Make Me Melt (3 page)

“It was worth a shot
wasn’t it? Once I saw you growing so fast I couldn’t help but want to keep you
my little girl.”

“Maybe.” Vicky stood
up from the table. “Mind if I warm this up later? I’m not that hungry right now
and I could use a walk.” 

“Want some
company?” 

Vicky smiled. “Maybe
tomorrow. I won’t be long. I just want to get some fresh air and walk through
some of my achiness. It was a long car ride today.” 

“You got it,
sweetheart.” 

Kissing her mom, she
put on her coat and headed out the front door. She had no idea where she was
going, only that she needed to get out for a while. Their talk with had gone
better than she’d expected, and now she wanted and needed some time to
herself. 

The twinkling lights
of the city Christmas tree caught her eye. She looked over at it and recalled
so many fond memories. Lost in nostalgia, she crossed the street and walked
toward the park. Before she even realized what was happening she found herself
mere steps from the park. 

A subtle breeze
whispered off the foothills. Snow flurries danced along the sidewalks and
roads. With only silence surrounding her, the town felt almost abandoned.
 
One that hadn’t had a resident in quite some
time. Only the hum of streetlights sounded as she made her way to the tall evergreen.
If it hadn’t been for the lights shining through the windows she would almost
swear she was the only person in town. 

Crossing the
wide-open lawn of the park, she came upon the tree and looked up at the lights
glittering in the cold winter night. The different hues of blues, reds, greens
and yellow flickered as they moved with the blowing winds. The branches swayed
slightly and a sense of peace washed over her. She closed her eyes and
smiled. 

This was Dove Creek.
This was home. 

Chapter Four

Michael stood in the
shadows of the city park and looked from afar at the woman who had crept up on
him in his moment of solitude. She wore a knit cap atop her head and was
bundled up in a thick winter coat. He couldn’t see her face, but something
about her seemed familiar. 

He could barely make
out any features from the angle he stood. She stood with her back to him, with
only a hint of her profile visible. She appeared to have a small button nose
and long curly dark hair. 

As he looked on and
studied her more closely he started to notice similarities in her that reminded
him of a girl he once knew. A girl who for many years had made him feel things
he didn’t think possible of a teenage boy. 

No. It couldn’t be
her. 

He remained quiet,
not wanting to startle whoever she was. A normal person would have greeted her
or made his presence known as soon as she set foot in the park. Instead he had
been spying on her like some sort of peeping tom for the past few minutes. If
she caught him now his homecoming would most likely be fraught with him having
to explain his creepy actions to the county sheriff’s deputies. 

A bunny ran out from
behind a tree and stood only feet away from the woman. He watched in amusement
as both he and the small rabbit were staring at this woman without her being
any the wiser. 

He no sooner had the
thought when she turned her head and spotted the little fur ball. She bent down
and extended her hand to the animal. 

The light from the
street wasn’t enough to illuminate her face, and the twinkling bulbs of the
tree cast her in a silhouette, making it nearly impossible to see anything more
than he already had. 

He still didn’t even
know why he couldn’t take his eyes off of her. Creeping around in parks and
watching women from a distance wasn’t exactly his forte. Something about her
kept his interest and prevented him from moving. Maybe because she reminded him
of that girl he knew so long ago. Or maybe because she looked so peaceful he
didn’t want to disturb her. Then again, he knew the more probable reason was
that he had spent far too long in the sandbox and any woman could turn his head
with very little effort. 

Slowing inching
toward the animal, the woman spoke softly, “Come here. It’s okay.” 

As soon as he heard
her voice he knew exactly whom he’d been watching and what it was that had kept
him from speaking out. She didn’t just remind him of that girl he once knew.
She was that girl. She was Vicky. 

My Vicky. Damn.

A rush of emotions
came back to him in an instant as he recalled the last time they had spoken.
The argument had been ugly. They both had said some shitty things to one
another, things that he regretted to this day. His lack of maturity had been
his downfall with her, and the hell of it was, he’d been crazy about Vicky
Browning. 

He closed his eyes
and drew in the cool winter air as he recalled that summer, the summer she’d
hooked him. In a very short time she’d become the center of his world. Since
their breakup he had never been able to find a woman that got to him the way
that she did. And here she was, standing before him with only a few yards
between them. 

His mother told him,
not so subtly, that Vicky had gotten married some years back. He’d been in Iraq
at the time and he’d read it in one of her letters while sitting in a foxhole
in the desert. At first he scoffed at the news, telling his mom in his return letter
that he’d long since forgotten about her. That hadn’t been the truth though.
For years he thought of her, even missed her. 

The bunny scampered
away when she got too close and she stood watching it disappear into the tree
line on the far side of the park. Her face was turned toward the street lights
and for the first time he finally got a good look at her. 

Damn if she didn’t
look even prettier than he remembered. Her button nose was reddened from the
cold. Her plump and round lips were separated only slightly as he watched her
warm breath seep out into the cool winter night. 

He still couldn’t
believe it was really her. He didn’t come home often himself, but from what his
mother told him years before, she hadn’t been home at all since she went off to
college. 

The first few times
he’d been home after joining the Marines he’d hoped to run into her. It
obviously hadn’t been in the cards and after a while he stopped wishing. He
knew he fucked up with her. He’d said and done some shitty things when they’d had
that fight. Still, he was only a stupid kid. How in the hell does any eighteen
year-old handle the news of becoming a dad? He didn’t know how to act. It was
ultimately that stupidity which cost him the one thing that mattered to him.
Her. 

Without even
realizing it, he let out a sigh and caught her attention. 

“Who’s there?” she
asked.

Way to go dumbass.
He’d been so lost in
thought he hadn’t even been paying attention to his actions. She always had a
way of distracting him. Apparently that hadn’t changed. 

Stepping out from
behind the tree, Michael waved his hand. “Hi, Vicky.” 

“Michael?” 

“The one and only,”
he answered while stepped closing toward her. 

Her mouth hung open
as they both stood staring at one another. He tried as best he could to not focus
too much on that mouth that had given him so much pleasure in his younger days.
Forcing himself to remember that he was no longer a horny teenager who couldn’t
keep his hands off of her, he looked up at her and smiled. 

“It’s been a long
time.” 

“Yeah…I guess it
has.” 

He wasn’t a man of
many words, but he wasn’t a moron with the ladies either. He knew how to talk
to women. In fact, he had a few on again off again girlfriends back home at
Twenty Nine Palms. Still, he stood here silent and all but frozen in place as
he looked into the eyes of the only girl he’d ever uttered those three little
words to. 

“So, how have you
been?” he asked, trying desperately to kill the awkwardness of the
moment. 

“Umm… okay I guess.
You?”

“Not bad.” 

“How were things in
the Marines? Are you still in?” 

“Yeah. Going on my
fourteenth year. Gunnery Sergeant Michael Barnett at you service, ma’am.”

She smiled. “That’s
great. I know how much being a Marine always meant to you.” 

“That’s right. Ever
since I heard about my dad’s service during Vietnam I knew there was nothing
else for me.”

His words came out
sounding more harsh than he’d intended. He dropped his head down and shook it
from side to side. The phrasing had been far too similar to something he’d
shouted at her in that final argument back so many years ago. 

“Hey, I didn’t mean
to—” 

“It’s okay. You don’t
owe me any explanations.” 

She gave him an out,
reminding him of the polite nature he always knew her to have. That in and of
itself made him feel like an even bigger ass than he already did. 

“No, it’s not okay. I
know how that sounded.”

“Michael, really.
It’s not a big deal. But, it’s getting late and I should be going.” 

“So soon?” 

“Yeah. I just came
out here for some fresh air and to get away from my well-meaning mom.” 

He grinned. He’d
always liked Connie, but he knew how much she fretted over her only child. “How
is your mom?”

“She’s good. I’ll
tell her you asked about her.” 

“Yeah, please tell
her I said hello.” 

“I definitely will.”
She nodded and shifted in the snow. “Well, it was nice seeing you again,
Michael. Please tell your mother I said hello as well.” 

He watched while she
turned away and every part of him wanted to grab her and spin her around. Was
it wrong to want to kiss a married woman? Whether it was or not he didn’t care.
He’d somehow managed to forget over the years how pretty she was. Age had only
improved the perfection that he remembered her as. 

Fuck. Don’t go.

“I’m sorry,” he blurted
out.

Several feet away,
she turned back to face him. “What?”

“I never apologized.
I should have. And I didn’t.” 

“Michael, it was a
long time ago. You don’t have to apologize.” 

“Yes I do.” He took
several steps forward. “You deserved an apology that night. I don’t know why I
didn’t say it then. Or even the next day. But, I was sorry. I am.”

She smiled and tilted
her head to the side. “Oh, Michael, thank you. But, really… it was a long time
ago. Any hard feelings we had toward one another are in the past. At least I
hope they are.” 

“You always were too
good to me.” 

“We were young. It
was a scary time for both of us. Let’s just forget about it.” 

“Okay. But, I am
sorry.” 

With a somber smile
and nod of her head, she replied. “I’m sorry, too.” 

He held out hand,
extending it to her. “Friends?” 

Laughing, she shook
his hand. “Friends.”

He shook his head and
took in the sweet sound of her laughter. “You always did have an adorable
laugh.” 

“And you always knew
how to sweet talk the ladies,” she added.

He winked at her.
“You know what they used to say about us Barnett boys.” 

“Oh, I remember.”
Pulling her hand away she looked back toward her mother’s street. “I really
should be going though.”

“Sure.”

“Good night, Michael.
It was nice seeing you again.”

He nodded and smiled
as she turned to walk away. It struck him how gorgeous she was, even after all
of these years. How he had been so stupid as to screw things up with her, he
had no idea. Testosterone and stupid machismo had been his worst enemy when he
was met with adversity. Now a grown man, he would have done anything to redo
that part of his life. 

Get over yourself, Michael. She’s a married woman now. 

Turning to sit on a
bench, just across from the city tree, he kept his eyes on her. All bundled up
in her coat he could still see the gorgeous body that was hidden beneath what
she wore. 

What he wouldn’t give
for just one more night with her. Damn, but she could set him on fire. The
things she could do to him, the way she made him feel. Her voice, her touch,
the way her mouth felt against his. Fuck but he missed it. 

He never realized
just how much until he stood mere inches away from her. Now that she was
married and a grown woman, he couldn’t help but long for simpler days when they
had only one agenda, each other. 

Chapter Five

Vicky watched her mom
buzz around the kitchen with the energy of a hundred toddlers. It was sweet to
see her so happy and joyful for the holiday season. She knew she’d always loved
the Christmas season. Seeing her on such a natural high was no surprise, though
she had a pretty strong feeling her returning home had added an extra kick in
her mother’s step.