Fate Takes It's Toll

Melissa had finally ended her stormy relationship with Bruce. She now felt like she needed a little more charisma in her life.1

"Why don't you come stay with me at the lake this weekend?,"  Aunt Jenny asked. Melissa sighed. "I'm not sure Aunt Jen." Ever since her and Bruce had broken up, she didn't feel like doing too much of anything.  "Oh, Come on Lissa," she coaxed. "You need a break from things around here, especially after you and Bruce had that bad break-up." "Okay, okay; I'll go," she agreed. "I guess it's better than sitting at home, feeling sorry for myself." She was thinking that a changing view of things would be relaxing, and get her out of her apartment, for at least a little while. "Besides, I have a new neighbor I'd like for you to meet," Aunt Jenny said. "He does construction work, and is fixing some of the dull and cracked roads nearby, and also renting the cabin a couple of places down from me." Melissa groaned,  because her and Bruce had just broken up last month, after being together for 3 1/2 years.2

After work Friday, she set out on the 75 mile drive to Paradise Hills.  She saw a beautiful scenery on her way there. There were gorgeous waterfalls,  roses, daisies, and all sorts of wildflowers surrounding them. It seemed to be taking forever for her to get to her Aunt's place though..Maybe because she wasn't too sure what was in store for her. Aunt Jenny had dinner ready when she got there, and later on they went to the Dairy Queen to get some dessert, and talked about what she had saw on her way, knowing that she had never been there before.3

Melissa and her Aunt sat down by the fireplace when they got back to the cabin, and Melissa had told her about her and Bruce's terrible break up, caused from his mothers death.  "After his mother died; his one true friend;  the person he was closest too, besides me, he was a complete wreck," Jenny said. They had found out that his mother had cancer after 2 1/2 years of being together and she just couldn't fight it any longer. "Bruce seemed to stray from what he wanted in his life. He got into drinking, and into some horrible drugs. That's when things decided to flop over, and take a leap for the worst.  He started getting very violent, and horridly smacking me around. It's like he turned into a completely different man. That's when I decided that it was time to go our separate ways, " Melissa said. Aunt Jenny  had a shocked look on her face as she said," Lissa I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to get into your business, and try getting you interested into my neighbor. I just want for you to be so happy, because you really deserve it." "That's okay," Melissa said. 4

Saturday morning, the sky was overcast, but Melissa couldn't wait to go out canoeing. "Do you think you can make it on your own, Lissa?"  "I'll be fine," Melissa stated. Eagerly... Melissa pushed the canoe into the lake, put on her life jacket, and settled down in the backseat of the canoe. As she pulled further away from shore the canoe started to drift off, as the sky got dark, and the wind started blowing heavily, giving her chills. She had turned the canoe around and was heading back to shore as she saw someone coming towards her in a boat. "Over here! Help me please," Melissa yelled, waving her arms frantically in the air to attract attention. "What's the problem miss?," the man shouted over the growing roar of the wind and waves. "I can't seem to get back to shore," she exclaimed staring at the figure that stood tall in the torrent. "Here, I'll tow you back to shore," he said; throwing a rope to her canoe which she hazily tied to herself.  It was raining so hard that she couldn't get a clear view of his face. They finally made it to shore, and she told him thank you, as his boat sped off into the lake so he could head back for home himself. 5

"Thank God," Aunt Jen said as soon as she spotted Melissa. She told her what had happened, so her Aunt decided to take her out to celebrate because she was alright. Aunt Jenny said,"I know the perfect place we can go to, so why don't you go get cleaned up and I'll get ready, too."  "Sounds great!," Melissa said. She was thinking that she could make it without a man but right now she was feeling vulnerable, and lonely because of the anonymous man who had saved her life.6

Soon enough, they both came out looking great, and headed off to Bill's Diner which was a few blocks down the road. Bill's was a lively restaurant with red-checkered table clothes, lovely chandeliers,  daises in white vases...a beautiful scenery to please the eyes as well.  After they had ordered their food, a band came out on stage to play. The first song was over, and suddenly the guitarist that Melissa had been eyeing got on the mic and said, "Before we take our break, here's a special song for a lady who got stuck in the lake today." The lyrics of "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" filled the room. She stared at him shocked, and wondered how he knew it was her in the lake today, when he kept glancing at her.7

The song ended, and he came over to where she was sitting and teasingly said, "You look good both wet, and dry." Her face was beat red, as she said, "Was that you in the boat earlier today?" Just then, Aunt Jenny was making her way back to the table. "I see you've met my new neighbor Sean." "Pleased to meet you, Gorgeous," Sean squeezed Melissa's hand and said, "I have heard all about you."   "Same here!," she nudged her Aunt and asked her, "Did you plan all of this?"   "No, not the storm anyways, that was fate," she laughed. "When it started raining, I got worried about you, so I decided to call Sean." "Thank you for rescuing me today," she laughed. "My pleasure," he said. "I'm Melissa, by the way and it's very nice to meet you too."    "You know tomorrow, it's supposed to be pretty nice outside and I was just wondering if you'd like to go out on the lake with me in my boat?," he said while running his fingers through his brownish- auburn colored hair.  "I'd love to but I need to head back home tomorrow and it's about an hour drive away."   "So soon? You just got here." He sounded disappointed. "Then, how about meeting up for some breakfast?" "Sounds great!," Melissa said. 8

Melissa woke up at 8 am, and saw a silhouette sitting by her bed, as her eyes were still half closed..."Good morning...sleeping beauty," the familiar voice had said; as he had smiled at her.   "How in the heck did you get in here?," she said. "I had called your Aunt last night and told her that I had to do something for you before you left." He walked out of the room for a moment and shortly after he brought in a tray filled with strawberries, blueberries, peaches, grapes, french toast, bacon, eggs...all of her favorite breakfast food...Melissa had sat up and he told her to relax. He fed her in bed, and it was the sweetest thing that anyone had ever done for her. He looked at her contently, and said "Melissa when I first saw you, you were the most beautiful woman I have ever seen in my life, and each moment I look at you, I find more and more of that beauty you withhold...If you could grant me one wish, it would be to stay here forever and get to know me better, and I will be sure that you'll find peace within me." She looked at him and said, "Actually I had that same feeling for you. You seem like a sweetheart, just by the way you went out of your way to make me breakfast in bed. No one has ever done anything for me like that." Their conversation ended as she climbed out of bed to go get dressed. She went into the bathroom and had put on some flared blue-jeans, a red t-shirt, along with some white sandals. 9

As the rest of the day went by, she frowned as if she were doing something mischievously wrong...Like moving on from Bruce, the man she still loved with everything she had. She just couldn't seem to get over him. Back to the thought of Sean feeding her in bed was a delicacy and she didn't want to break his heart. She had left that day not knowing what was in store for her...and when she returned she would find that Sean had fallen for her, even though not even knowing anything but her name. He slowly died for love, because he as well had cancer...The doctor's didn't know if they could fix this either, so he cried every single night thinking he would never have anyone to love...because she had gone back home, and he wanted nothing more than to be with someone like her because they had really seemed to click at the Diner...He knew she would take care of him just by looking at her loving personality, he knew he wanted to be with her for a lifetime...10

To be continued once I get some more ideas....11