Page 4 of Whiskey Reveals

Chapter 3

Melody Waters restedher head on her closed door and forced herself to take a deep breath. She hadn’t meant to start off her new life quite as drastically as it had happened but, apparently, the blood in her veins would allow nothing less. She couldn’t just be normal and stay under the radar. She was officially her parents’ daughter and her grandmother’s granddaughter. If she really thought about it, she’d been that long before coming to Whiskey.

She had only been in town for a week, or rather back in town, and she was already running away from situations that were far too awkward for her to deal with. Honestly, she couldn’t believe she’d actually lasted a whole week without seeing Fox. She thought she’d done a good job of hiding her reaction to seeing him again, but for all she knew, he had seen right through the mask she’d forced onto her face. Well, he had seen every other part of her, why not see through her façade?

But Fox wasn’t the reason she’d moved. He was just a bad mistake for one night that happened to be the most delicious mistake in a long line of mistakes. And if she thought the word mistake one more time tonight, she’d end up going for another glass of whiskey herself.

She held back a shiver at the thought of sipping whiskey, since the last time she had done that, she’d licked it off Fox’s lips. The liquor had been smooth and smoky and tasted even better off him. Not that she would ever tell him that or even think about it again. Because she was moving on from that phase of her life. There would no longer be another one-night stand for her to try and forget or any more strings of relationships she ran away from because she was so afraid of the person she once was.

Melody had moved to this small town in Pennsylvania because her grandma needed her, but also because Melanie needed her grandma. Her grandmother might be able to do a lot on her own, but she wasn’t getting any younger—or so she kept saying—so Melody was here to help out. And because of that, it would also be Melody’s fresh start. It had taken her far too long to figure out what this new life of hers could be, but now she was sitting in a building she owned.

She wasn’t a renter and didn’t have to answer to anyone except the bank. With her contractors’ help, and her own sweat and most likely tears, she was going to turn this empty set of rooms into a dance studio. She was not only certified, but she was in a far better place emotionally than she had been when she was first cast out into the cruel, harsh world.

If anyone had told her even a year ago that she would be opening up a dance studio in small-town Pennsylvania, she’d have called them crazy. But here she was, doing the one thing she’d never thought to do, and the one thing her grandma thought would be best for her. Melody was still undecided.

Whiskey seemed to have a little bit of everything within its town borders, and the tourists helped make it what it was. She didn’t know the entire history of it, but she knew her grandma would probably explain it to her. Apparently, the town had been in the bootleg business with whiskey back in the days of Prohibition—or so they said. She didn’t know if that was the actual truth, but the stories sounded just right for the tourists who came and wanted to get a little bit of history with a touch of flair. Plus, the town was adorable and made you feel as if you were at home even if you were only passing through.

Melody never truly had a home before this. And though her grandma had always invited her to visit, she had done her best to stay away. In retrospect, she didn’t really know why she had done that other than the fact that she hadn’t been a very good person. She made horrible decisions and mistakes, and through one careless act after another, she had been forced to pay for them.

But so had others.

Melody swallowed that hurt and pushed those thoughts from her mind. There was no room for that line of logic or those memories in her new life and this new place. She had picked up her dinner, caught an old friend who wasn’t really a friend but more of a sweet temptation, and was now going to eat alone in her empty room while she imagined exactly what it could be. The building wasn’t entirely empty since she’d had her contractors working on it for over a month now. But in the next couple of weeks, it would be her job to add the little touches that were just Melody. Soon, she’d be able to have a grand opening.

And…she was so freaking nervous, she knew she might throw up if she didn’t take a breath.

She hadn’t spent the past three weeks in Whiskey sitting on her hands. She had been finalizing her move so she could move in with her grandma and help around the house, and had done a lot of the legwork for opening up the studio. It wasn’t as if she could just hang up a sign and people would suddenly flock in for classes and send their children in for instruction. She’d had to set up a social media presence and print flyers and even go into the community center to make sure everyone knew that she was opening up the studio for locals and tourists alike.

And even though she had countless business classes and years of study under her belt, she still felt as if she were barely treading water, ready to drown at any moment.

And it didn’t help that she was an outsider moving in to this small town with its close community, opening up a business they didn’t have before. She was also the long-lost granddaughter of the crazy lady of Whiskey, Pennsylvania.

Okay, that wasn’t fair. Grandma Pearl wasn’t crazy, but she had an aura of mystery and a sense of grandiosity around her. Apparently, a lot of people in town didn’t really know much about her—unless Ms. Pearl wanted them to know.

Her grandmother had never been that person to Melody, though. She’d always been Grandma Pearl with the yummy candies, pretty feathers, and funny stories that used to make her laugh and dream of dancing.

Melody put her hand on her stomach and tried to calm her breathing. For someone who was about to teach others the art of dance and the seriousness and stoicism that came with that, she wasn’t doing a very good job of it with herself.

“Okay, you can do this. Just eat dinner and soak in the atmosphere so you’re ready to become the best instructor Whiskey has ever seen. It doesn’t matter that you’re the only instructor in dance that Whiskey has seen in over a decade. And…now I’m sitting here alone in a barely lit room full of mirrors talking to myself. We just need a clown to finish the nightmare, and me standing in front of my class naked. Because, of course, that’s what would happen. I wouldn’t be wearing a tutu and ballet slippers. Instead, I’d be screaming and running in fear. And now, I just need to shut up.”

She dipped into a plié, only slightly hindered by her skinny jeans, before sinking down to the floor completely with her food. After her mental ramble, she had thoughts of chainsaw-wielding clowns in her mind, so she forced herself not to look into the mirror. She would spend her first full evening in her new town in a place she owned, eating food that was totally bad for her. Since she had spent twenty years of her life not being able to eat what she wanted, she planned to enjoy her onion rings in peace. Clowns in mirrors or not.

And since her grandma was out with her bridge club, Melody knew she wouldn’t be missing anything at home. It was still awkward that as an adult she was moving into her elderly grandmother’s house, but that was what her grandma had wanted, and frankly, Melody needed the interaction. Eventually, she would find her own place when she knew her grandma was steady enough. Melody had a feeling that Pearl didn’t need her at all, and had, in fact, only invited her to stay for Melody’s benefit, but she wasn’t going to fight it. Not anymore. She had fought long enough. Now, she was home. Wherever this new home of hers was.

Now that she was sitting and enjoying her very greasy yet amazing onion rings, she couldn’t get a particular face out of her mind. And it had nothing to do with her grandma or dancing.

When she came to visit her grandma and the place Pearl had picked out for her, she had been a little overwhelmed by all the decisions ahead of her. Her grandma had sent her out to have a little fun—but not too much. Melody had done enough of that before everything changed. Of course, she hadn’t realized how quickly whiskey could hit her system when she wasn’t used to it, or how Fox could do the same to her.

He had smiled at her, and she had been lost. It wasn’t as if an attractive man hadn’t ever smiled at her before. Fox was far from the first, but there was something in his eyes that had sent warmth straight through her. He had taken shot for shot with her, and soon, they were talking close, leaning closer, drinking a little too much, and finally stumbling their way to his place. Thankfully, Whiskey wasn’t all that big, and Fox had lived near enough to walk.

They’d had the hottest night of her life, ripping buttons from shirts, biting and licking and scoring nails on skin. She held back a moan just thinking about it, even though she knew she had to push him and his taste from her mind. She hadn’t meant to sleep with anybody when she came to visit but, apparently, her body—and her mind if she were honest with herself—hadn’t been able to hold back with Fox. Before he told her that his brother owned the bar, she’d sort of hoped that he was just a tourist and she would never have to see him again when she moved to town. But all of that was thrown out the window when he mentioned who owned the bar. He had even pointed out his entire family and group of friends to her, even though she was a little too far gone to remember everybody’s face or name.

He hadn’t taken advantage of her, though. He’d been just as far gone, and if anything, they had taken advantage of each other. And they had been safe, using a condom each time to make sure there wouldn’t be any surprises. It had helped that she was also on birth control—not that she’d told him that since she hadn’t wanted to fight him on the whole condom issue. She didn’t actually know if Fox would have, but other guys had in the past, and she knew how to protect herself. Either way, they’d loved on each other, lusted after each other, and had fallen asleep sweaty and in each other’s arms. And when she woke the next morning, she had quietly stolen one of his shirts, stuffed herself into her jeans, and tiptoed out of his house after leaving a note. She had done her best to clean herself up, but she knew that others knew a walk of shame when they saw one. She just hoped no one recognized her now.

She’d needed a fresh start, and she was afraid she might have screwed that up with a single intense night with one of the sweetest men she had ever met.

She had done a decent job of the brush-off, she thought, but if she were going to stay in this new town, she needed to grow a pair and talk to Fox like a human being.

She just hoped it wouldn’t be as awkward as it already felt.

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