She tipped her glass of wine, the second of the night, and watched Daniel through the corner of her eye as he got up from the couch and descended up the staircase toward their bedroom. Katie didn’t move from her spot in her chair, but instead pretended like she was too caught up in her romance novel that she didn’t notice him. Not that there was much to pretend. With their busy schedules, they rarely went to bed together anymore and even more rare that they were intimate. This just happened to be one of the few times that she did it on purpose. The thought made her sad. Daniel was an amazing guy and a great father, but the fire between them was long gone.
“I bet Marissa would love to hear that,” she said under her breath then crinkled her nose at the absurd comment. She never really had those thoughts before, so she couldn’t figure out why, all of a sudden, she was now. She sighed and focused her attention back on her book.
~He hovered over her, staring deeply into her eyes, caressing her thick red hair with the soft touch of his hand, then smiled ever so slightly. He clinched his fist, her hair tight in his grasp as she winced, he forcefully brought her face up to his. He breathed her in then stroked her hot lips with the tip of his tongue before crushing his lips to hers, wanting desperately to taste her. He ravaged her lips with his own, stroking her tongue in a moist sensual dance. He released his tangled fist from her hair and ran his hand down the side of her cheek, across the soft side of her bare arm, leaving a trail of goose bumps down her.~
“Oh, wow,” Katie said, putting the book down on her lap and fanned herself, feeling the effect of the tender scene throughout her body causing a ripple effect of tingly chills to course through her and a pulsating throb in her chest. She knew it was just a story, of course she did, but a love like that, so full of passion and excitement, was something she had always wanted and craved. Not that Daniel wasn’t a passionate man. When he and Marissa were together in high school they were the hot couple, but once he and Katie got together, they were simply perfect in the most innocent, sincere ways. They had passion and a need for each other, but once DJ came, their priorities changed, leaving Katie to wonder if it was just the excitement of being in a new relationship that drove them. She put her book aside and stood up from her cozy chair and paced through the living room, feeling antsy and restless, before walking into the office off of the living room to look for a distraction.
“Let’s see who’s on tonight,” she said to herself, firing up her computer and logged onto her social media site. She had a personal account ever since this giant overtook the last, mostly for the business and keeping up with friends and family, but a year ago curiosity made her create a separate account under an alias and used an especially sexy picture she found off of some random website as her profile picture, transforming her into a twenty-three year old college student by the name of Katrina Smith from Jacksonville Florida, a town known for their beautiful women and party lifestyle. Pamlico County and the surrounding areas were small, so much so that everyone knew everyone, especially if you were an established business owner. She wanted to be able to go incognito and speak freely with whomever she wanted to about whatever she wanted. The sexy aspect of it just kind of happened. Surprising her, it didn’t take long for her friends list to grow, with mostly men, which was less of a surprise. Most of them she never actually met before, but a select few were people she really did know; curious about their personalities outside of their norm, although they didn’t know who she really was. She played her part and spoke to them like a hot twenty-something would, from what she could remember anyway. After a while she discovered who the fun ones were and tended to talk to them the most. And then there was Eduardo.
Ding.
The instant messenger chimed, alerting her that Eduardo was on, or Ed, as she liked to call him. Eduardo was a gorgeous thirty-two year old man from New York City. Supposedly he was single, having never been in love deep enough to want to get married, although he wasn’t opposed to it, and he didn’t have any children. She and Ed had spoken many times in the past year, usually late at night while Daniel and the kids were already in bed, or when Daniel was away on business. He told her about his life, from his childhood up until now. He was from a small town in Italy and came to the United States in his teens with his parents and had been in New York, in a small bureau called Little Italy, ever since. After high school, he put himself through college and now owned an Italian restaurant right in the city. He seemed too good to be true and when he spoke on chat she would imagine him speaking to her with a sexy Italian accent. More and more, as her feelings for him grew, she began to hate lying to him. To ease the guilt, she told him about some of her real childhood memories, although small amounts and exaggerated, to kind of glamorize it. It was more what she wished she would have done in life. Then on a select few occasions, when she was alone in the house, the conversations grew intense then quickly became intimate. They were in somewhat of a relationship after all. It was wrong, she knew it, but exciting, and she couldn’t stop it.
“Hey beautiful, how are you tonight?” Ed asked.
“I'm a little lonely tonight. My roommate is asleep and I have been reading all night,” Katie replied, happy that she wasn’t technically lying.
“I'm sorry, bella. I wish I was there to keep you company.”
“I do too,” Katie replied, with a smile to herself. Quickly her smile faded when she heard the steps cricking on the staircase alerting her that Daniel was coming back down. She wrote a quick reply before shutting down the computer. “Oh well, super busy right now, gotta go. Night.”
She hurried out of the office just as Daniel was about to enter.
“What are you doing?” he asked curiously.
She took a deep, steady breath to calm her nerves. “I was just checking my e-mails before going to bed.” She squeezed past him and went back in the living room and picked up her book. “What are you doing up? I thought you went to bed.”
He shrugged his shoulders and followed her in the living room. He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist and whispered in her ear, “I did, but I missed you and was hoping you'd come to bed with me?”
She leaned her head back against his chest and patted his hand. He used to touch her all the time, his muscular arms would feel warm and safe, but it happened few and far between these days. “Come on.” She grabbed his hand and led him upstairs.
In the seclusion of their bedroom Katie stood in front of him, picturing Ed in front of her rather than her husband. The image of his dark eyes shining as he stared at her; wanting her. The thought of being with Ed thrilled her, she longed for it. She reached out and turned off the light, letting her imagination run wild.
Six
Everything had gone exactly like Marissa had expected, when a week after returning to Pennsylvania, the hospital in New Bern called and made an offer she couldn’t refuse. By the end of the month she was a Pamlicoan again. The trip back to Pamlico County was different than it was a month prior. The drive was the same, of course, but this time she felt different, relieved, because she was going home and reclaiming her life. She had a conflict of feelings about it though, nervous and excited at the same time.
She didn't have a chance to look for a house before she came so she decided to just stay at the local bed and breakfast in Oriental until work started in New Bern. The old B&B she was staying at was beautiful and grand, and her bedroom reflected the stature it once held. She remembered it as a magnificent mansion. The owners back when she was younger, the Lee’s, used to throw an elegant party once a year and would invite the who’s who of local people. Marissa had never been to one of those parties, but instead she would watch from afar, listening to the sounds of classical music and wealthy laughter from on top of the bridge stretching across the river, longing for the day to be amongst them. However, the owner would open the grounds and hold exciting, but low key, parties a few times a year, inviting anyone who wanted to come. People would come from miles away to enjoy it. The four
th of July was always Marissa’s favorite. The owners would string lights all over the place, lighting up the night sky, all the way down to the open waterfront where everyone would sit and enjoy the annual fireworks display that the town put on. Even though she had been to the open invite parties many times in her life she had never actually been inside of the house. She looked around her room in wonder, curious about who may have stayed there prior. It seemed romantic with its own wood burning fire place, antique furniture and lacy linens. She would be satisfied to stay there for a long period of time especially since the old couple, the Bakers, who owned the house now, were so sweet and accommodating, and never seemed to pry into her personal business, but she knew the drive would be too long once she started working. She wondered if the new owners still threw parties there now that she was actually staying there, for now, and made a mental note to find out.
Unfortunately for her, the moving truck would be there sometime tomorrow and without a permanent place to stay she would have to keep all of her stuff in storage. But at least she had two weeks off before she started her new job. That should be enough time to find something great, hopefully. First things first.
She pulled out her cell phone and dialed a number, one she forcefully memorized in the past month. It rang a few times and just when she was about to hang up a familiar voice came on the line.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Katie, it’s Marissa.”
There was a pause. “Hey, Marissa, what’s up?”
Marissa paced around the small room. “Well, I’m back in town and was wondering if you wanted to have dinner?”
There was another pause.
“I could really use it. I’ve really missed you guys. We could get all the girls together if you’d like, like old times,” Marissa said quickly, feeling awkward in the silence.
There was another long pause before Katie finally spoke, “I’m so sorry. I am swamped at the moment, but that sounds great. I guess that means you got the job?”
“I did,” Marissa said smiling.
“Are you here now?”
“Yes, I’m staying at the B&B in Oriental.”
“Well, awesome, welcome back. And I think it would be a great idea to have dinner. The gang hasn’t hung out since high school. It’ll be fun.”
“Wonderful. So, tonight then?”
“Let’s shoot for tomorrow to give the others more notice.”
“Can do. I’m looking forward to it.”
“Sounds great, I’ll call the girls as soon as I get a minute,” Katie said with a smile in her voice.
When they hung up, Marissa felt relieved. So much had happened during their last year of high school, the last time they really spent a lot of time together. So much so, that she was worried that there would still be weird feelings, even after all these years. Sure, there was some on her part, but that should be expected, even though that was something she intended to keep to herself.
She felt anxious so she decided to walk around Oriental for a little while and explore all of the changes that had taken place in her absence, although there didn’t appear to be many. She walked along the waterfront, feeling the cool river breeze as it blew all around her. Orientals' waterfront area was always magical to Marissa. She would walk back and forth from one side of the town to the other, the soothing sounds of the rippling water and slight breeze calming her thoughts, and when she and Daniel broke up it worked to calm her heart as well, even if just temporarily.
She cut across from Water Street onto New Street and came to a stop at The Bean; a quaint looking coffee shop that sprung up in her absence. She walked up the steep steps leading into the coffee shop and breathed in deeply as soon as she opened the old wooden door. The scents of different rich flavors of coffee and pastries almost knocked her back. She walked up to the counter and placed her order with the young girl behind the counter then stood back patiently waiting.
She looked around the room taking it in. The décor was typical of what you would see in any coffee shop. Around the register were displays of coffee mugs of all sizes, including travel mugs, nestled around various bags of coffee. On the walls hung a few coffee inspired paintings, but mostly there were framed photos of scenes from around Oriental and the surrounding areas. She smiled to herself remembering how locals always liked to include Pamlico County into everything they did. They were a proud bunch and always supported their own. There were tables placed, seemingly randomly, around the room as well as a few comfy chairs close to the big store front windows. She froze when she noticed in one of them was a scruffy dark haired man dressed in work clothes reading the news paper, most likely the Pamlico News.
“Ma’am, your coffee is ready.”
Marissa jumped at the sound of the girl’s voice. She turned around to see the young girl at the counter holding a hot cup of coffee out to her. “Oh, thanks.” With her coffee in hand she walked up to the man and stood in front of him. “Hey, Daniel.”
Daniel looked up from his news paper and looked at her surprised. “Marissa? What are you doing here?”
“I live here.”
“Oh yeah? Since when?”
“Since today. I just moved back. I’m staying at the B&B in town.”
He closed the newspaper and set it on the table beside the chair and sat up straight. “So you got the job?”
“I did indeed. I start in two weeks,” she said proudly.
“That’s awesome, congratulations.”
“Thank you. So what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be working?”
“I had to meet with a client earlier then decided to take a little break.”
“Tsk, tsk, slacking off,” she said playfully, which caused him to laugh.
“Yeah, I guess so. What about you, what are you up to today?”
She looked around the coffee shop. “I’m doing the tourist thing.”
He stared at her quietly for a minute with a mix of emotions on his face. “You want company?”
“Seriously?” she asked him, feeling much more excited then she should.
“It would be my pleasure.”
They walked out of The Bean and walked back the way she had came. They walked silently for a few minutes, each lost in their own thoughts. Daniel stopped walking and started laughing, they were standing in front of the pier on the waterfront, as if a memory had come to him.
***
When they were teenagers, on the hottest day of the Indian summer, he and Marissa stripped down to nothing, throwing their clothes on the rocky shore and jumped into the river, ignoring the “No Swimming” sign on the railing. They splashed each other and laughed, making it, maybe, the best day they ever had. He leapt toward her and put a hand over her mouth to stifle her joy when an old couple walked the length of the pier to watch the river roll by. They quietly inched their way to the side of the pier so they wouldn't get caught. They each raised their arms up, grabbing the side of the pier to keep them in place. With Marissa's hands occupied, Daniel swung his body around until he was facing her. Still holding on to the pier he leaned in and kissed her. She wrapped her legs around his waist and released the pier with one hand and happily kissed him back, forgetting about the old couple or anyone else who may be near.
***
“Hey, do you remember that summer we stripped down and went swimming out here?” Daniel asked, pointing to the pier jetting out from the sidewalk a few yards into the river.
Marissa burst out laughing. “Oh my god, I had completely forgotten about that.”
“How on Earth could you forget something like that? We could have gotten arrested, you know!”
“I know, and we almost did, but it was so hot out and there wasn’t anyone around when we jumped in.”
“Yeah it was, but once we were in there, it seemed like the whole town wanted to stroll by. It worked in our favor, if I’m not mistaken.”
“No one seemed to notice, and if they did, I didn't notice or care,” she said, bumping her shoulder with
his.
“Me, either.”
“God, those were good times,” Marissa said, laughing and staring off at the water.
“Yeah, they were.”
“The best,” she said, turning to him only to find him staring back at her, his dark eyes full of something, emotions maybe. What is he thinking about? Marissa thought. Whatever it is, it seemed so tender. “Do you ever miss it? You know, the good old days?”
Daniel made a face as if he was thinking about it for a minute before responding. “All the time. Life was never as good as it was then, but that’s life I guess.”
Marissa looked away from him and stared off at the water again.
“So Cardiology, huh?” he asked breaking the silence.
“Yeah, I always knew I wanted to be a doctor of some sort, but I kind of just fell into that field.”
“How do you just fall into a field like that?”
She looked down at her feet, shifting from side to side before looking back out at the river, trying hard to not let him see her emotions. “Well, I wanted to learn as much about the heart as I could. The ins and outs, how it worked, what happens after it's broken and how to fix it. It sounds so silly now.”
Hometown Girls: Reunion (Hometown Girls Series Book 2) Page 4