Page 7 of Edge of Desire

Most of my kitchen things were packed and all the boxes would be put in storage. My clothes would be sent with the rest of the things when I found a place to live sometime in the next month. Or that was my hope anyway. I was mostly worried about all the stuff in my cabinets, so that’s why I’d tackled them first.

“So, what are you taking with you on this trip?”

“Just clothes for about a month or so. When I come back, hopefully to close on this place, I’ll move the rest of the stuff into my new home out there.”

Melissa looked at me for a second and then asked, “Where are you gonna live until you find a place?”

“I’ll stay in a hotel for a few nights and then maybe rent a furnished apartment for a month or so.”

“Why don’t you stay with your brother?”

I kind of wriggled a little when she asked me that question. “Well, I’m not sure he’d really want me to. A night or so maybe but not for a month.”

“Why not? He’s your brother, isn’t he?”

“Yeah, but I haven’t met his new wife, and we sort of had some problems in the past.”

“Oh? What kind of problems?”

I groaned. I hated to even think about how awful I’d been to him. “If I tell you, will you promise not to hold it against me?”

She looked at me kind of funny and said, “Well, yeah.”

“A few years back, Justin had a lot of women chasing him. I guess they all thought he was pretty hot or something. He’s my brother, so I don’t think of him that way. Anyway, to me it seemed he was breaking hearts everywhere. In reality, the women had been chasing him. He’d actually been the gentleman about it and was honest with them, but they were so darn relentless. I accused him of being an asshat and all sorts of things. We had words and, well, things never were quite the same between us. I apologized, but I’d really hurt him. I didn’t stand up for him and he was my brother. I was wrong. So, I don’t think he’d want me around his new wife and all.”

Melissa was super quiet for a long time. That was unusual because she always had something to say about everything. She finally nodded and said, “I can see why you would say that. But maybe this is your big chance to redeem yourself in his eyes, to show him that you were an idiot, you were wrong, and that you love him. Blood is always thicker than water, Ava. I’ll bet he’ll be happy to have you close to him.”

I smiled. Maybe she was right. Maybe I could find a friend in his new wife, Caroline, and everything would be perfect between us all.

“I hope so.”

“So, what are you gonna do about a car when you’re out there?”

“I’m just gonna do a month-long rental until I come back here and get the rest of my stuff.”

“Damn, girl, that’s a lot of dough.”

“I know, but the company’s paying for it.”

We headed to my bedroom and started tackling the closets.

A week later, Melissa drove me to the airport. My dad was on call (he was a physician like the rest of the guys in my family) and my mom had conveniently decided she was too busy. We pulled up in the departures lane and Melissa sprung out of the car. She unloaded the trunk and single-handedly carried in all the luggage in one trip. I’d never seen anything like it. Then she handed me a wrapped gift.

“Here’s a going-away present for you. I thought you could open it on the plane. I think it’ll come in handy, wherever you are.”

“Oh, Melissa, you didn’t have to do that!” I threw my arms around her or tried to anyway. There was a lot of her to get around, so I did the best I could do. “I’m really gonna miss you!”

“Well, make sure you get a two-bedroom because I’ve never been to Seattle and I’m coming to visit. Hell, I’ve never been out of South Carolina. We’re gonna have so much fun!”

“You bet! Thanks for everything and I’ll call you.”

She left and I suddenly felt bereft. She had been the best neighbor and she’d never asked for anything in return. As soon as I was settled, I would send her a plane ticket to visit me.

After I checked in and paid the ridiculous fee for my extra baggage, I made my way to the security checkpoint. I’d stuffed Melissa’s gift into my carry-on, pulled out my laptop and put it into one of those gray bins. Next, I took off my shoes and put them in another bin along with my purse.

The TSA man motioned me through, and I walked into the metal-detector, X-ray-machine thingy and held my arms up over my head like I was doing the Village People YMCA dance. Apparently, I wasn’t wearing a bomb or didn’t have an AK-47 hidden in my vagina, because they waved me through.

As I waited for my belongings to be scanned, another TSA worker held up my carry-on and hollered out, “Whose bag is this?”

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