Chapter 16

Julie looked at the clock. It was 1:55 p.m. and time for her to leave. She could not run the risk of Marissa coming early. She still did not have concrete proof that this Melissa Hooper was actually her Marissa, but something deep down told her that it was. She grabbed her purse and left her office. As she walked past Ryan's office, she noticed him laying with his head in his hands at his desk, something you would never see from him.

"Everything ok?" she asked "you've seemed a little out of it today."

Ryan rose slowly. "Uh, yeah, it's just…..this whole thing with Nate, the social workers name freaked me out, …and, oh yeah, Taylor and I just broke up."

"Aw, honey, I'm sorry to hear that." Julie was now more concerned than ever. Ryan was now in a very fragile emotional state and the sight of Marissa could just send him over the edge. "Maybe you should cancel your meeting with the social worker today and reschedule when things aren't so crazy for you."

"Nah, nah, I've got to get things sorted for Nate. I have to be able to enroll him in school and get him settled at the house. The kid's had enough uncertainty in his life."

"Ok, well, I'm off to my meeting, so if I don't see you again today, good luck with Nate and I'll see you in the morning. In fact, consider giving yourself the day off tomorrow. It's Friday anyway and you can spend the day with Nate."

"Yeah, thanks, maybe I will. Good luck with…er…whoever it is your meeting." He smiled. Julie sashayed out of the office leaving Ryan to his thoughts.

About ten minutes later Nate came in to see Ryan who was now looking at some plans on his desk trying to get his mind into his normal day's activities.

"Ryan?" enquired Nate tentatively not wanting to disturb him.

"Hey, bud, what's up?" Ryan looked up from his plans with a smile.

"Um…I just wanted to tell you that Ms. Hooper's here. I was helping Kim up front and I saw her when she came in. She asked me a couple of questions about you already, and how I felt about staying with you. I hope I did the right thing."

"Sure you did…as long as you told her you think I'm great and you wouldn't want to live anywhere else." Ryan chuckled. "Give me a sec to clear my desk up, and you can show her in if you like, even though she's a little bit early."

"OK" said Nate. "You'll like her I know it, she's cool like you." He left to get the social worker while Ryan quickly tidied his desk and tightened his tie. A good impression was important.

A few moments later Nate came into the office with Melissa Hooper behind him.

"Ryan, this is Ms. Hooper" she stepped out from behind Nate to extend her hand to Ryan

"Please call me Melissa" she said confidently as she strode toward Ryan.

Ryan stared at the woman and everything seemed to happen in slow motion. It seemed to take her an eternity to reach him and when she did he could not believe what he was seeing. His brain playing tricks over a voice was one thing, but standing before him was a ghost. The most beautiful ghost with long sandy blonde hair, mesmerizing blue eyes, and the most perfect cheekbones ever seen on a woman. Her body was slender and toned and those legs…he knew every inch of those legs. Standing before him was Marissa.

"Mr. Atwood?" Melissa questioned rather uncomfortably. She had been standing with her hand extended and Ryan had not moved or reacted in any way. "Is everything all right?"

"Um, yeah, er…I…er…sorry, please call me Ryan" Ryan extended his hand to shake Melissa's. He could not believe he was feeling her soft skin again and he felt a wave of warmth go through his body as they shook hands.

Melissa found the greeting she had received from this man to be rather strange. She knew she was a good looking woman and often had men speechless around her, but not like this. He was certainly a handsome man and appeared to look after his body well, but she wasn't here to pick up a date. She was here to determine the best course of action for Nate. Still, when she shook Ryan's hand, she felt something strange. It wasn't like the thunderbolt of destiny or anything like that, but she felt a sense of warmth and familiarity in his touch.

Ryan gestured to a seat at the small table in his office and thanked Nate for showing her in. Nate left to go back to help Kim and Ryan closed the door behind him. He sat down at the table across from Melissa. He was trying not to stare at her, but he kept looking for an inkling that she recognized him in any way. He kept trying to tell himself that it had been an emotional twenty-four hours for him and his brain might still be playing tricks on him.

Then as Melissa opened her folder took out a pen and brushed her hair back from her face, he saw it. There was a scar just at her hairline on her right temple. It was quite a large scar that could only have come from a deep gash. That night was so imprinted in Ryan's brain that he knew every detail of Marissa's face. As he held her in his arms, the right side of her head had been bleeding and her hair was matted because of it. What were the chances that two women looked exactly the same and had a scar in the exact same place? Ryan took a deep breath and smiled. He had to keep his cool, he thought.

"I'm sorry about that…whatever it was, back there. I'm kind of nervous about making a good impression, and you're not exactly what I was expecting." He said honestly.

"And what were you expecting, Mr. At…Ryan?" Melissa said slightly flirtatiously. 'Stop it' she thought to herself. It was so unprofessional to flirt with prospective foster parents, though she'd never actually done it before. There was just something about this guy that made her feel comfortable, almost like she'd known him in a previous life.

"I'm not sure really" said Ryan uncomfortably " I guess I pictured social workers as drab clothes, no make up, no hair style, just all about the job, and you are…" he paused to look her up and down "SO not that". Ryan was now flirting too. It seemed to come so naturally when he was around Marissa, and it was Marissa. He just had to remember to call her Melissa and fight the urge to scoop her up in his arms and hold her until they both couldn't hold on any longer. His heart was beating a million miles a minute. 'Cool, Ryan' he thought to himself , ' you may just have to win her heart all over again'.

"Well, thank you, I think" Marissa said shyly. "Now, I have some questions for you. I'm sure Nate told you that I spoke to him prior to coming in here and he seems very eager to live with you and make this positive change." She shuffled some papers in the file. "Perhaps you could begin by telling me how you met Nate and what you observed with his mother that compelled you to take this huge step?"

Ryan watched her try to present an air of professionalism. He was getting to her and he hadn't even done anything yet! He went on to explain how he had seen Nate outside his building project and recounted all the events of the previous evening at Nate's apartment. He had relaxed back in the chair and crossed his legs in the very masculine way with his left ankle resting on his right knee. Their conversation for the next hour seemed to be very relaxed, even friendly, both of them smiling and making the occasional joke about something slightly off topic to the subject at hand. Her final question had caught Ryan off guard and he wasn't sure how to answer.

"Ryan, I also need to know your marital status" she had asked rather bluntly.

"I…er…well…er…is this a personal or professional question?" he dodged teasingly.

Marissa smiled. "Purely professional, of course."

"Um, well, I guess, single" he said hesitantly. "I, um, well, my fiancée and I split up this morning actually." He wasn't sure why he had just told her that.

"I'm sorry. I hope it wasn't because of Nate." She was probing now. He was single and she secretly excited by that, but she needed to know both personally and professionally what the circumstances were of the break-up.

"Uh, no, it wasn't. Not directly anyway. I didn't talk to her before making this huge step, and it just highlighted a whole bunch of other issues that we'd been avoiding for a long time. So today, after both of us thinking things through, we decided, mutually and amicably, that it was over. I'm kinda bummed about it, but I know it's for the best. I have…er…issues…that I need to deal with." He looked straight into her eyes just wanting to scream that she was his 'issues', that he and Taylor had split because he was still in love with her. Instead, he pulled back. "Wow, sorry, probably too much information there, and not necessarily in my favor for taking care of Nate, huh?"

"Not at all. Actually, I appreciate your honesty" she smiled "and I'm sorry about what you're going through right now" she seemed genuinely concerned. "I think that's all I need from you now. I'll be in touch so we can arrange for me to review Nate's living arrangements, but I don't see any problem. The issue of guardianship is a legal one, so you should probably arrange for an attorney to help you through it."

Ryan chuckled as they both stood up. "I think I know someone who could help me with it." He extended his hand to Marissa again. "Thanks for taking the time to come here. I'll look forward to hearing from you soon. Can I go ahead and arrange schools and stuff?"

"I would say so" Marissa replied reaching for his hand again. The handshake this time was longer than it should have been, neither one wanting to let go.

Ryan finally let go of her hand, but as he did, he decided in a flash that he was going to let this girl know that he liked her, even though he knew he already loved her. Clearly she had no memory of him, so he was starting fresh.

"Uh, Melissa?" he said uncertainly. "Look this is really out of left field and probably totally inappropriate…on a number of levels…especially considering my current relationship situation…but…I've really enjoyed talking to you today and I thought maybe I could take you to dinner some time?"

"Wow, um…Ryan…that is really sweet of you, but yes, it is inappropriate, at least from my professional standpoint. I can't date prospective foster parents. However…" she began to smirk a bit "I could arrange for my residence visit to occur around the time you eat dinner…" she blushed a little. "I enjoyed our meeting as well. I think Nate is very lucky and he is a really good kid. Well, bye." Marissa waved her hand awkwardly and left Ryan's office.

A moment later Nate walked in. "Well? Do I get to stay with you?" he asked anxiously.

"Yeah, I think you do" Ryan grinned widely "but Ms. Hooper still has to come check the house out before the official stamp of approval is given. She'll probably come for dinner."

"Dinner?" said Nate surprised "Won't Taylor have a problem with you inviting a totally hot chick for dinner?"

Ryan laughed. "Well, about that…um…Taylor and I have decided that…well"

"You broke up over me, didn't you..." Nate said dejectedly.

"Oh, hey, bud, no…I mean my actions concerning you may have contributed to the timing, but this is so far from your fault, believe me. So whaddaya say, two hot bachelors blow this joint and start getting to know each other a little better. I'm gonna take tomorrow off so we can get you into the local school and buy some stuff that you might need. Sound good."

"Yeah" replied Nate "Sounds good." Ryan grabbed his jacket from the back of his chair, threw some papers in his briefcase and they walked out the door together.