to pull out, when her voice began haunting him, but how? No! It was the radio. She had made the radio. He listened to her angelic voice pour acid on the wound. She had made it known all over the world she was pregnant. The song was about how she would tell the most special man in the world about their beautiful twins. Damn her and her special guy, did she suddenly forget the hell Justin had put her through, the name-calling and rumor-packing or the fights he had gotten into? The nights he spent with the sheriff defending her. Let her have him, then if he was so damn special, he flipped the radio off. Twins. He was pissed off, but at the same time, hurt those children should be his, she should be his, it was hard not to be mad but also hard to be mad at the same time. Hell, he left her standing alone. Who could blame Justin for being there to pick up the pieces? He hadn’t even noticed that he had made it home in record time until he was pulling into Big Ricks and ordering shots…

Present

Melanie was in shock, that song was her first single to ever make the radio. “The twins and me,” was the title. It wasn’t meant to mean that she had moved on. It was her attempt to tell him about them and that she still loved him, an attempt that apparently failed miserably. This was her chance. She watched him watch the trial, her chance to tell him about the twins. “Actually Brad about that...”

“Can you believe this?” He shouted and pointed to the screen. She nearly jumped out of her skin.

“What?” she turned to see.

“This woman kept this man’s children from him for eight years. He didn’t even know they existed, and she tried to get him to take her back. After he said No, she took the kids and ran. Now he is suing for custody. During the interview he’s talking about taking her back for the sake of the kids. Can you believe this i***t?” He looked disgusted.

“Well, maybe, he loves her and maybe she had a good reason.” She felt like dying.

“Good reason! Mel really!!! I would never forgive; I couldn’t forgive any woman who kept my children from me.”

Melanie felt like she had been punched in the chest, he would never forgive her. This was doomed and she would never be able to win him back. She must have been on the verge of tears because he immediately gentled and touched her hands, “What Mel? What’s wrong?” He looked so concerned, but how long would it last. “Hey, I’m sorry, I just got a little into it, I guess. Enough about that, you were saying something?”

“Oh, I was a… I was gonna to tell you that I…” She took a breath, “I was just going to ask how Annie felt about this? You know me and you on a date?” She couldn’t tell him not like this. Not in public, she would tell him in private.

He sunk down in the bench and pulled his hand through his hair, “She loves the idea. You are only the most awesome person in the world to her.” He smiled, “And her daddy thinks you are pretty great too” He held her hands across the table.

“Well, well, well, I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own two eyes.” A familiar voice bounded as it approached the table.

“Hello Justin”, Brad gritted his teeth.

“Justin!!!” Melanie grinned from ear to ear, releasing Brads' hands to stand.

“How have you been?” He beamed, “I’ve not seen you since Brad here traded you in for college and you were playing in that little bar up in Nashville.” He sent a sneering glance at Brad over her back.

Brad got to his feet quickly and, before he knew it, he had hit Justin with a crunch, sending the other large man sailing across the bar a good two feet away. “Bradley!!!” Melanie shrieked, turning to punch him in the shoulder. “What was that for?”

Senior year

Melanie had been waiting for this night all week. She was off work; there were no parents; it was just her and Brad who too was off work and all hers for the evening. No little sister although she loved Dena, no granny who hated her, no little brother and no friends, just them the way it used to be. She had picked out the sexist outfit she owned which wasn’t much, but it was the shorts he liked, and the lowest cut shirt she could rummage up. If this didn’t impress him, nothing would. Ricky’s hang out wasn’t the ideal place she wanted to be but here she was. The smell of hot grease and milk shakes hit her like a ton of bricks and she suddenly felt nauseous. Shaking off the feeling, she scanned the crowd for Brad, who sat in their booth waiting. But he wasn’t alone. He was with Marilyn Smith. Marilyn had been her best friend up until roughly freshman year when she had tried to steal Brad from her. Ironically enough the same time Brad’s cousin had tried to ask her out. The two of them had kept to themselves from the large group of friends ever since, so what was this? “Hey Babe” She slid in right beside him and wrapped her arms around his neck.

“MMM” He kissed her back and took the lead. He slipped his hand behind her back slowly and down into the back of her shorts.

When he let her go, she was breathless and thrilled; Marilyn not so much. “I got it Mel, your Brad.” She put her hands up in a non-threatening fashion. “No touchy Gosh, You don’t have to make a statement,” She chewed her gum.

“Not making a statement, don’t need to” She smiled, running her hand ever so slightly up the center of his legs, making him blush a little.

“And here I thought we could be civil.”

“Whose being civil?” Justin came up, pulling his coat off. “Whoa, look at you! Is it Halloween because I am a trick or treater and Imma love some of that treat.” He leaned down toward Melanie, extending his hand as if he expected her to take it.

“Back off Mullins”, Brad warned.

“What’s a matter Brad; afraid of little competition?” He leaned toward him, “Afraid she will pick me.”

“Not likely” Melanie scoffed, “You couldn’t hold a candle to Brad,” She smiled “But you know I heard Marilyn is looking for scrapes.” She bit her lip holding back the laugh that tried to escape.

Brad laughed and hugged her a little tighter. “You both heard the lady. I think we’d like to be a lone.”

“You know Melanie,” He leaned in close to her, “Your gonna see it my way one day, The truth that this over-privileged sack of swine is exactly that, feeding you false promises. He ain’t gonna take trailer trash to his big castle and make her a princess making a respectable woman out of you; especially when that woman comes in dressed like a two bit who...” Brad jumped across the table and grabbed him by the collar and began beating his face to a pulp; With both women screaming for him to stop.

“Brad, your gonna kill him” Melanie grabbed his arm.

He stopped and released him stepping back to his feet. “You listen here, son. You ever even as much as look at Melanie again, they’ll be cleaning your blood up for weeks. Come on Mel.” He slipped his hand around her waist and they paraded out the door and to his pick-up.