Alluring Infatuation (6 page)

I see Dade’s head whip towards me as I talk to them.

Clove assures me she’s fine, just tired after her long, excitement fueled day, and then asks how I know her BROTHER!

Her brother? What the ever living fuck? HER BROTHER?!

I get lightheaded and feel like I’m going to pass out. I gasp. “Your brother?” I look between Clove and Dade and clearly see the resemblance. How did I not realize this before?! She looks exactly like him, just in female form. I swallow back the bile rising in my throat as I whisper, “Your… He’s… Oh my God… He’s your brother?”

Slumping against the wall to stay upright, I try to see through the spots wavering in my vision. Liam is talking so I try to concentrate on what he’s saying. He says that Dade is his bandmate and friend and that he is certainly Clove’s brother. He wants to know how we know each other… and is asking why Dade is calling me Rayne. Oh, God.

Dade looks at me and the disgust on his face makes me shrink back.

He lights into me. His flat statements are coming so fast, I can’t even follow completely. I said I worked in an office and I’m a baby doctor. His sister’s baby doctor. My name isn’t Rayne. While I’m flinching with every barb, and he’s laughing, but nothing about this is funny, he makes a direct hit… straight to my heart, “And for the record, I left in a hurry because I got a frantic call that my baby sister was in the hospital. I was going to call you once I got to the airport, but you never gave me your number. But then again, you also told me your name was Rayne. What the fuck else did you lie about? I’ve wasted enough time searching for someone who doesn’t exist and obsessing over lies, Dr. Melonie Bird.”

Wow, the insults keep coming and each one is more painful that the last. I am going to vomit at any second.

“Have a nice fucking life!” He says so coldly I’m not sure how it’s not snowing in here, before he storms down the hall and I hear the door slam against the wall as he wrenches it open.

What the hell just happened? What did I do? Oh my God…

I turn towards Liam and Clove who are staring from me to the door Dade just flew through with looks of worry and confusion on their faces. I can’t stay here. I have to get out of here. I’m about to puke or cry. Or both. I can’t be here.

I apologize and race for the door, leaving two stunned people in the hallway.

As I get outside, I heave into the bushes and puke until I can’t breathe. Tears are rolling down my face as I try to understand what the hell just happened and what I could have done differently.

As I sit in my luxurious car with the scent of leather and the ocean surrounding me, I cry until I can’t cry anymore.

My phone alarm goes off and I shake my head to clear it. I sigh as I see the reminder. “Dinner with Mom and Dad.”

I forgot all about that. I have about an hour to go over charts before I have to leave for Hammond to meet my parents. It’s been a few weeks since I went out to see them and my mom wants the whole story with Dade. Not the Cliffs Notes version I gave her on the phone a week ago.

For a little more than an hour, I bury myself in work. I have a lot of babies coming in the next few months, so I’ll be a busy doctor.

Closing the last chart, I stand and stretch. I need to go for a run but there’s no time. If I’m going to make dinner on time, I need to head out now. Who knows what traffic between Baton Rouge and Hammond will be like?

The drive relaxes me though the road construction on the Interstate in Louisiana never ends. They’ve been working on and off of this thing for about fifteen years. As I get closer to Hammond, and drive through Albany and Springfield, the city fades away and all you see are trees and nature. I enjoy it. The closer I get to Hammond, the more the landscape will change.

I take my turn and make my way to the restaurant. It’s my daddy’s favorite and we’ve been coming here since I was a child. It’s also a piano bar and six nights a week, they have live entertainment that can be heard throughout the restaurant.

Looking at the dash, I see I have ten minutes to spare, so I sit in the car and touch up my makeup before finger combing my long blonde waves. I look in the mirror as I fluff my hair and take in my appearance. My face is heart shaped and my skin is smooth, with an olive complexion.

I do have some laugh lines around my eyes, but I don’t think they detract from my appearance. I’m not a drop dead gorgeous girl, but I know I’m attractive. My eyes are a smoky blue swirled with hazel and my lips are full and naturally rosy. My cheekbones are prominent and my nose is straight and patrician. I’m attractive.

I don’t think I’m attractive enough to have turned Dade’s head anywhere other than the island though and with him being a famous rocker, I doubt I’d have even been a blip on his radar in most other places.

Shaking my head, I try to stop those ridiculous thoughts again. It’s not like they matter anyway. He hates me.

Groaning over the fact that I cannot get him out of my head, I straighten my back as I head into what I’m sure will rival the Spanish Inquisition, also known as dinner with Arlene and Terry Bird.

The door opens as I approach and George, the proprietor for the past forty years, greets me. “Well hello, little Melonie! You’re still as pretty as a picture. Your parents are already inside at their usual table. I’ll tell Marco to bring some bread out for y’all. I’m glad you made the trip out to see us tonight.”

I smile into his rotund face and lean down to kiss his cheek. “Thank you Mr. Clavandine. It’s always a pleasure to see you.”

He blushes. “Go on. Get inside. They’re waiting on you. If I was a younger man, I’d demand to wine and dine you.”

I laugh. This is the same conversation we’ve had for the past ten or so years. He’s such a flirt and as sweet as can be. One of the great ones.

I chuckle as I head inside. “I couldn’t do any better than you, Mr. Clavandine.” I wink as he laughs.

I can see my mother’s ash blonde head from across the restaurant. She’s a statuesque woman and is extremely beautiful. She was a pageant queen in her day, and hoped I’d follow in her footsteps. Sadly, I was more interested in studying things and getting my hands dirty than looking pretty, so she eventually gave up on that dream.

My daddy sees me and stands up. He walks around the table as I approach and pulls me into his strong arms. “How are you, Cricket?”

I hug him back and snuggle against his familiar smell. There’s nothing on earth a Daddy’s hug can’t cure.

Pulling back, I look at him and smile. “Hi, Daddy. I’m good.”

He searches the eyes that match his for a minute, before he grunts and lets me go to pull out my chair as I kiss my momma’s cheek.

I sit and an ice water with lemon is placed in front of me along with a fresh loaf of crusty bread. Daddy passes the bread around and I take a sip of my water as I wait.

Momma smiles at me and tsks. “Melonie, baby. Tell us how you are. And don’t give us that spiel about being fine.”

I laugh. Momma never did bite her tongue. She’s a true Southern woman. Loving and nurturing, but strong and not scared to stand up for those she loves and things she believes in. She’ll wear pearls and a dress, but can shoot a gun, skin a deer, and intimidate a 6’4” man with just a withering glance. I really don’t like when that glance is directed at me.

She’s a true steel magnolia.

Daddy asks. “How is the practice?”

Work is something we can talk about. He’s a doctor, too, only he’s a veterinarian. He was so proud when I decided to go into medicine.

“It’s great. We have so many babies on the way in the next few months. We’re growing every day. We just had to hire two more nurses and we also are looking into hiring a nurse practitioner to help out because we’re so busy. Dr. Bush and I each have our own ultrasound technicians now. We were just getting too backed up with Jan by herself. She’s amazing, but she’s only one person. I have her and Dr. Bush hired her own.”

I’m really proud of our practice. We started it together five years ago and things have just picked up ever since. I still can’t believe that not only am I a respected doctor, but that I also have a practice with an amazing woman who respects me and my professional opinions. It’s a dream.

Momma is nodding as Daddy and I talk shop for a bit more. Once our food is placed in front of us, we just chat about local stuff and she catches me up on the house renovations and her latest community projects. When everyone is done and the plates are cleared, Daddy orders a bourbon and Momma and I each order a coffee.

The drinks are delivered, along with the check and I grab it before Daddy can and slip my card inside. Momma takes a sip of her coffee and then straightens her silverware. That means the serious conversation is coming out. Daddy looks at me and arches his brow. I smile.

Momma looks at me and leans over the table. “Ok, Melonie. Enough with the chit chat. Tell us what happened with this rock star.”

Well, ok then. Nothing like diving straight in. I have to love my momma.

I shrug and look over her shoulder towards the beautiful piano music wafting through the doorway to the bar. Looking back at both of my parents, I start. “You know that Jake and I mutually agreed to call off the wedding. He’s a great man and I love him, but I’m not in love with him and he’s not in love with me. We both agreed that being friends was no reason to get married. Hell, in the past year, we never even slept together once.” My daddy coughs and I smile at him. Momma just nods for me to continue. “We did love each other and we had nine years together, but the past six or so, we were more like friends and roommates than lovers and a couple in love. We both changed as we grew. He’s a good man though.

The honeymoon was paid for over a year ago and there was a ‘No Refund’ policy. It was expensive and since I haven’t taken a vacation, we decided I should take the trip to get away. I did. It was amazing. St. John is beautiful. I did nothing but lay by the pool and on the beach with cute island boys bringing me drinks for two days. I would lay out and swim, read, and take naps. That was my day. It was great. Just relaxing.

On my third day there… a man caught my attention. He was beautiful. I don’t know why I was so impressed with him since he was so not my type. He was tall, really tall, and had long dark hair. His body was full of tattoos.”

Daddy’s eyes go wide and Momma purses her lips.

“His mere presence just stole my breath. Isn’t that insane?! I don’t find men like that attractive. I like neat and tidy. Yet, I just stared at him. He saw me looking and I was mortified.

Yet, I couldn’t look away from him. He smiled and winked at me and I swear I melted. It was like even across the distance, he just pulled at me. It was so weird and so unexpected. He went into the hotel and I stayed out by the pool for a bit before I went to my room to rest, but he didn’t come back out.

That night, I was at the bar/club on the resort and he walked up to me with a drink. We started taking and we danced. It was insane. The chemistry for me was like nothing I’d ever experienced. Long story short, is that we spent the next eight days together.” I glance at my daddy. He’s grimacing. I guess even though I’m an adult, he still doesn’t want to hear about my sex life. “It was fun and lighthearted and we enjoyed each other. He told me he worked in the music industry. I didn’t ask for specifics, so, I never knew he was famous. I told him I worked in an office and that my name was Rayne.”

Momma’s mouth pops open and she clears her throat. “Seems to me like neither of you was completely honest with the other.”

I nod. “You’re right. I wasn’t. When we met, I didn’t want to give information about myself to a stranger. I know at some point during the week, I should have told him the truth, but I wasn’t sure what his thoughts were about me. As far as I knew, I was developing feelings and he was just having a good time. I was scared to rock the boat.”

I take a sip of my now cold coffee and grimace at the taste.

“He didn’t volunteer his information either.”

Daddy is just looking at me and swirling his bourbon around the glass. I can see him processing everything. He frowns. “Ok, so what happened after that?”

I sigh. “We spent the day together and separated to get ready for dinner. But he never showed up. I waited and waited. I called his room and finally walked to the front desk to ask if they had news of his whereabouts. I was told he checked out and left the island.”

Momma gasps and then her face gets red as she clenches her teeth. “He left you with no word, Melonie?”

I chuckle. “Yeah, I thought that, too. I was so hurt and mad. I was devastated and I had no idea what had happened. If I’d done something? Said something? He was just gone.

I finished my vacation and flew home. I got back to work and focused on that. Then, last week one of my patients, who had been hospitalized while I was gone, came in for her prenatal appointment. She’s a sweet girl. She invited me to a party for her new company. I didn’t have plans, so I agreed.

I was so out of my element. Famous people everywhere. I left to get some air and by some insane happenstance, I saw him. Dade was there. My patient is his sister. He lives in Baton Rouge. We were both shocked. But then, he found out that I was his sister’s doctor and that my name is Melonie and I called him out for leaving me. It was ugly. We were both so angry, but he was far angrier with me. The last thing he said to me was ‘Have a nice life!’ before he stormed out of the room and my life… Again.

I didn’t know who he was. I didn’t know he was famous. I can’t stop thinking about him and none of it even matters, because he hates me.”

Momma looks at me. Tears are in her eyes. “Melonie. Baby girl, it seems to me that you’re hurting over a misunderstanding. I know you didn’t know who he was, but you’re not a nobody either. You are a damn good doctor and an amazing woman. I think you need to talk to him. You two need to get everything out and see if it’s possible to start fresh. If he’s half the man he must be for you to spend time with him, you need to talk to him.”