by CF Frizzell
“And so am I,” Mel stated and stuck a finger into Shay’s chest. “Please stay here.” Shay ran a hand back through her hair, exasperated, and Mel knew she was asking a lot. “Please.”
*
Two sets of heavy footsteps sounded on the stairs.
“Too late,” Coby muttered and grabbed a short two-by-four off the floor. She hefted it in one hand as she and Shay exchanged concerned looks.
Misty mumbled into Mel’s ear as she moved to stand closer to Coby. “I’m dialing nine-one-one in a heartbeat.”
Mel braced herself. The very last person she expected to see on her property—ever—was Sorvini. God. Shay with Dad and Sorvini? Could this nightmare get any worse? And Shay’s keeping cool for me, for us.
Her father reached the landing first. “Sounds like a rock concert up here, with the music so loud.” He stepped into the doorway, and Mel felt the walls inch closer. Someone turned down the radio.
Her father surveyed the room possessively. “Good to see things being tended to.” He stared at Shay, Coby, and Misty as he spoke to Mel. “Found Angie downtown, asked him to tag along for old time’s sake. He’s surprised so many Five Star men got the time off to work here today, Mel. How’d that happen?” Before she could answer, he blurted, “And who are you three?”
Mel cringed. Sorvini lurked in the hall behind her father like a hand grenade eager to blow. The minute he realizes Shay’s here…
Coby brought the end of her two-by-four to rest in her other hand. “We’re friends of Mel’s, Mr. Baker. I’m Coby Palmer, this is Misty Kincaid, and Shay Maguire.”
Boom.
“Maguire?” Sorvini hauled her father from the doorway by the shoulder and stomped into the room. “What the hell?” He spun to him in a frenzy. “You know what this one’s up to?” He jutted a thumb toward Shay.
Mel stepped up, tempted to spit in his face. “Get your disgusting ass out of this house.”
“Melissa!” her father snapped. “I’m in charge of this house, Jesus Christ!”
Always self-assured, Sorvini calmly nodded at Mel, and she wound up for what might come next. He pointed at her severely. “Maguire finally got to you, eh? And you let her in?” He squinted at Coby and Misty. “These her sicko friends?” He turned to her father and lowered his voice. “You got to get them out of here, Bob.”
Mel watched her father’s eyes flit from her friends to her mother.
“Connie? What’s this all about?”
“Angie,” her mother tried, “I’d appreciate it if you’d leave this matter to our family.”
Sorvini turned crimson with restraint. He glared at Shay.
“You—you know what you are. These people, they don’t want—”
“Get the hell out!” Mel shouted.
Her father pulled Mel to him by her arm, and Shay took a step forward as he barked into Mel’s face. “What the hell is going on here?” Mel tried in vain to wrest her arm free of his grip. “Did you hear me?” He shook her.
“Hey!” Shay moved a few steps closer. “Take your hands off her.”
“Who the hell are you again?” His fingers slackened, and Mel yanked her arm free.
“Her name is Shay Maguire,” Mel said. “She’s brought all these people, coordinated all this to help us, me and Nana. And you’ve brought him. He’s not welcome here, Dad.”
Sorvini closed in, sandwiched her between his bulk and her father’s. Her skin crawled when he leaned over her shoulder to whisper to him.
“She’s a dyke. They all are, you can bet. This is the one the whole damn town knows about, the one who started a thing with your daughter.”
Mel shouldered him back. “You’re a sick son of a bitch. And just days from going to jail for it. You tell Dad that? That you’re going to jail? I bet you didn’t. My father’s out of touch with the pile of human waste you’ve become, how big a sleaze you are.”
“Melissa!”
She ignored her father. A long time coming.
“Did you take advantage of his invitation to nose around our house? For what? To see how much you could offer for it? Fill his head with your shit?”
“Melissa, that’s enough!” her father yelled, but Mel wasn’t deterred.
“You’re a pathetic excuse for a man, Angie, a closed-minded, hurtful bastard, and the whole damn town knows that, too! I can’t believe you’re in my house. I can’t imagine anyone in Tomson would want you in their house.”
Sorvini stared at her as the heated silence in the room expanded. He looked past her to her father and raised an eyebrow.
“You notice she didn’t deny what I said?”
She could feel her father’s glare boring into her, expecting her to contradict Sorvini. Around her, everyone waited. Take a breath. Use your head.
She turned to Misty. “Please call the sheriff’s office. Tell them we need a trespasser removed immediately.” Misty hurried into the hall where all their friends had gathered.
“Wait just a minute!” Mel’s father ordered, watching Misty go. “I’m not removing—”
Mel thrust her hand up. “You’re not removing someone. I am. And as for a response to such a degenerate, forget it. Friends of mine are staying—if they choose, considering the hospitality they’ve been extended in the Baker home. I’m ashamed of what’s happened here and you should be as well.”
“I can’t believe what’s come over you, Melissa, but I’m putting my foot down.” He looked to Sorvini. “I’ll meet you out back, if you don’t mind.” Sorvini nodded and edged his way past them. “Angie, I apologize for this. For my daughter.”
“Oh, no.” Mel shook a finger at him. “Don’t you dare apologize for me. He caused all this. You should be apologizing to my friends.”
“They’re leaving,” he countered, and met each face evenly. “Collect your things and go. Now.”
“That’s not happening, Dad.” She looked to her mother for support.
“Melissa, dear. For now, we should just let all this go and let cooler heads prevail.”
Mel’s temples pounded as viciously as her heart. Disappointment in her mother nearly crushed her. He holds the cards…Nana’s power of attorney, the mortgage, the Chronicle.
Her father’s voice was tight. “You’ve overstepped for the last time, Melissa. We’re finished here. Every single one of you, out.”
“Have you lost your mind? Don’t you see their effort here? Don’t you care? Don’t you care what it means to me?”
From the doorway, Misty nodded and held up her cell. She tucked it into her shorts and unfastened her tool pouch. Coby gave Mel’s arm a little bump as she passed and joined Misty.
Shay didn’t move. Mel’s father stepped into her personal space.
“And you. Are you going to tell me what Angie said is a lie? What’ve you got to say?”
Mel held her breath as she envisioned Shay bashing her father’s face. She loves me. She won’t.
Shay turned away and gazed at her for several seconds. Mel absorbed all she could of the always-adoring eyes, now fierce but steadfast, reassuring. And she tried to imagine what her parents were reading into their exchange.
Shay refocused on Mel’s father. “Ever since Mel said you were coming, I figured we’d meet. And now I’ve seen enough to know just how little you care for your daughter.”
Red-faced, he scrutinized Shay from top to bottom, and his look soured. “Scum like you dares to judge me? Get the hell off my property. Your kind has no business here or near my family.”
Shay inched sideways until her shoulder touched Mel’s. “We’re all here to help your family, and I’m staying until Mel tells me otherwise.”
He snickered and shook his head. “Is that right?” He moved crisply up to Mel. “Spending just the past hour in town, I heard things I never dreamed I’d hear, things I couldn’t believe. How you’ve turned people against the Chronicle, particularly, and then rumors of this, of all things. As if the Baker name wasn’t being painted in a bad light alread
y, you’ve added this to it?”
“Dad, advertisers—”
Ignoring her, he bellowed at Shay. “I told you to get the hell out!” He whirled back to Mel. “What a foolish girl you’ve been, Melissa, and I’m thoroughly ashamed. This will cost you dearly, and you knew full well it was coming. Or did you conveniently forget our arrangement?”
Mel glared at him, frantically searching for the right words. She saw Shay retract a turn of her head and knew he’d piqued her curiosity. Her father didn’t wait for an answer.
“My own daughter. Never did I think you’d ultimately choose this route, Melissa. Once upon a time, you were smarter than this. Well, you’ve fallen back to your schoolgirl ways and made the wrong decision—again—and this time it’s over. You’ve dragged the Baker name through Tomson like so much disgusting laundry and I’m putting an end to it.”
“Stop, Dad. There’s no dirty laundry, for God’s sake. You need to see—”
“You need to see there are consequence for your actions. Do you seriously think you can repair the damage you’ve done? Was our agreement a game to you? Something you could just walk away from?”
Shay shifted uneasily beside her and Mel’s mind spun in a tumult of anger, heartbreak, and fear. I love you. Why didn’t I tell you sooner? Please don’t think you brought all this on.
“There is no damage, Dad. Damn it!”
“Watch your mouth! You know full well you’ve forced me into this. You signed that contract and now you’ve shattered it. You know you have. You want this depraved life?”
Shay did turn her head then and looked at her curiously. “You have a contract with him?”
Mel’s father nearly jumped at Shay. “Until you showed up!”
“Dad! Don’t talk to her like that! And do not blame her!” Mel angrily swiped at the start of a tear and knew Shay, especially Shay, waited for more. “It’s my life, Dad, and there’s nothing dep—”
“You’re done taking the Baker name down with you. There’s only one sure way to quash this once and for all, and you know what that is. So, tell me now that you’ll end this perverted nonsense, or that damn newspaper goes on the market tomorrow. Tell me!”
Shay turned to face her fully. “Mel? The Chronicle’s on the line here?”
“There’s no need to clean up our name!” Mel gulped down a breath. Words clogged her throat and made it hard to speak, hard to breathe. My heart’s in the way. She blinked back tears of frustration.
Her father lowered his voice to a restrained simmer. “I’m waiting. What’s it going to be?”
It had come to this. Nightmares had told her it would. How could she have let it get this far? She’d ignored the nightmares, the written restriction, the ultimate decision. That’s exactly what this is and has always been: a decision, a step I have to take.
The prolonged silence weighed heavily on her exhausted shoulders. Mentally, she scrambled to summon strength, to keep her head above water and not be pushed back under like so many years ago. Where was all the courage she’d mustered in recent days, the bluster that had helped her fight back? The guts to choose love over her dream? She forced back more tears.
Shay shuffled her feet and looked down. Mel could feel the somber change in her presence. Her nerves spiked when Shay cleared her throat to speak.
“Mel?” Shay didn’t reach out, but the hurt in her hushed voice did. The uncertainty, the sadness and defeat Mel now saw on Shay’s handsome face had appeared only once before—when Shay said good-bye as Dick Turner looked on in the Chronicle office. “Mel. I’m so very sorry.”
“Sorry?” Mel froze, mouth agape as Shay stepped around her father and left the room. She disappeared into the crowd on the landing and Mel felt her heart break. “Shay, no!”
Her mother stepped up quickly. “Please think, dear.”
“Jesus Christ, Melissa. Let that…that deviant leave,” her father said. Mel hurried toward the doorway, but her father grabbed her arm. “What’s the matter with you? My God. After all she’s done to you, to us, you’re chasing after her? Show some self-respect, for Christ’s sake, some respect for the Baker name!”
“How dare you call her that! I know you, and still I can’t believe this! Let go of me!” She struggled to peel his fingers from her elbow. “Damn you, Dad! Can’t you see what you’ve done?”
He pulled her farther into the room. “You brought this on yourself! And it’s plenty obvious what recourse you’ve left me.”
Mel freed herself with a savage yank of her arm. “Goddamn you and your sick mind!”
“You curse me?” He shook a finger in her face. “You can forget the Chronicle. This game you’re playing is over and you are finished. I’m calling my attorney as soon as I get back to the hotel. Count on it!”
Mel ran to the landing and everyone in the gathering looked away or down.
“Where is she?”
Coby muttered toward the floor. “We heard the bike leave, Mel.”
An icy swell started at the back of her neck and rippled downward until her entire body shivered. “This is all my fault.”
“No, it’s his, Mel,” Misty said. “I think Shay may need a little time.”
Mel shook her head with increasing vigor, her awareness returning with clarity.
“No, it’s mine. And mine to fix.”
She walked to where her father stood waiting and glanced at her mother before locking eyes with him. Heart pounding and her breath falling short, she released her deepest thoughts in her sharpest tone and with no reservation.
“This has gone on far too long. I should have done this so, so long ago, but didn’t. And you know why? Because I hadn’t met someone who truly mattered until now.” His eyebrows nearly met above his nose, but Mel railed on, undaunted. “I know you won’t even try to understand, but you need to hear it and you’re going to. I love Shay. No one’s ever made me happier. So go ahead and do what you want. Even if it were possible—which is isn’t—I wouldn’t change my mind about her. I’m not letting her go.”
“Melissa.” His tone had reverted to the slow, stern sound she’d dealt with since childhood. “You’re talking foolishness. This is ridiculous. If this is what you’ve become, it actually scares me.”
“Typically, you’ll see things any way that suits you.” Mel shook her head. “As much as I dreamed you’d be happy for me, I knew you’d never see beyond what matters to you. I’m disappointed that I won’t be able to share my happiness with my father, but not so much that I’ll set it aside. I’m not putting myself second anymore. Not to you or the Chronicle.”
He looked at her mother, but returned to stare at Mel with a hardened, resolved ire. “Your work here in our name used to make me proud. I’m removing you from all of it, Melissa, all of it, because I have to.”
“You didn’t listen to a goddamn word I said!”
“Oh, I certainly did. And I’m ashamed.”
“Fine. Be ashamed. Be anything you damn well choose. Be blind to my finding happiness at last, be blind to how much I care about the Chronicle. But know this: I’m done being bullied by you and that damned agreement. I won’t have hurtful people in my life, and that includes you.”
“What did you say?”
Mel looked back. “Mom? I’m sorry it’s come to this.” She faced her father. “You wield the power, Dad, so go ahead and take the Chronicle, and you know what? Take the house with it, and this work that’s been done for us out of the goodness of my friends’ hearts. And you can take responsibility for your mother while you’re at it. You want me removed? Fine. It’s all yours, because I’m out of here. I’ll get what’s left of my things in the morning.”
She stormed through the crowd on the landing and down the stairs.
Chapter Thirty
“You’re all dressed again.” Coby eyed Mel suspiciously around the open refrigerator door. “Going back to work?”
“Staying busy keeps me sane.” Mel glanced at the phone but no red light blinked; there wer
e no messages. Lately, she’d started wondering if there ever would be any.
“For the first time in a week, the three of us are awake in the same house together, and you’re leaving again just as I’m about to make us this exotic supper?”
“I hope you haven’t gone to any trouble. What are you cooking?”
“Burgers.”
Grateful for Coby’s effervescent humor, Mel had to chuckle, but noticed how odd it felt. She hadn’t done anything close to laugh since Shay walked out of the homestead. Seven days of no contact were taking their toll. And staying in the guest room Shay vacated bordered on the masochistic; Misty and Coby ordered her off their couch after the third night. Sleepless nights and reduced appetite were now the norm, and she spent a bit more time making up her face each morning to hide her drawn look.
“We’ve yet to catch you for morning coffee on the deck, Mel.”
“And, again, we didn’t hear you come in last night,” Misty said. “You can’t keep this up. Eighteen-hour days will make you sick.”
“They’ll have to get in line behind the workload. We lost another advertiser yesterday, and holding us at twenty pages is a financial marathon, not to mention agony.” She snickered abruptly. “Maybe I’ll just let it crash, then the Tribune won’t have to buy it.” She swung her satchel over her shoulder.
“I’m amazed you still go back to it, Mel,” Coby said, “that you’re still giving.”
“It’s not like a job you can just dump. A newspaper is a living, breathing entity.” Mel sighed toward her shoes. “There’s duty involved, not to mention what’s left of my pride and self-respect. The Chronicle’s been a part of me since I was a little girl. Just letting it run aground isn’t in me. Out of the question.”
“I wish your grandmother had come around, talked some sense into him.”
Mel sent Misty a sardonic chuckle. “That was never going to happen. And now that she’s in assisted living just two miles from him, it never will. I’m sure they get together regularly to bitch about how I cost them everything.”
“Amazes me that some people just don’t get it.” Misty shook her head. “Did your dad’s attorney say when he’s meeting with the Tribune?”
