Melony opened the door to her hotel room and quietly shut it behind her. The light from the television illuminated the room enough that she could see Chris's form in the bed. She shed her clothes and pulled on his discarded t shirt that lay at the foot of the bed. As easily as she could, she slid under the cover and into the bed. A soft sigh escaped her as her head hit the pillow.
"I'm not asleep." Chris rolled over to face her. "Where have you been?"
"I could ask you the same question." Her heart raced as she tried to buy more time. Where could she have possibly been?
"I was across town at the gym. You?"
"I worked out in the fitness room downstairs for a while and when you still weren't back, I went for a walk and ended up at that coffee shop around the corner."
He propped himself up on his elbow and tenderly reached out pushing away the loose strands of hair that had worked free of her ponytail. Sometimes he just couldn't believe that she was his.
"I'm sorry Chris. I know I should have told you about Brock showing up at the signing. But I really didn't want to worry you."
"It's ok. I'm not mad. I had no right to get upset in the first place. The truth is I knew Brock wanted you back."
Mel laughed nervously. "What are you talking about?"
Chris slid up in the bed and leaned against the headboard. He took a deep breath, exhaled and ran a hand across his face. "Before I left for Cabo, a certified letter came to the house for you. I thought it might be from WWE or a wedding present, so I opened it." He paused and studied her face. She looked pale. "It was from Brock. Basically he just said he was sorry and he wanted to see you. I threw it in the trash and decided not to tell you because I was scared of losing you."
Tears threatened to spill from her blue eyes. The stress of the situation just added to her pain. On the one hand her past was trying to reemerge and rectify its self, while her future was beginning on lies.
Inside she was torn.
There was no doubting her love for Chris and she understood completely why he hid the letter from her. But she couldn't just shake off her meeting with Brock. When he left her those years ago, he did more than break her heart. He left her in pieces, shaking her confidence and left her wondering what was wrong with her, what she did to deserve that. A very small part of her did still care for Brock. Seeing him after all this time brought back a flood of memories. Some good, some bad, but with those memories came the surge of pain in her heart that she felt then.
"Chris, baby I'm not mad about the letter. It's in the past, so is Brock. You are the only person that matters to me and I love you more than you will ever know." She cupped the back of his neck with her hand and pulled him to her kissing him with such love and passion that he knew everything was ok.
Thankful for the next two days off, Chris and Mel woke up the following morning in no hurry to get out of bed.
"What's for breakfast?" Chris asked with a yawn as his arms tightened around the body laying next to him. Mel snuggled into him and giggled.
"Whatever you want I guess."
"That sounds like a nice appetizer."
She laughed. "Who has appetizers with breakfast?"
"Me." Chris rolled her over on top of him and pulled her T-shirt over her head. And neither could deny the temptation of a morning of lovemaking.
Melony and Chris sat in a diner right next to the motel, sipping coffee and waiting on their order to arrive.
"You really aren't looking forward to this party are you?" Mel asked as she watched him mindlessly stir his coffee.
"It's not that I mind. I just really don't see the point in a housewarming party. We just saw all these people at our wedding, then the reception, not to mention we work with most of them."
She laughed. "Yeah, it's pretty pointless but it's only for a few hours and we don't have to do anything but smile pretty and say thank you."
He smiled his signature smile and nodded. "One down, one to go."
Mel laughed and gave him a wink. "Yep, I'll definitely leave the smiling pretty to you."
The waitress finally arrived with their plates and set them down. When she made sure they had everything they needed she left. Mel and Chris ate and turned their conversation toward all the things they needed to catch up on when they got home.
When Chris pulled the car into their driveway Molly's car was already there. "Great, looks like the calvary is moving in."
"Chris!" Mel punched him.
"What?"
"Be nice." She warned.
"Aren't I always?"
"On that note, I'll leave you to get the bags." She kissed him quickly before running up the walkway to the house to greet her friend.
"Don't I always?" He yelled after her.
"Wow Molly. The place looks great! How long have you been here?"
"We've been here since seven this morning. We got to Atlanta last night, checked into a motel and came over here this morning."
"You know you could have just stayed here." Mel paused. "Wait, did you say 'we'?"
At that moment Chris came through the door weighted down with luggage and Autumn came bounding down the stairs almost colliding with Chris. "Sorry Chris, you need some help?"
"No I got it. Thanks." Chris mumbled as he made his way past her up the stairs. "Hi Molly." He called out before he reached the top of the stairs.
"Welcome home Chris."
Autumn shot Molly a look and mimicked her. "Welcome home Chris." She stuck out her tongue. "Looks like grandpas' a little cranky should have given him the metamucil like I said."
"Autumn! I swear if you don't leave him alone I'm going to pummel you with my fist. Just drop it ok. It's not funny. He's older than me we get it."
"Dude, he's like old enough to be your dad."
Melony rolled her eyes and slapped her forehead. "Chris is eleven years older than me. That's it. He's not by far old enough to be my father. You are such an idiot." She turned and went upstairs to help Chris.
"What's up with them?" Autumn asked as she nibbled on a piece of fruit that Molly was carefully cutting up.
Molly shrugged. "I don't know. They're probably just tired from traveling."
"Well whatever it is I wish they would just get over it already. They act like the world revolves around them."
"That's how newlyweds act." Molly smiled and finished slicing fruit for the platter.
"Whatever" Autumn rolled her eyes and made a gagging noise. "Hey where are your keys? I need to go pick up the liquor."
"In my purse but be careful that's not a rental you know."
"Yeah, yeah. I got to go pick up goldilocks too. Be back in a few." With that Autumn was gone and Molly suddenly had a headache.
Mel walked into the bedroom and found Chris sitting on the edge of the bed his face buried in his hands. "Baby, what's wrong?" She rubbed her hand up and down his back.
He shook his head and looked up at her. "I'm ok, just tired. Really tired."
"It's ok. Don't worry about a thing. I'll take care of everything."
"But the party and there's the bills to pay. Also, the unpacking and prepacking..."
Mel cut him off with her lips on his. "It's no big deal. Just leave it all to me and go take a hot shower. Try to take a nap or at least just lay down and take it easy." She smiled and ruffled his hair as if he were a child. "I'm going to go run some errands and pay the bills. I'll be back soon. I love you."
"Love you too."
"Molly, you know I appreciate all this and so does Chris, but..."
"But what?" Molly interrupted.
"Chris and I are just tired and need a break. I think this party may be a bit much."
Molly eyed her friend. "Does this have something to do with Brock?"
Melany's mouth fell open. Not that she expected the whole world to be blind but how did Molly know?
As if reading her mind Molly frowned. "I saw him at your table during the autograph signing."
"Why didn't you say anything?"
"It's not my business Mel."
She sat down at the bar and raked a hand through her hair. "Oh Molly, things are a mess." She paused and lowered her voice. "I went to see him."
"You didn't!"
"I had to. I needed answers that only he could give. I had to do it Molly."
"I know you needed closure and besides it's not for me to judge. Did you get your answers?"
Mel shrugged. "Yes and no."
Molly smiled an all-knowing smile. "That's Brock for you."
Mel stood and grabbed her purse. "Yeah I guess. Ok, I'm off to the bank, post office and if I have time a quick trip to the grocery store."
"What about the party?"
Mel paused in the doorway. "It's ok. I can see you've went to a lot of trouble for this so I won't disappoint you and the rest of the crew."
"And Chris?"
"He should be ok in a few hours. He's upstairs taking a nap... I hope."
Molly smiled. "Well, I have everything covered for the party. It's all taken care of. A few of our friends are helping out."
Melany raised an eyebrow. "Dave?"
Molly blushed. "He's handling the barbeque much to the dismay of Booker and Eddie."
"And I'm guessing my sister the sot and her coconspirator are in charge of beverages?"
Molly smiled sheepishly. "Would we have it any other way?"
"Nope, I guess not. You want to come with me or do you have other plans?"
Molly glanced up at the clock on the wall. "I wish I could but I have a caterer coming to drop off the side dishes and dessert. And Dave is on his way."
"Oh, ok." She gave a wink and was out the door.