Pulled(9)
Author: A.L. Jackson

Melanie had two stepbrothers from her father’s second wife Cheryl. It was her father’s recent divorce from Cheryl that brought Melanie to Colorado. Steve, Melanie’s father, had taken the divorce hard, and he didn’t want to stay in the same city as Cheryl. Melanie had moved with her dad, certain he shouldn’t be alone in such dark times.

Clearly, her family was as important to her as mine was to me.

With a wistful smile, she listened to stories of my childhood, giggling as I told her of the trouble Erin and I used to get into together. She asked me what I liked and what I didn’t like, and I knew she actually cared to know the answers. We talked about school and about how I hoped to become a doctor like my dad.

It was as if we already knew each other; we just needed to fill in the blanks.

We didn’t need to make any declarations; we just were.

The whole time we talked, we lay, facing each other, our hands intertwined.

“Daniel, it’s getting late. I’d better get home before my dad notices.” Melanie stretched, obviously not wanting to leave any more than I wanted her to.

I said, “Okay,” but didn’t let her go.

Instead, I scooted closer, gentle as I took her face between my hands. My heart beat so hard, I was sure she could hear it, just as I could hear hers. I stroked her cheeks, hoping she didn’t notice my fingers trembling with anxiety.

She watched me with anticipation, clearly just as nervous as I was, but I felt no hesitation from her. She leaned in a little closer, and I pressed my lips against hers.

It felt so good.

I kissed her softly and slowly for a couple of seconds. My hands found their way into her curls as I pulled her closer. I felt a tremor roll through her body when our tongues first met. Obviously, neither of us was very experienced as the kiss remained slow and tentative, our mouths gently moving together as we learned each other.

Her hands shook as they moved up my arms and onto my face, making their way into my hair and leaving that same trail of warmth I had felt earlier when we first touched. Her fingers created a desire I had never known. I clutched her to me as the kiss became urgent, the need to consume her overwhelming. She kissed me with as much intensity as I showed her, pressing her body into mine. My whole body sang with want for her. As desperately as I wanted to keep going, I knew it was too much too fast.

I slowed the kiss, bringing my hands back to her face. My body trembled and my hands shook. I rested my forehead against hers as I tried to catch my breath.

I looked into her eyes, seeing her emotion there, and I just knew.

I was in love with Melanie Winters.

Chapter 05

“Hey, Katie,” I said, smiling as I climbed into her car.

“Morning, Mel.” She leaned across the console to hug me. “Al set?”

“Yep.” I was as ready as I could be to spend a day shopping with Katie. Shopping wasn’t my favorite thing in the world, but I knew how much Katie and Shane had riding on tonight.

I would never have turned her down.

I buckled in as Katie threw her silver sedan in drive. She sped back out of my neighborhood and jumped on the highway leading downtown.

If it were up to me, I would have grabbed the first thing I saw, but every time we went shopping, Katie insisted we try on everything. It was exhausting. It wasn’t as if she didn’t look amazing in anything she put on. She had a body any woman would envy.

I found a dress we both approved of at the third store. It was dark green and fel to just below the knees, accentuating my slender waist and the modest flare of my hips without being too revealing. Nicholas always wanted me to look my best on these nights, and I had never let him down. I wasn’t vain, but I knew the way people reacted to me. It was the very reason Nicholas wanted me on his arm when he entered a room, but none of that ever mattered to me.

At least shopping was a good distraction from the pain. It always fluttered around the edges, ready to burst through and send me spiraling, but I’d learned long ago how to push the ache aside until I was alone.

By the time Katie had settled on a deep sapphire blue cocktail dress, it was nearing two.

“Hey, Katie, we’d better get home if we’re going to have enough time to get ready.”

She glanced at me as she slid her credit card back into her wal et. “I need to make one more stop at a little jewelry store up the street.”

I hated jewelry stores. They all seemed to have a snobbish feel to them, a little like the house I lived in. I hated anything pretentious, yet somehow I’d managed to surround my life with those types of things and people.

With one look at me, she squashed all my

objections on the tip of my tongue. “This one’s different.

They have an antique section. You’ll love it.” Katie knew how to get me. I loved all things old.

Old books, old furniture, old jewelry—anything somebody else had used and loved.

I could spend hours walking around in an antique store. I could imagine a mother with her son on her lap rocking him in a wooden rocker as she read him a bedtime story. I could picture a beautifullyoung woman in her wedding dress, holding onto the arm of her lover as they posed for a black and white photo. I could feel the anticipation as a man proposed, sliding his grandmother’s ring onto his future wife’s finger, asking her to be his forever. I could almost feel the joy and sorrow forever etched into each piece.

We entered the little store, and Katie left me to myself. I went straight for the antique section. I never bought anything but would immerse myself in another person’s world for just a few moments. I fingered the rings worn into the shape of the owner’s finger through years of use, feeling the stones set in gold. I smiled as I imagined all the places they had been. There were bracelets, some in perfect condition and others bearing the patina of age. Those were my favorites. I continued onto the necklaces, old pearls, and diamond pendants worn with pride to the most formal of events.

I trailed my fingers along the display gasping aloud at what I found next, reaching out, and clutching the simple pendant in my palm as I was thrown into the past.

Though it seemed impossible, it was the same.

April 1998

“You don’t have anything to be nervous about,” I kept telling myself over and over. “It’s Daniel—my Daniel.” The last seven months were indescribable. I would never have imagined that I could find a love like this, but I had known it that first day.

When I’d finished my freshman year of high school in Dallas, I’d never planned to leave. But when Dad decided to move to Colorado after Cheryl kicked him out and filed for divorce, I had to go with him. He was hurting. I’d never seen him like that, and I couldn’t stand the thought of him moving out there alone. Mom had resisted at first but relented when I convinced her Dad needed me more than she did.