Another Two Months:
"Michael, are you sure you want to subject me to a home cooked meal, after only two months of dating?"
Vaughn looked at her over the serving bar that separated the kitchen from the living area of his apartment. "I have been told that I am quite a competent cook, and I will put a fine dinner on the table if you stop distracting me." Vaughn looked at Meelon and thought, 'She doesn't have to do anything but be in the same room to distract me.'
Meelon strolled around the main room. "You know, your furniture selection, is elegant and comfortable. And, you know, you don't have a lot of clutter. Most of the guys I dated before had a lot of clutter." Meelon continued to comment on the room as Vaughn brought out the salad.
"First course is ready. Do you want a refill on your wine?"
"Sure." Meelon hands him the glass. Their fingers touch. Vaughn feels the heat between them move from his fingertips, up his arm then turn south. 'Yes, she is quite the distraction.' Meelon moves back toward the main room.
Returning to her previous train of thought, Meelon begins, "Looking at this room, one might think you are fairly conservative."
"I don't think most of the people who know me would disagree with that statement."
"You aren't always conservative." Meelon gives him a leering look that causes him to step back. The look gives way to a smile and a promise of things to come. "But, your style is definitely conservative. Like this picture."
At first, Vaughn doesn't understand. Meelon repeats. "This picture here, in this antique frame. The frame is lovely, just not something you would normally see in a bachelor's apartment." Meelon takes the picture from the mantle and hands it to Vaughn.
The picture frame he had given to Sydney, their first Christmas together. The frame held Sydney's picture of her, Will and Fran. This was the only thing of Sydney's that he took from her apartment.
"Michael, did you hear me?"
"No..."
"Well, I asked who they are. In the picture?"
"Just some friends."
"Just some friends? On the mantle, in a rather expensive, antique picture frame? Michael, these are the only pictures you have displayed. Even you mother's picture is in your bedroom."
"Their friends from LA." 'Two who are dead...? I mean one dead... Sydney's... not...'
"Michael... Where are you?"
"... What?" Vaughn is startled out of his daydream.
"They must be pretty special to send you away from me."
"What? I didn't go away. I'm still here. I just hadn't looked at this picture in a while... um... salads are ready. Please sit and we will have dinner." Vaughn holds out her chair. Meelon sits and continues to eye him questioningly. Vaughn puts the picture on a table by the sofa and then sits himself.
They start to eat, silently. Vaughn's head is down, not looking at Meelon. His free hand is in his lap. "You know, you haven't told me anything about your time in LA. Did you like living there?"
"You know. It's LA... There's a lot to do, but it takes forever to get anywhere."
"Where did you work, were you a teacher there?"
"Um..." Vaughn is clearly uncomfortable now. His eyes are focused on the table. "I... uh... worked in a bank."
"A bank. Now I know you are conservative. What did you do?"
Meelon's question was interrupted by the kitchen timer going off. Vaughn stood up, "Be right back with dinner."
Vaughn removed the casserole from the oven. 'Gotta figure out something else to talk about. Get her off the LA track.' Vaughn carries the dish into the dining area. "Viola."
"Mmm, Michael, it looks and smells wonderful."
"Thanks, my mother's recipe. It has scallops, crab, tilapia, clams, a little bit of everything, baked in a secret French white sauce. Bon Apetit."
Vaughn served the meal and knew he had to turn the conversation. "Have you ever been to the opera? I heard La Scalia was being performed and I thought if you wanted to go, it would be fun."
"An Opera? I've never been." Meelon's eyes lit up and Vaughn took them in and was mesmerized by them.
"Oh, it's wonderful, the music, the singing, the performance..."
"But isn't La Scalia in Italian? How do you follow it?"
"You go to the opera for the emotion. The music and voices move the audience, not necessarily the words. But, I could translate for you if you need me to."
"You speak Italian? I thought you only knew French."
Vaughn immediately realized his slip. "Well, only a bit of Italian..." 'Fully fluent in Italian, German, Russian, Spanish and various dialects of each of those...' "Anyway, French is my native language and that's how I know it so well."
"Yes, I especially love it when you speak French in bed. It's so... I don't know... exotic... Romantic...?"
"What you don't understand, I do it because you drive me crazy and my mind defaults to French." Vaughn leans over and nuzzles her neck until she starts to giggle.
"OK... OK... enough. I do want to finish the dinner that you so lovingly prepared. Then we can talk about dessert?" Throughout the rest of the dinner, the two spoke of light topics and LA was not mentioned again.
~~~
After dinner and clean up, the two sit comfortably on the sofa, lightly talking and cuddling. Meelon turns very quiet and places her head on Vaughn's chest and hugs his torso. Vaughn rubs her shoulders and back. To him the silence is comfortable and easy.
Meelon sits up suddenly and Vaughn is startled. "Michael, I want to ask you something and you need to let me finish what I have to say before you say anything else." Vaughn looks at her expectantly. "I... uh... guess I am scared. I know that you and I are fabulous together. I also know that I love you." Vaughn smiles, but says nothing. Meelon continues, "I say this because... I find it hard to believe that you would lie to me or hide anything from me..."
"Meelon, I'm not..."
"No, let me finish before you answer. You have told me a lot about your time in France and with your mother, as a child. I know your friends here in Phoenix and.... well; I think that there is something about LA that you do not want me to know. I have asked about this before and have always been answered with short, curt statements that tell me nothing about your life in LA. From what I can figure, LA is at least five years of your life and you hide it from me."
Vaughn closes his eyes and tries to form the words that she needs to hear. Meelon takes his hands and continues, "Michael, I love you... I know it... it would hurt terribly if I were to lose you. I have told you about my past boyfriends and... Well... since you can't tell me about LA, I have to assume it's because there is another woman. And... I can't stay in a relationship if I think that any day now you will leave me to go back to her."
Meelon takes her hand and places it on his cheek. Vaughn looks deeply into her eyes and knows that she deserves the truth, at least some of it. "There was another woman in LA. She... died." He hated to say it. He hated to even think it. But here, now, looking into Meelon's eyes he knew he had to accept the finality of his relationship with Sydney. She has been gone over a year now and Meelon would give him the strength to move on with his life.
"Dead? Is that why you left LA?"
"No, I left LA because I disagreed with my boss, I told him so in no uncertain terms, he told me that my ideas meant nothing and that I was not and never had been a good employee and then I resigned my position. I had been offered the teaching position in Phoenix about a week before and I thought that I would turn it down, but... I ended up taking the position and the rest is history."
Both are quietly holding hands. Vaughn looks at her. "At first, I felt awkward being with you and sometimes thinking of her. But now, I think of you more and more. Meelon, I love you too. I don't want you to think that because I could not talk about her..."
"You love me too?"
"Yes, very much. You are the strength in my life that I clung to from the moment I first met you. You calm me when I am upset. You make me happy and sad and loved all at the same time. I needed you in my life then and I need you now more than ever. My love for you grows each day, with each experience we share."
Meelon begins to cry. "Wow! that is the most beautiful thing anyone has ever said to me. I don't know why I ever doubted your feelings."
"You have no reason to doubt me Meelon. I love you and I want to be here, with you."
Meelon and Vaughn embraced. Vaughn felt lighter, as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He knew that his life with Meelon was beginning today. He knew he wanted to be with her for the rest of his life.
~~ To be continued.
A/N: Hello all. Hope you are enjoying the story. Please review the story, so I know if you want more chapters. Thanks too, all the talented writers on this site. I have enjoyed your stories and you are an inspiration.