Page 266 of On A Manhunt: Complete Series

MELLY

My mother was here.

Just great.

“Honey, I can’t believe what’s going on outside! Have you seen all those men?”

Fred was tucked under my arm as I stood in the entry.

Mom came in, then went to the window and peeked out.

Deek, Sea Bass, Danny, and the other guys from Pearsons were laying the pavers for the driveway. They were a handsome bunch, but I didn’t stand at the window and ogle.

Or in front of my boyfriend–if I had one.

“I’m Roger,” Mom’s boyfriend said, shaking my hand.

He had to be sixty with thinning hair, a tan that indicated he wasn’t from any cold weather state, and a friendly smile.

The fact that Mom was pretty much eye fucking the landscaping guys and Roger didn’t seem to care said it all.

This wasn’t her first guy-watching rodeo.

And this wasn’t my first rodeo with my mom.

“Yes. I’ve seen them. They’ve been here for days.”

She spun around, her long earrings swinging. Her eyes were bright with lascivious glee. “Oh, you lucky girl.”

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“I can’t come visit my only daughter?”

Mentally, I rolled my eyes at her passive aggressive, spin the answer to point out my upset like a sociopath.

Yay!

“It’s cold out and you’ve got” –my gaze flicked to Roger– “company.”

She always came alone and between men.

With a careless shrug and a wave of her hand, she replied, “It’s been a long drive and I’m hungry.”

Her showing up randomly and unannounced wasn’t surprising. She never let me know when she was coming, but I didn’t remember her ever coming at this time of year. The only good thing winter was for, she said, was making the winter holidays look festive with the snow and a good reason to stay in bed.

While we shared DNA, I didn’t get her personality.

I did get my red hair from her. Same with my green eyes.

Where I was petite and well, buxom, she was tall and willowy.

Her hair was fairer now, with threads of gray mixed in.

I wore soft black leggings with a crisscross style gray sweatshirt.

My hair was pulled back in a loose bun at the nape of my neck and I had on my chunkiest glasses.

Underneath, I chose gray satin panties and bra.

I wore tinted lip gloss and mascara. And I wasn’t leaving the house.

Mom only wore natural fibers and avoided anything tight or restricting, including underwear. Or at least she used to. I didn’t ask for updates on that and fortunately, the sweater over her long cotton dress with the jagged edging hid the answer.

By the time I made it to the kitchen, Mom already had her head in the fridge.

“You still cook your meals in advance each week.” She laughed as if I was a silly child, pulling out one of the five matching containers of chicken alfredo and holding it up.

“Look, Roger. All her lunches and dinners are stacked up and ready to eat.”

“Mom,” I said, feeling the shame she always brought out.

“Honey, don’t hoard them like this,” she scolded. “There are fine, hardworking men outside right now just waiting for you to call them in and share a meal.”

She meant the Pearson crew.

She waggled her eyebrows and gave me a sly smile.

I tipped my chin down and eyed her through my glasses. “By share a meal you don’t mean share a meal. Because if you did, you wouldn’t be teasing me about my meals, you’d be telling me I could offer some to four of them at once.”

She moved to the window to peek out at the crew as I spoke but stopped. Her eyes widened, probably because I never talked about the possibility of multiple men, even in jest. “If that’s how you like it.”

“It all depends on what a man likes to eat,” Roger said, his gaze raking down my body, continuing on with the original point, that I had a meal to offer and I should give it out.

I got the innuendo and didn’t miss the creepy leer that went with it. Or the fact that while the man hanging with my mom was new, my mother herself and her fucked up life wasn’t. She was back, in my house, eating my meal plan dinner with and making me feel unsafe.

She was a hippie and had hippie-dippie ideals and values. Someone who shared partners for a night or even a few hours. That was fine and good for her, but pulling in her daughter who had zero experience or baseline on this lifestyle to make an informed decision?

Not okay.

In her mind, it was me. I was the one who thought guy-swapping was too casual. I was the one who had to flex and bend for her otherwise she’d keep shaming me as she was. And I still had to tolerate Roger’s uncomfortable looks.

“I might have to see if the dark haired one might want a side project,” she said, practically licking her lips as she peered out the glass.

“I’m not interested in Deek, or any other dark haired guy out there,” I countered. Obviously, me ditching her in Idaho six years ago because she tried to play sexual matchmaker hadn’t gotten my point across.

She laughed and came back to stand by the island. “Oh honey, not for you. Me.”

I glanced at Roger, then back. Yeah, yuck. “Shouldn’t you stick with one meal at a time?” I wondered.

Taking the lid off the alfredo container, she put it in the microwave and pushed a few buttons to set the timer.

So much for my meal planning. “Melly, I like chicken alfredo. I’m not just going to have it from one restaurant.

I should try all the places in town that serve it.

Enjoy all possibilities. I don’t limit myself. ”

I looked to Roger, who seemed… bored. He didn’t care that his woman, girlfriend, significant other or whatever, was spelling out that she planned to sleep her way through the men of Hunter Valley. “You’re okay with her trying every alfredo dish in town?” I asked him.

His shrewd gaze studied me, and not in a good way. “You are quaint, aren’t you? Your mother likes my cream sauce just fine.”

I flinched because… so gross. He didn’t stop but kept right on going with the perv.

“But every once in a while, I like something a little spicier.” He looked me over. “I bet underneath that… Amish look you have going you’re pretty hot.”

I stepped back, trying to give as much space from him as possible.

Ew.

I couldn’t stay in the house while they were here. Fred wasn’t a guard dog and my bedroom door had only a flimsy lock in the knob. If Roger tried to climb in my bed, which it sounded like he wanted to do, I wasn’t sure how to stop him.

Of course, when I fended him off, I would be at fault for being too… Amish.

Right now, the Pearson guys were outside. Mom was harmless with her warped parenting and Roger was gross but no threat when I was awake. And dressed.

The doorbell rang right before the ding of the microwave.

Mom ignored Roger’s very blatant interest in her daughter.

Different man, same creepy focus. Where did she pick these guys?

Again and again, year after year, she found one casual fuck buddy after another.

This was the first time she brought one to Hunter Valley though.

Why? What was she up to? She’d never been conniving, only had the devious knack for leading a man around by his dick.

She opened the microwave door and pulled out her heated food, poked it with a fork she pulled from the drawer. Roger eyed me a little too keenly.

I practically ran to find out who was here–probably Deek or Sebastian–but didn’t make it down the hall before my name was yelled. From inside.

“MELLY!”

The walls practically shook with his bellow and the front door smacking the wall. I froze when he stepped into my path. “Daniel,” I breathed.

He’d let himself in, obviously with no intention of waiting. Just like at the vet. Just like at the bar.

There he was, big and brawny. Looming. Blocking out the light from the front windows with his size. And not creepy at all. He saw me. Listened. Heard. Understood.

I left the night before because of Danny, because I didn’t want to come between them.

I was temporary. They were father and son.

There was nothing between me and Danny, not at all, but I could see why he was hurt.

Or at least angry. But now, with this shit show that was my mother and Roger?

I had to push Danny and his concerns to the side.

I had no one. I stood up, as best I could, to my mother. But she brought Roger into my home with intentions she knew I didn’t like. She never listened. Never understood me no matter how many times I told her no.

But Daniel was here. He barged right in because he was worried. For me.

I didn’t realize how much I needed him, specifically, right now. He was safety and protection and… and—I flung myself at him and hugged him tight.