The Way Back to You

by Sharon Sala

  Sully laughed. “I’m beginning to remember why I fell so hard for you back in the day. You weren’t just a pretty girl. You had sass.”

  Melissa sighed. “‘Had’ is the operative word. I traded sass for guts and somehow got over being afraid to live on my own after Andy died.”

  “We are a sorry pair,” Sully said. “I’m at a dead end with my search, and life has bounced you around like a rubber ball. Maybe those biscuits waiting inside will make both of us feel better. Let’s go make friends with some food.”

  Peanut was sitting in the outer lobby waiting for a to-go order and talking to Lovey when they walked in.

  “Melissa!” Lovey cried, and came out from behind the register to greet her.

  Peanut stood up and shook Sully’s hand.

  “Girl, it’s good to see you up and about,” Lovey said.

  “And I need to thank you for the food you sent to the house after it happened. It was wonderful.”

  “You’re welcome,” Lovey said.

  “How’s that search going?” Peanut asked.

  Lovey frowned. “I’m sorry. I don’t hear so good anymore. What search?”

  “I’m searching for—”

  Before Sully could finish, a loud bang came from the kitchen.

  Lovey groaned. “Even with my bad hearing, I heard that. Sorry. I need to see what happened,” she said, and off she went, calling out to one of the waitresses. “Wendy! Two customers are waiting to be seated,” she said, and kept going.

  Wendy hurried to the lobby. “Your order is nearly ready, Mr. Butterman,” she said. Then she smiled at Melissa and Sully and grabbed two menus. “Follow me,” she said.

  “Could we have a booth, please?” Sully asked, as they entered the dining room.

  “Absolutely,” Wendy said, and seated them at the closest one and took their drink orders, leaving them to check out the menus.

  * * *

  It was almost 4:00 p.m. when Sully took Melissa home.

  As they were getting out, Melissa looked toward the house.

  “There’s a note on the door,” she said. She pulled it off as they went inside. “It’s from Ruby and Rachel.”

  “Rachel Goodhope?” Sully asked.

  “Yes. She and Ruby are bringing some food by around six. Yay. I won’t have to figure out what to cook tonight or tomorrow.”

  “You have really good friends here in Blessings, don’t you?”

  “Yes. This is home.”

  Sully ran a hand down the side of her face, lifting a stray strand of her hair from her cheek. “Your parents aren’t still living, are they?”

  “No, they’re not. They both passed when I was in junior college. Dad died of cancer, and six months later Mom died of a heart attack. I always said it was because Mom was so heartbroken without him. They didn’t even live to meet Andy.”

  Sully’s heart hurt for her all over again. “I’m so sorry.” Then he sighed. “I keep saying that, don’t I? You might not need a hug, but I need to hug you.”

  Melissa saw the empathy on his face, and she was beginning to like the hugs. She walked into his open arms and wrapped her arms around his waist.

  Sully felt her body curve to fit his and fought the longing for more.

  One hug led to a kiss on her forehead, and then a kiss on her cheek, but Melissa was the one who turned her head and caught the third one on her lips.

  It lasted longer than it should have, but it wasn’t enough. Sully reluctantly ended it, then cupped her cheeks, looking long and hard at the flush on her face and the glitter in her eyes.

  “Is this a place we want to go?” Sully asked.

  She didn’t hesitate.

  “Yes.”

  “You sure you’re not confusing gratitude for something else?” he asked.

  Melissa frowned. “I’ve been grateful to a whole lot of people in my life, but I never wanted to kiss them. However, if none of this plays into your plans, just say so. I’d like to think another man might love me some day, but I don’t need it to survive.”

  Sully’s gut knotted. He wasn’t sure what had happened, but it felt like she’d just climbed back over that wall behind which she’d been living.

  “Don’t, Missy. I wasn’t rejecting you. I was protecting myself. It’s hell to be attracted to someone who doesn’t share the same feelings.”

  Melissa suddenly shivered. “Are you attracted to me?”

  A slight smile shifted the contours of his face. “I guess I am. So how does that fit into your schedule?”

  She grinned. “I can move some things around.”

  He laughed. “There’s that sass, and thank you for making time for me. How does your day look tomorrow?”

  “While you’re waiting on your researcher for new leads, I could use a ride tomorrow.”

  “I happily volunteer,” Sully said, and grinned.

  Melissa poked a finger against his chest. “Don’t make fun. The need is real. I have to get a new insurance card, so I can get my driver’s license replaced, so I can rent a car. They’ll take another picture when they replace my license. Just look at me! Women fret about their hair and makeup when they have to renew their license. I have a purple face.”

  “As soon as the bruises fade, you can get the purple-face picture replaced. And since you’re in the business of washing and cleaning clothes, and I have clothes needing to be washed, how about I pick you up tomorrow. You take me to your laundry so I can drop off my stuff, and I’ll take you anywhere you need to go. And if some kissing and hugging happens between the two of us during the day, we’ll just enjoy the heck out of it.”

  Melissa grinned. “I know a good deal when I hear one. I’m in.”

  Sully laughed. “Awesome. Clean shirts and a hot babe in the seat beside me. What time do you want me to swing by?”

  “Anywhere between eight and ten okay?”

  “Yes,” he said.

  “Thank you, Sully…so much.”

  He brushed a kiss across her lips. “It’s all my pleasure,” he said, and then he was gone.

  Melissa locked the front door and went back to the kitchen. It felt so good to do things for herself again that she put a load of laundry in to wash, cleaned the downstairs bathroom, and was sitting in the living room with her feet up when her doorbell rang. She saw Rachel’s car in the driveway, and Ruby’s car right behind it, as she hurried to the door.

  “Hello, hello!” Ruby said.

  “Evening, honey,” Rachel added. “Lead the way to the kitchen.”

  “This is so thoughtful,” Melissa said as the girls set their boxes on the kitchen table and began taking out covered dishes.

  “I brought lasagna and a small tossed salad. You’ll need to add dressing. There’s also a meat loaf and some scalloped potatoes you can freeze,” Ruby said.

  “I brought a loaf of homemade sourdough bread, some orange breakfast scones, and a loaf of apple praline bread. There’s also a mini-cheesecake. Just right for two,” she said, and winked.

  “I have no idea what you mean,” Melissa said, which made the girls laugh.

  “I’m heading back,” Rachel said. “We’re really having an influx of guests right now. Besides Sully, I still have three elderly ladies, but they’ll be checking out after breakfast tomorrow, and another couple due tonight, so I need to prepare for all that. Enjoy your supper. I’ll let myself out.”

  She hugged Melissa, and then she was gone.

  Ruby saw the happiness on Melissa’s face and knew Sully was responsible.

  “I’ve known you a long time. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you happier.”

  “Sully and I go back a long way. He’s easy to be with, and you are a wonderful friend. The best people in the world are living in Blessings.”

  After Ruby left, Melissa locked up the house and head
ed for the kitchen. She took out a serving of lasagna, then put part of the food in the refrigerator and part of it in the freezer, and tossed the load of laundry into the dryer.

  When she finally got around to eating supper, she reheated the lasagna, added salad and a glass of iced tea, and ate it in the living room while watching the evening news.

  When it came time to go to bed, she went upstairs to her bedroom to spend the night. The sooner she resumed her normal routine, the better she would feel.

  She stripped in front of the full-length mirror on the bathroom door, turning first one way and then another, checking the bruising she got from the wreck.

  Her shoulder was still sore from hitting the door, and her chest was sore from the seat belt. But nothing was broken, and she was blessed to be alive.

  She thought of Sully again and shifted her perspective to how her body would fare in his eyes. She’d always been lanky. Long legs and arms attached to a less-than-sexy body. There were no voluptuous breasts, just a handful apiece, as Andy used to say. When she was younger, people used to say she looked like actress Sandra Bullock, but she never saw it. All she’d seen were dark hair and green eyes.

  Sully, however, had grown from a really cute teenager to a drop-dead sexy man with a body to match. And after seeing him without a shirt in the ER, it was easy to understand how he had been strong enough to pick her up and run. Staying fit had to have been part of his job.

  She turned away from the mirror and headed to the shower. A short while later, she came out with her nightgown on and her hair still damp from being washed. She checked to make sure the security alarm was on, then set her alarm clock and got in bed.

  The sheets were cool, but soon warmed by her body. The softness of the bed eased her aches. She fell asleep and dreamed of the time before, when Sully was still Johnny, and life was good.

  * * *

  Up just after daybreak, Melissa was getting ready for the big day ahead of her and excited she was spending part of it with Sully. She was trying not to dwell on how attached she was becoming to his presence. There was no guarantee that any of the attraction they were feeling toward each other would go anywhere but in and out of bed. But she was thinking about it.

  With a little bit of mascara and choosing what to wear with an eye on comfort and style, she’d picked a yellow cotton-knit pullover to go with straight-legged jeans, and reminded herself that her next hair appointment would also be the day for a touch-up on the color. She’d already had all the breakfast she wanted and had a to-do list. All she needed now was her ride.

  * * *

  Sully woke up to a text from Marilyn, telling him she had reached a dead end on the search, but if he had any more leads to let her know and she’d run them down. It was a disappointing message, but he sent her a text with a thank-you and a reminder for her to invoice him what he owed her, then went to shower and shave.

  Spending the morning with Melissa was way more fun than going through microfiche all day. If he was honest with himself, there was no need to choose between Melissa and a task that went nowhere. She was a draw all on her own. Even if he never found Janie, he’d found someone from his past who once meant the world to him. The attraction between them was still there, and he was hoping for more.

  He was feeling good about the day as he went down for breakfast. The three little old women were still there, but there were bags in the lobby. They must be leaving today.

  “Morning, Sully. What’s going on today? More hunting?” Rachel asked.

  “Not for a while. I’ve reached a dead end, and so has my researcher. I’m not happy about it, but I didn’t expect it to be easy. However, I’m going to be Melissa’s driver for the morning, so that’s a plus.”

  Rachel smiled. “Enjoy the day. There are buckwheat pancakes on the buffet, along with maple-flavored sausage links and scrambled eggs cooked with a little Gruyère cheese grated into them.”

  “Sounds great,” Sully said, and went to the buffet as Rachel filled the coffee cup at his table and moved on.

  A short while later, he left the B and B with his car keys in hand, thinking about the way Melissa’s eyes crinkled at the corners when she laughed. Yep, she was under his skin, and it was a comfortable fit.

  As he drove to get her, he passed the house where the old man with dementia lived, and wondered how they were faring. He thought back to how quickly Melissa had reacted, and how anxious for her he’d been when she jumped out and ran. It was hard to believe all those years were between what they’d been and who they were now, because it felt as if he’d known her forever.

  He got to her house and rang the bell.

  She appeared in the doorway within moments. “Come in. I need my shoes and a little lipstick, and I’ll be ready to go.”

  Sully came inside and shut the door. “Wait a second,” he said, and took her in his arms. “I thought about this all night. So before you put on lipstick, may I have a proper good-morning kiss?”

  Melissa threw her arms around his neck, homing in on his mouth with abandon, but whatever she’d thought it would be turned into something she hadn’t dared dream.

  His arms went around her; his lips opened up beneath hers. Within seconds, she’d forgotten lipstick and bare feet and was lost in the fantasy of being bare beneath him. One kiss turned into another, and then another, until on instinct, they both stopped and stepped back in unison.

  Sully’s heart was pounding. It was all he could do not to pick her up and head for the nearest bedroom. They weren’t there yet, but he still had a need to touch her, so he cupped her cheek instead.

  “That is one damn fine greeting,” he said.

  Melissa shivered. “Uh…I…”

  “Don’t explain it away,” Sully said, and brushed one last kiss across her lips. “You’re dynamite and lightning hiding there in that quiet woman’s body. Now go get yourself put back together, love. I’ll wait for you here.”

  “My things are in there,” Melissa said, pointing to the nearby living room. She went in and put her shoes on, added a little lipstick, then dropped it in her purse.

  She paused in front of a mirror to check out her appearance. Looking at herself was like looking at a stranger. She didn’t know who the hell that woman was, but she liked her.

  She tapped the mirror with her fingernail. “Just hold that thought,” she said softly, and left the room.

  Chapter 7

  Sully was sitting in the car waiting for Melissa to come out of the car rental agency. He’d picked her up two hours earlier, and that good-morning kiss was still on his mind.

  When they dropped his clothes off at the cleaners, he saw another side of Melissa as she shifted into owner mode. She introduced the employees and showed him the new dry-cleaning machine they’d just installed. He could tell the employees really liked her and were all sympathetic about what had happened to her.

  He and Melissa had gone next to the insurance company, then to replace her driver’s license, and now here to rent a car. It was the last stop, and he didn’t want it to be over. When she came out smiling, dangling the keys in the air with the owner of the rental agency behind her, he got out.

  The rental agent went over the details and inspection of the car with Melissa before going back inside. She mumbled something Sully couldn’t quite hear, then patted the trunk of the car and giggled.

  “What’s so funny?” he asked.

  “I just told her she has a nice butt.”

  “I’d tell you the same thing, but it might be mistaken for sexual harassment, so you can pretend you didn’t hear that come out of my mouth.”

  Melissa laughed, and as she did, Sully had his first glimpse of the Missy he’d known—the happy, bubbly girl who was always the first one to laugh at herself.

  Sully grinned. “You made a nice choice,” he said, eyeing the late-model white Ford Focus.

&nbs
p; “It’s new enough to be reliable, which works for me. You are now officially released from further chauffeur duties,” Melissa said.

  He frowned. “But what if I don’t want it to be over?”

  She thought of the good-morning kiss. “What do you have in mind?”

  “Nothing dangerous, I assure you. How about I follow you back to your place to leave the car, then we’ll have lunch. We can figure it out from there.”

  “I’d love it,” Melissa said.

  She got in the car and headed home, smiling all the way at the sight of the car behind her.

  By the time Sully reached her house, he had a whole new idea about lunch. She was already out and locking her rental car when he pulled up. There was a bounce in her step as she got in.

  “I had a thought about lunch,” Sully said. “Does Blessings have a good place to have a picnic? The day is so pretty, I thought maybe we could find a shade tree somewhere and eat there.”

  “I would love to do that!” she said. “There are great picnic tables at the park.”

  “Do we want to get something to go from Granny’s, or go to the supermarket and get stuff from there, or get something from the Dairy Freeze? It’s fast food, but—”

  “Oh, the Dairy Freeze for sure,” Melissa said. “I love their chili dogs and fries.”

  “I’ve had burgers from there and they were good, but I forgot to tell them to leave off the pickles. When I was taking them off, it made me remember you always ate the pickles off my burgers.”

  Melissa laughed. “I’d forgotten all about that. That’s back when you were still Johnny. But I’m used to Sully now, and it fits you.”

  “Then the Dairy Freeze it is,” he said, and drove up the street a few blocks, then pulled into line at the drive-through.

  “This is such fun,” Melissa said. “Thank you for this.”

  “No, thank you. Being around you has made me realize what I’ve been missing out on in life. I have friends, but I didn’t have anyone that I spent time with like this.”

  “I can’t fault you for that,” Melissa said. “I have friends here, but no matter how many times I was invited to things, I rarely went. I had crawled in such a deep hole that I had no idea how to get out.”