AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"Melissa, why are you undressing? We're in a car. You aren't supposed to do things like that."
"Relax, Mother, you got snot all over my shirt. I have to look decent. I can't walk into a party with snot on my shirt."
"Well, you're right about that; I just hope no one sees you. That red bra is awfully sheer; I can see right through it. Your nipples are on display."
"That's the style."
"I've never worn red undergarments in my life," her mother said; she crossed her arms and huffed.
"You should give it a try. You're still young, Mother; I'm sure plenty of eligible Mississippi gentlemen would love to see you in a pair of red undergarments."
"Melissa, what has gotten into you? Is this how they talk in New York City?"
"No, I'm just tired, Mother. Let's go party." She got out of the car and grabbed her rolling luggage before walking up the steps of the sprawling porch like she was facing a firing squad.
Friends from high school. Melissa didn't have any friends from high school. She had one friend from high school, but Tammy was long gone, or at least she hoped she was long gone. She hadn't spoken to Tammy since shortly after she left. They had tried a phone call here and there, but it quickly turned to months of radio silence, which lengthened to years. Until finally, Tammy was only someone she had known long ago.
As if she had conjured her up with her thoughts, the first person Melissa laid eyes on as she opened the mahogany doors that led into the entranceway was Tammy. A lot heavier, with a big round belly that she had her hand protectively over and a big smile on her chubby face. Her one and only friend Tammy. Oh, Tammy. She must not have made it out.
"Welcome home!" the crowd shouted. And Melissa forced herself to smile and begin greeting her guests. She knew most of them, and the ones she didn't know, she could guess who they were by who they referenced or stood near.
There was Marge, the wife of the guy who owned the county's only auto dealership. She was with a younger girl, who Melissa assumed was her oldest daughter. Then there was Mr. Keller, owner of the hardware store, Doc Mallet, and Fannie Turpin, who had a ring on her finger, but Melissa didn't see a husband hovering. She greeted everyone by name, and they smiled back like this was a great accomplishment. Melissa had learned how to work a crowd in her time in New York.
Tammy trailed in her wake as she greeted everyone, keeping up a steady droning monologue about her life in-between Melissa's pleasantries with the guests.
"I married Ted, you remember him, right Lis?" Melissa nodded as she accepted an overly friendly hug from Tipper Prat, who was now working at the golf course in the neighboring county.
"Ted, he talked me into coming back. He was right; I didn't belong out there. Everything moves so fast, and the people just ain't like the people back home. Meaner. They don't say hello on the street and if you do wave and say hello they look at you funny. You know. Well, Ted, he proposed, and I realized I missed home, so I came back, and we got married," Tammy said. She flashed her hand in front of Melissa's face so she could see the microscopic diamond. The too-fast-paced place she was talking about was New Orleans, one of the most laid-back cities in the country. Melissa could only nod her head in response.
"This is number two," she patted her protruding belly and smiled an almost silly smile. "Tommy's gonna be a big brother. I think this one's gonna be a girl. I can feel it. Ted wants to name her Tina. Because–"
"All the T's," Melissa finished for her. It was a toxic trait of hers to finish people's sentences, but now that she was in her home town all her attention was on survival and not correcting her ingrained toxic behavior like she did in New York.
"Yeah," Tammy said. Her smile slipped slightly. "Tommy's almost potty-trained, and Ted wants to have three total, but he needs to get another promotion; kids are expensive." All Melissa could do was continue to nod as Tammy went on and on about her life, the town, and what hadn't changed since she left. Not much, from what Melissa was hearing. There was a new boutique owned by Nick Grayson's wife. He met her at USM. A transplant from Mobile. She was nice, even though she was a city girl. Tammy's words, not hers.
When Melissa neared the kitchen, she patted Tammy on the arm, begged off, and made a dash for the quiet of the back of the house, desperate for anything to get her out of the insanity of this party. The insanity of what it meant to be home.
Home. No, this wasn't home, she thought. It never had been. Or that is what she told herself. It had only been a place she had lived in her mind. She had never felt welcome. She had never felt comfortable. And here she was again and just as uncomfortable as she remembered. She sometimes thought she was exaggerating her memories in the years she had been away. Giving herself an excuse not to return home for a holiday or birthday. It could have been the case. Melissa really didn't know what home meant, she didn't feel it here, and if she was honest with herself, she didn't feel it in New York either. Maybe she still needed to find home.
Melissa pried open the fridge doors and leaned in. A few beers were in the back, so she grabbed one of the dark bottles. She poured it into a red plastic cup to be inconspicuous. No one was drinking. It wasn't a dry county, but certain decorums were expected. The beer was probably left over from her father. It didn't taste old, though. Melissa sighed as she swallowed a big gulp and leaned on the fridge; the cool of the appliance's exterior felt great against her over-heated back.
"That bad out there?" The male voice had her eyes popping open and her back stiffening. Her eyes widened as she took in the most exceptional piece of man flesh she had ever laid eyes on. He was well over six feet tall and very fit, his shirt stretched across broad shoulders that tapered down to a slim waist.
He had dark hair, almost black, and the brightest green eyes she had seen on a human being. They were made brighter by his tan skin and dark hair. They were compelling and unique eyes, a color she hadn't seen beforeon anything other than a cat…or maybe she had? A brush of familiarity niggled at her brain. She knew those eyes. Or thought she might. She had to know this guy; she knew everyone in the town or knew of them. Those stunning eyes that looked kind of familiar were set in a very handsome face. A face she wouldn't have forgotten. Familiar but not. Maybe someone's older brother or cousin? It was there, some sort of recognition, but she couldn't place him. She would have remembered someone this good-looking.
"No, just thirsty," she said. She motioned in the air to play off her initial shock. "Who are you?"
"You don't recognize me, Melissa?" He smiled, and if she wasn't mistaken, her panties actually dampened. His teeth were perfect and straight, the pink of his tongue catching against his front tooth as he took her in. She tried very hard not to preen at his perusal, stick her chest out a little further, cock her hip. What was it about Mississippi that turned her into a horny teenager?
"Honestly, no, did we go to high school together? I think I would have remembered someone like…" her words cut off. She didn't want to say what she was about to say.
"Someone like, what?" He asked, and Melissa just shook her head and rolled her eyes. She would not answer that; she motioned for him to go on.
"Yes, we did go to the same high school. But not at the same time. I just graduated."
"You just graduated?" Melissa gulped. There was no way this guy was still a teenager.
"Well, not just graduated. I didn't mean it like that. It's been three years. You still don't know who I am, do you? Think, pain in the ass, neighbor."
