Grabbing his phone his expression turns black.“Yeah. This is he. Ok. Ok. Give me about an hour. Call the plumber. Tell them I’ll be there at 8:00. Ok. Bye.” Running his hand through his wet hair, Blake threw the phone on the bed, “Shit. I have to go deal with an emergency at work. The fire department have been called to find my bar flooded from a broken water pipe. I wanted to spend all day in bed.” Blake said sadness in his voice.“It’s okay Blake you have to go deal with it. Melissa said as Blake gathered up his clothes, pulling them on.Blake couldn’t understand what was wrong with him, usually he had one date, slept with the girl then left. He NEVER stayed overnight, he NEVER wanted to spend all day having lazy sex in bed like he did right now, this wasn’t what HE did, this was what Brock did.Pulling on his shirt and jeans, he looked at Melissa drying her hair, “Listen baby, I’m sorry.” As he pulled on his shoes, the brown leather shining, he walked over and droppe

LATER THAT NIGHTMelissa stood in her walk in wardrobe, deciding what to wear. She doesn’t want to dress up too much but she doesn’t want to wear her casual clothes.Deciding to play it safe Melissa wore her winter dress, a thigh length wool dress, with thick black and grey hoops, with a small turtle neck long sleeves, and pantyhose, on her feet she wore Cuban heeled black knee high boots. The boots hugged her calves. It was warm and sexy all rolled into one. Melissa grabbed her wide belt and fixed it around her waist.Leaving her hair down she curled it, and put on smoky eyes and winged eyeliner, mascara a bit of foundation and concealer to hide the grey tinge to her skin from lack of sleep and food.Melissa’s personal mobile rang as she was at the front door.“Yeah I was just letting the dogs in and I will come to you.” Getting towards the door the dogs ran in. Melissa frowned as she thought she saw something flash in the garden, not having time to investigate, she

Melissa carried the yellow roses into her office.“Hey Sam” she greeted the secretary cheerily.“What are you looking for?” Sam asked when she bent down to look in the cupboard.“A vase. For these flowers.” Melissa said. “Aha!” Grabbing a glass vase with cracked glass effect, Melissa disappeared into the bathroom to put water and flowers in.When she returned to the office Elaine had joined Sam, sidelong glances were exchanged between the two.“Everything okay?” Melissa asked. Placing the flowers on her desk, Elaine spoke to her “Can I speak to you in private please?”“Of course. Sam we can have our meeting in a few minutes. Go take a break or something.” Melissa said well aware that conversations could be heard through the door of someone listened hard enough.“Sit down Elaine, is everything okay? You can speak openly here.” Melissa asked clearly worried.“Listen I know I made it this big secret, but I wanted to ask you this privately. I know you normally sh

A WEEK GOES BYMelissa sits at the wheel of her car, quite still at traffic lights. Noticing the black car two cars behind her. She’d started to notice it on Monday, didn’t think anything of it at the time. But then it was parked across the road, then it was there everyday as she shopped and took the dogs on walks.Sully and Storm were getting restless in the back. They hated being in the car. Melissa had overslept and it was almost 10:30. The time she had arranged to be at Elaine’s.Melissa’s phone rings and it come through the Bluetooth speaker in the car.“Hello?” Melissa said while waiting for the lights to turn green.“Hello Melissa, Happy Christmas.” Shane, Suzanna and Ryan all say into the speaker.“I hope you’re not spending it alone.” Suzanna comments“No. Honest. I’m spending it with Elaine and her family.” Melissa said touched at the concern of her stepmother.“Good we just rang to wish you Happy Christmas, Grandpa is doing okay. But when are you b

Elaine clapped her hands together gently. “Right now lunch is finished, I’ve got some games I’d like to play.”Blake rolled his eyes and said “Mom aren’t we a bit old for games?”“Come on Blake.” Elaine said “You’re never too old for games.”As Melissa helped Brock to clear the table and loaded the dishwasher, Elaine, Blake, Tony and Andrea moved into the living room to discuss games.“My mom is so obvious.” Brock said suddenly, snapping Melissa back into the present, she'd be lost in her thoughts about what happened at the dinner table, did Blake still want her? But what about Brock? She found herself starting to fall for him the same way she did his brother. "Brock, what do you mean?" She asked, giving Brock a conflicted look. Brock paused, he was going to tell her about what his mother said, he knew what Elaine was up to, his mother had a big heart, she invited Melissa for two reasons, one was because she was alone at Christmas, Elaine hated the idea of anyone being a