Chapter Four

Chapter Four

The Abbeyville Hilton suite provided the luxury of a relaxing hot tub, which Melanie took full advantage of before getting ready for the cocktail party. She unpacked her belongings, hung the black and white designer dress she was planning on wearing to the banquet the following night, and did her best to iron away the travel wrinkles from the ocean blue sleeveless dress she would be wearing to meet her former classmates whom she hadn't seen since they received their diplomas.

Melanie was a bit surprised by her reaction when she'd told Don about her former high school crush. She hadn't seen Wyatt Gaynes in nearly twenty years, but it seemed to her that the old adage was true; no matter how many candles you blow out each year, some flames continue to burn.

Melanie pushed the then and gone from her mind and continued to apply her make-up to the face in the here and now. She wished she had changed her attire before she met the bartender, but he hadn't seemed to have noticed. She certainly wasn't in the habit of talking about her personal life to complete strangers, but since she was only going to be in town for a few days, she really hadn't minded. She wasn't sure if she was looking forward to seeing old friends she hadn't seen in thirty years, or one very interesting stranger she had just met an hour ago.

After giving herself a final visual inspection in the full length mirror Melanie proceeded to the elevator which would transport her thirty years into the past. She pressed the down button just as a few other guests approached the doors.

"Melanie Tyler, is that you? A familiar male's voice asked.

"Bobbie! Bobbie Johnson? Yes, it's me. I thought you were in Europe."

"No, my company moved to Florida about six years ago. This is my wife, Christine."

They continued to engage in small talk as the elevator stopped at each floor and more members of the class of '72 entered and exchanged greetings all the way down to the lobby floor. Melanie glanced at the bar briefly to see if Don was there, but the crowd blocked her view, so she continued walking to the reception area.

Katie was seated at the registration table, taking checks and handing out name badges which had the yearbook photo on each one, so that everyone would know who they had been in their youth. The married women's name tags had both their married and maiden names written on them.

"Is James here?" Melanie put on her name tag.

"No. I guess he's still at the capital. I'm sure he'll be here soon. Go on inside and I'll be there as soon as everyone else arrives.

Melanie walked into the banquet room where there was a smaller bar set up with wine and beer.

Melanie did a quick 360 of the room. Katie really didn't have anything to worry about, she thought. Nearly every chair was occupied by a familiar body or the date of a familiar body. Melanie noticed just how much had not changed in three decades. The popular clique was huddled together in the back of the room exchanging photos of children and grandchildren and dishing dirt on the other attendees. It was painfully obvious to everyone else but them that they had let their beauty regimens go once they landed a husband.

The nerds were still nerds, only with cell phones instead of calculators. The former sports jocks were giving high-fives to their former glory days, while ignoring the fact they had gained as much weight around their waists as they had lost hair on their heads. She walked out to the patio to have one of her three-a-week allotted cigarettes, and was very relieved to see some of the members of her old drama club enjoying the same.

"Jennifer. Caroline. Francis. Hank. So this is where the cool kids are hiding."

She greeted her old friends as if she'd just seen them last week.

"Well, look who finally decided to attend a reunion," Jennifer said. "Ok, I win. Everybody pay up."

"Oh, c'mon Jennifer,” Melanie pretended to be annoyed. “You actually made a bet on me? Didn't you see my name tag on the table?"

"Yes, like we saw it at the fifth, tenth and twentieth reunion," Hank said. "I thought it was a sure thing you'd be a no-show again this year, but it appears not."  He opened his wallet and reluctantly handed Jennifer the money. "So, how's the big Hollywood star?" he teased.

Damn her contract, Melanie thought. These were the people who had given birth to her acting career. They had spent long hours, and nearly every weekend in rehearsals, performing plays for the community. If she couldn't trust her fellow thespians, who could she trust? She gave the answer in the well-known voice of Maggie Franklin, using a line from their ninth grade production of Thieves Carnival:

"Nothing to do, nowhere to go, and all the men are hideous. Quite, quite hideous." She took a drag from the cigarette, smiled and waited for their reaction.

"Hey, Mel, that's very good," Francis said.

"Yeah, you sound just like the character from that cartoon show, what's her name, Maggie something or other?" Jennifer added, "Quit kidding around Mel. Tell us what you've really been doing these past thirty years."

Melanie tried another line using a different voice, that of the female dinosaur from the latest full-length animated feature, but apparently none of her friends had seen the movie. Well, Melanie thought, I guess my secret is safe. She gave her next response was in her normal voice.

"I've been doing some extra work and a few small plays," She said, before changing the subject. "I don't see Debra or Cindy, are they here? 

"Well, Cindy left the theater to become a lawyer. The last we heard, she'd left that too, got married and had a few kids. We haven't seen her in years." Francis said.

"Debra studied classical piano at Julliard and became a concert pianist. At the twentieth, she told us she recorded a few CDs, but her husband was getting tired of her frequent trips away from home, so she gave up her career and now only performs locally. I doubt she'll be here, I think she's too embarrassed."

"I would be too, Jennifer,  if I had to give up my dream for some man," Caroline said, "I'm totally happy right here in Abbeyville, teaching drama to the next generation of wannabee actors."

 "Speaking of wannabees, did you see who just walked by?"

Hank didn't even try to hide his disgust.

"Mr. Silver himself. Rumor has it that he never got over his father making big brother Jack the CEO of the papermill, but you'd never know it by the way he's stuttin' his stuff. I once made the mistake of asking him for a job at his little print shop after Jack moved the company headquarters to Mankato and a bunch of us were laid off. The bastard just laughed in my face. Then, he turns around and hires Chuck, of all people. Can you believe that? Told me he had some sense of loyalty because they played on the football team together. If you want my opinion, I think Wyatt is the biggest actor of all of us."

"He's definitely got the bullshit down, that's for sure. Oh crap, he's coming over," Jennifer said. "Caroline, let’s make our escape to the powder room. It’s the one place that Gaynes won’t be able to bother us. Mel, you want to come?"

The women rose to leave, but Melanie's legs refused to follow.

"That's ok, you two go on.  I'm fine," she said.

In reality she was anything but fine. It had been twenty years since she'd last seen Wyatt, but ever since she'd seen him in the lobby, she could not stop thinking about what she was going to say if and when he approached her. Try as she could to avoid looking at him, she found herself nearly staring.

Melanie finished the rest of her drink in one gulp and started coughing immediately. Hank began patting her on the back, which made her cough even louder, and she could feel the eyes of those on the patio staring at her. When she finally composed herself, she was stunned to see Wyatt standing directly in front of her. Except for a bit of extra weight around his waist, he still had that air of ego that permeated the entire room. Leave it to him to not only have kept all of his hair, but even though it had gotten darker with age, there wasn't a single gray one on his head.

"Melanie? Are you all right?" Hearing Wyatt say her name sent an involuntary shiver throughout Melanie's body.

"I'm fine Wyatt," she said coolly, "Excuse me, I need to get some water."

Melanie picked up her empty glass and left the patio, all the while mentally reprimanding herself for the way she had reacted. She had been married and divorced twice, and never even thought of those two much more recent relationships once they ended, but for some reason she couldn't seem to stop her body from trembling the moment Wyatt walked into the room. One of the reasons she hadn't attended any of the previous reunions was because she didn't know how she would react to seeing him again. Twenty years or twenty days, it didn't seem to matter where Wyatt Gaynes was concerned. Forgetting about the water, Melanie headed back out to the bar to refill her drink when Katie met her.

"Mel, isn't this great how many people actually came?"

"Congratulations, Katie. It looks like this weekend is going to be a success after all. I told you not to worry. How is James?"

Out of the corner of her eye, Melanie could see Wyatt in the back of the room, laughing with several of the old cheerleaders. She felt her face flush when she saw him deliberately direct his attention toward her.

"He's doing fine. He should be here any minute. Did you see Eric and Chuck come in together? I saw them talking to Wyatt when he arrived, now he's over there with his usual fan club. I swear, thirty years and he's not changed one bit."

"Well, some of us do actually grow up."

Melanie forced her attention away from Wyatt and back to her friend. "This wine isn't doing a thing for me. I'm going out to get my date, Jack Daniels. See you in a bit."

Melanie found an empty barstool and was relieved to see that Don was still on duty.

"Another white wine?" Don asked when Melanie put her empty glass on the bar.

"No thanks, Don. I need something stronger. Jack Daniels on the rocks, please."

He put a fresh drink in front of her. "J.D. is a strong drink. Must be a strong reason you switched."

"I think it's just this whole high school reunion thing. It always stuck me as odd how we can miss it and hate it at the same time. Sort of like we feel about old lovers. How can you miss someone you absolutely never want to see again?"

"Like that guy you were talking about earlier? Is he the reason for the sudden change in alcohol preference?"

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, you're out here alone and you've switched from wine to bourbon in less than an hour, so I'm guessing a man is probably the reason. Besides, I also noticed, unlike most of the other women here, you're not wearing a wedding ring."

"Dammit, Don. You're either the most observant bartender or the most chauvinistic!"

Instead of answering his question, she decided to redirect the conversation. She picked up his left hand, amazed how strong, yet soft, it felt.

"And you're single as well, I assume."

"You know what they say about assumptions, Mel. I might just not like to wear jewelry, or maybe I find that lovely women looking for a shoulder to unload on, tend to tip a lot better if they think there isn't any competition."

For the first time that evening, Melanie was beginning to enjoy herself, and it wasn't the three drinks she had consumed as much as she was enjoying the company of the person who had poured them. Melanie hadn't noticed before, but she could see an impression of very taut chest muscles beneath Don's bartender suit. She also noticed that his blue eyes sparkled every time he smiled, which was quite often when she caught him looking at her.

He had a strong jaw and a bit of stubble that made him a bit rugged, and if she didn't know better, she could swear he had dimples. She'd already established he was single, she wondered how old he was. She was about to ask when another of her classmates sat down next to her.

"I'll take a Vodka Gimlet, Don. Hi, Melanie. It's good to see you."

"Well, if it isn't my favorite film critic, Stuart Janns. Since you talked me into coming to this thing, you're buying."

"I almost didn't make it, but the film festival ended early, so I got on the first flight out of Aspen and checked in this afternoon. Don handed Stuart his drink and Stuart gave him his credit card. "Put the lady's drink on this, too, Don."

"Well, I'm just glad I never made it on the big screen, as they say. That way I avoided being the topic of one of your reviews. I've read some that were quite scathing," she smiled.

"Melanie is no slouch in the movie business. She's the voice of Maggie Franklin, and a few other animated film characters," Don said to Stuart.

"Don, how did you know that?" Melanie was stunned.

"You must have told me," he stammered a bit in reply.

"No, I told you a story about junior high, but I know I didn't have nearly enough to drink that I'd forget telling you something that confidential about the present. I hope that confidentiality agreement is still in force."

To reassure her, Don made the same phantom zipper gesture he had earlier.

"C'mon Mel," Stuart said, "What's the big deal if Don knows you do voice-over work? When you're as good at what you do as you are, why hide it. Right, Don?"

"For one thing, it's in my contract that I can't reveal to anyone that I'm the voice of Maggie Franklin and for another, Don is a complete stranger."

"Well, I wouldn't go that far. Don's been working here for at least, what is it now, Don, five years?"

"Something like that," Don replied.

"Ok, this is getting a bit weird," Melanie said. "Stu, I thought you told me you haven't been back to Abbeyville in years, and you're talking to Don as if you're old friends. Are you and he...?"

"Involved? No. I'm in a committed relationship." Stuart said.

"And I'm straight and not in a committed relationship," Don added, "But you're right. Stuart and I do know each other. We work together."

"Now I'm really confused. Stuart is a movie critic, and you're a bartender. What do you mean you work together?"

Don started to reply when a hand holding an empty class forced its way between Melanie and Stuart.

"Bartender, pour me something with a little kick, will ya? Scotch, neat."

Wyatt banged his glass on the bar several times, then turned his attention toward Melanie.

"I thought you said you were getting some water, that don't look like water to me."

"Wyatt, are you following me?"

"As a matter of fact, I am. You started coughing and ran out of the room. I wanted to see if you were all right."

Don handed Wyatt his drink without taking his eyes off the interaction between the couple. 

"It was just getting a bit too stuffy in there." she started.

"Stuffy? Outside on the patio the one night in Minnesota where there isn't any humidity?"

Wyatt knew that Melanie was lying and he wasn't about to let her off the hook that easily.

"Let's just say it was a long day and I needed some air, ok?"

Melanie's frosty tone was more than enough to chill the scotch in Wyatt's hand, even without any ice cubes. In typical Wyatt fashion, he totally ignored her obvious disdain.

"Sure, so now that you got some air, and a refill, let's go back to the party. We haven't seen each other in years and I'd really enjoy catching up."

"I'm sure you would, Wyatt, but I think I'll just finish my drink right here and catch up with you later."

Like in about another twenty years.

"Later it is," Wyatt put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer to him.

"I've really missed you, Mel," he whispered. "Let's not make later too late, ok?"

"Sure, whatever, Wyatt," she shook his hand off her shoulder.

Wyatt picked up his drink, tossed a twenty-dollar bill on the bar and walked back to the party. He never noticed that Stuart was watching his every move from the moment he'd sat down, or that Stuart and Don were exchanging a series of visual signals the entire time Wyatt was talking.

Turning his attention back to Melanie, Stuart said, "Looks like you too are picking up right from where you left off in high school, Mel."

Before replying, Melanie took a large sip of her bourbon.

"Hardly. To tell you the truth, Stu, I was really surprised that Wyatt even bothered to come out here to see how I was, but I guess it's in his nature to pursue the ones who managed to get away."

"No regrets?" Stuart said.

"You're kidding, right? I came out here to get away from him," her annoyance with Wyatt was starting to overshadow her previous enjoyment of the evening. "Then he interrupts our conversation just as you were going to tell me about you and Don working together."

She was about to order another drink when she noticed Don had been replaced by a female bartender.

 "Speaking of Don, where'd he go?"

"I think his shift just ended. Tell you what. Meet me in my room, its 212, when the cocktail party is over at eleven and we'll tell you everything."

"We? Who's we? You and Don? Stu, why all the mystery?" she checked her watch. "It's only ten o'clock, I can't wait another hour."

"Well, you're just going to have to," Stuart smiled at her unsatisfied curiosity, "and we also need to convince Katie to join us."

"Katie? Does she know what this is about?"

If Stuart answered in the affirmative, Melanie was going to have a serious talk with her girlfriend.

"No, not yet. But she will. Now, let's get back to the party."

Reluctantly, Melanie followed Stuart back to the ballroom. Katie had left her post and was talking to John and his wife. Not wanting to interrupt their conversation, she tried to find someone else to talk to, but her mind wasn't on catch-up small talk, so she found an empty table and waited for Katie to join her. She didn't have long to wait, as soon as she saw Melanie sitting alone, Katie excused herself and went to join her friend.

"Everyone's been asking where you went. James hasn't called and I'm starting to get a bit worried. Where were you?"

Before she had a chance to explain, Stuart approached them.

"Katie, it's very important that we meet with you and Melanie immediately after the party, in private.  Melanie, fill her in. I'll see you two at 11." The urgency in Stuart's voice made both women nervous.

"What is he talking about?" Katie asked. "Fill me in on what? Who is we and why would I go to his room, especially in private?"

"I'm as much in the dark as you are, Katie but somehow the bartender is involved as well. If I didn't know any better, I'd swear this is some kind of practical joke. From what I can tell, Don is single, really well-built and totally straight, so what's the worst that can happen?"

"Well, if this is a joke, someone went to an awful lot of trouble on our account. The least we can do is play along, until we find out what Don and Stuart are up to."

Melanie hoped she had convinced Katie to go with her. Fortunately, her friend didn't disappoint her.

"I can think of a lot of things those two might have in mind. Even in a boring town like Abbeyville crimes happen but I'm sure that's not their intent. Besides, I have to admit Stu has me very curious. I'll leave James a message on his cell to let him know where I am," Katie said. "I see a few people are already beginning to leave, so I'll go say goodnight and meet you by the elevator in an hour."

Katie left Melanie alone to contemplate Stuart's mysterious invitation. If Don had asked her to meet him alone that would have been a lot less mysterious then a foursome, especially since one of the four was totally monogamous and the other one was gay. Hopefully, the bartender would bring along a fifth to their little party.

A "fifth" by the name of Jack Daniels.