Chapter Six

The women left the hotel room and headed toward the elevator, both silently contemplating what they had just been told.

"I know those two made it all sound very real, but I still don't fully believe Wyatt is some kind of international criminal. A bit full of himself yes, but the new head of T.H.R.U.S.H.? Give me a break!"

Melanie followed Katie to the parking lot.

"That's not as hard to believe as it is that Chuck and Eric are part of it. Eric writes for the Wall Street Journal and his partner in crime, so to speak, is the CEO of a mega software company. At least that's what they wrote on their reunion bio," Katie said.

"And I suppose Wyatt's ambition came true if he thought donating millions to the school building fund was his idea of bringing peace of mind to those who needed a new junior high, or maybe it was only seeing his name etched on the plaque in the wall that gave him peace of mind."

The women laughed, which helped release some of the tension each was feeling after their meeting. Just as Katie was about to open the truck door, her phone rang. She indicated to Melanie that it was James and after hanging up, said that he was home, feeling fine and not to worry.

"That's great, Katie. You get home. I'm still a bit too wired to sleep," Melanie said, "and I'm still on California time. It's only eleven o'clock by my watch, I think I'll go for a walk by the lake and clear my head. I guess your prediction in our yearbook actually came true, Katie. After all these years, we're actually working for U.N.C.L.E."

"Seems you're right, although I wish you weren't. I'll see you in the morning."

Katie drove out of the parking lot and Melanie walked off  in the opposite direction. Following the lights on the path, Melanie spotted a bench by the side of the lake and headed toward it. Even though the Minnesota night air was a comfortable seventy-five degrees, she felt a sudden chill overtake her and she shivered a bit. Although she had agreed to meet Don and Stuart the following morning, she wasn't entirely convinced they were on the level. For all she knew, they could have been involved with Wyatt all along, and the U.N.C.L.E. story was simply a ruse. If it were all an act set up by Wyatt, why involve Stuart and Katie and the mysterious and interesting Don?

She knew first hand that Wyatt was capable of using people  to orchestrate scenarios for his own benefit. Looking out over the lake, Melanie remembered the last time she was in Abbeyville and how Wyatt had done just that. She was going through the first divorce, but made the trip to attend James and Katie's tenth wedding anniversary when James announced his decision to run for public office.

Most of their guests and political supporters were former classmates and residents of Abbeyville, including Wyatt Gaynes. Charming as ever, he insisted on sitting next to her during dinner, joining her on the dance floor and inviting her up to his room for a more private celebration.

Melanie was having too much fun, and perhaps a bit too much to drink and, although she hated to admit it, even ten years after high school, Wyatt's attentions were as intoxicating as the champagne. Later that night in his hotel room, as he held her naked body against him, she had felt such intense passion, she was ready to give up everything if he had only asked. She recalled how his breathing was completely in tuned with hers, until it stopped abruptly, when they heard someone turn the doorknob. She also recalled how Wyatt had jumped off the bed and the look of shock on Brenda's face when she stood there, a bottle of wine in one hand, two glasses in the other, staring at the two of them.

The visual memory of the following scene was a collage of Brenda yelling and Wyatt crying, apologizing and lying, all the while Melanie was trying her best to dissolve into the mattress. She heard Wyatt give Brenda the usual excuses; it wasn't what she thought, he was drunk, he didn't know what he was doing, he loved her more than life itself, he would never do anything to hurt her. Then he'd added another lie that revealed to Melanie what a true bastard Wyatt was; he'd said that Melanie had followed him to his hotel room and that their sexual encounter had been all her idea.

Melanie never forgot the sensation of frost running through her veins where the fires of passion had been only a few moments before. She spent the rest of the night alone in an empty hotel room, waiting for Wyatt to return and explain what had just happened. He never did. Melanie left for Los Angeles on the first flight out of Minneapolis and never told Katie why she didn't stay for Sunday brunch. She hadn't been back to her hometown since.

While she didn't need to be convinced of Wyatt's questionable character, she couldn't believe that even he was capable of pulling off something as elaborate as concocting an entire spy organization or convincing Eric and Charles to help him. As much as she didn't want to believe all that Don had shown them, she had to admit there was an element of credibility if Wyatt Gaynes was involved.

Melanie's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of footsteps approaching. Although she knew Abbeyville was a relatively safe town, after years of living alone in Los Angeles, her immediate instinct was to tense her body and assume a defensive position. She turned toward the sound and once she saw the face of the person was connected to the footsteps, her body remained on alert.

"Hi, Mel. What are you doing out here alone this late?"

"Hello, Wyatt. I could ask the same of you. What happened to your little friend, Cheryl was it?"

Not waiting for an invitation, which Melanie had no intention of offering, Wyatt sat next to her on the bench. He lit a cigarette, took a long drag and simply replied, "She went home. You didn't answer my question."

I'm sitting here thinking what a bastard you were to me and whether or not you're as big a criminal as Don and Stuart told me you were and whether or not I should work with them to destroy you.

"I'm still on California time and couldn't sleep, so I thought I'd go for a walk and ended up here."

"It's good to see you again, Mel. It's been a long time, but you know I think about you often."

Wyatt ran his finger down Melanie's arm shooting a shiver down her spine. It was amazing, Melanie thought, how her body still remembered what her mind so desperately wanted to forget.

"I've thought about you a great deal too, Wyatt. Twenty years is a great deal of time, but it seems as if we only said good-bye to each other last week."

What the hell is wrong with me?

In her career, Melanie spoke for a variety of fictional characters, but now she was hearing words come out of her mouth which she could swear were being spoken by someone else.

"Are you staying in Abbeyville long?" Wyatt asked. "I have some business to take care of, but I would love to spend some time with you. How about tomorrow morning, say around ten or ten-thirty? I could give you a tour of my store, and maybe after the banquet we can meet at my place and put a new definition on the word reunion."

Wyatt placed his finger on her cheek and moved it lightly across her lips. In spite of herself, Melanie's body began to shiver. Thirty years, two thousand miles away and living a completely different life and it only took ten minutes with Wyatt Gaynes to make her feel as if she'd never left Abbeyville. She was closer to fifty then she wanted to admit, but Wyatt made her feel eighteen.

"You do know that I'm here just for the weekend… for the reunion," She said with a shaky voice, "but I'd love to see your store."

His lips were on her neck and Melanie was having a difficult time breathing.

"It will be my pleasure to give you a personal tour of my place. Here's the address," Wyatt handed her his business card, then whispered into her ear, "I really want to finish what we started all those years ago, before Brenda barged into the room."

As soon as Melanie heard him say her name, all of the hurt and pain she had felt that night was instantly brought to the present, and in the present, as in the past, Wyatt Gaynes was a conniving, manipulative bastard. Unfortunately her desire to confirm what Don had told her overcame her desire to rescind her acceptance of his invitation. In a voice that a great deal cooler than it had been moments earlier, she replied, "Then I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

Melanie rose from the bench and started walking up the path leading back to the hotel. With each step she could feel Wyatt's eyes burning into her back like laser beams and she had to force herself not to turn around and return fire. She didn't want to think that somewhere, buried in the cold gray ashes he had left behind from the inferno of their last encounter, there still remained a tiny spark just waiting for Wyatt to light the match and re-ignite the blaze.

Wyatt had used her in high school, caused her emotional pain and walked away unscathed. He had used her again, ten years later, then he'd run out the door and left her alone in an empty hotel room. Then tonight, he simply picked-up right where he had left off, using his boyish charm to make her try to forget all his past transgressions.

There was no longer any doubt in her mind that Wyatt didn't care about the pain he inflicted on Brenda or her, or anyone else. It was beginning to become quite clear to Melanie that as long as he got what he wanted, the only person Wyatt Gaynes cared about was Wyatt Gaynes.