Make Me Melt by Nicki Day

MAKE
ME MELT
     
     
    Nicki
Day
     
    Copyright © 2014
     
     
     
    Chapter One
     
    Vicky Browning
rounded the bend of the desolate country road, which led to her hometown of
Dove Creek, Colorado.  The drive from Denver had been long and tiring. The
heavy snow of the night before had packed down on the interstate causing
traffic to move at a snail’s pace. It only got worse once she made it to the Eisenhower
Tunnel. The normally two lanes of traffic had been reduced to one. Large trucks
had lined the sides of the highway on either side of the tunnel as they waited
for conditions to improve before continuing.
    She was thankful for
her Dodge Durango. It was an earlier model and didn’t have as many bells and
whistles as the newer luxury versions did, but it offered her comfort in
knowing that it was reliable—and the four wheel drive had never failed her once
in the harsh Colorado winters. 
    As the mountains
began to drift farther away in her rear-view mirror, Vicky wondered if she had
really made the right choice in coming home for the holiday. Her mother had
been hounding her relentlessly for weeks, to come and visit. Missing last
month’s Thanksgiving dinner likely pushed her mother over the edge into full-fledged
nagging mode. It didn’t matter that she’d claimed to have other plans.
 All that mattered to her was that her daughter hadn’t been home. Again. 
    Maybe that was why
she was so afraid to come back home after so many years away. Her mom had been
worried about her ever since the divorce. No matter how much she’d insisted she
was doing fine, her mother refused to give up the incessant questions on a
daily basis. 
    The odd thing of it
was, she did feel okay. She hadn’t even cried during the breakup. The initial
shock of hearing that Brian had been having an affair hadn’t even lasted very
long. In a strange way, she didn’t even feel that surprised. 
    Their flame had
dwindled years earlier. They never made love, much less touched or offered a
simple gesture such as a kiss. So when she heard that he had found someone else
and wanted to marry the other woman, she couldn’t even muster the emotion of
feeling sad. That in and of itself surprised her. Had she fallen out of love
with Brian and didn’t even realize it? Their marriage had only lasted three
years and she couldn’t even pinpoint what or when things had changed between
them.
    On some level she
felt guilty for not being a more attentive wife to Brian. The lack of touches
and kisses in the night had not been one sided. She couldn’t help but feel
responsible that he had strayed. Despite this guilt she never felt remorse.
Having prided herself as always being the type of person who believes
everything happens for a reason, she considered her failed marriage to be one
of those things.
    The closer she got to
Dove Creek the more she dreaded seeing her mom. She’d be fussing over her in no
time. It was that constant pestering that had Vicky avoiding her mother’s calls
every chance she got. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to talk to her mother. She
loved her. It was just the constant worry and nagging that became too much for
Vicky to contend with. 
    As her thoughts
drifted so did her tires. Suddenly her Durango skidded against the snow packed
roads and began sliding off onto the shoulder. Clutching the wheel, she tried
to remain calm while the vehicle slid towards the side of the road, narrowly
missing a man walking there.
    Then just as quickly
as it had begun, the moment was over. Her heart pounded as she slowed the
Durango down to a stop in order to get her bearings. Her adrenaline raced
through her veins as she glanced back at the man and then over at the ditch,
which lay beyond the shoulder of the road. 
    She took in a deep
breath and waited a moment while trying to get her composure back. It certainly
wouldn’t make for a very good Christmas if she ended up totaling her car.
Especially since it was the one asset she had in her life