Full Circle Read Online Free

connection with Melissa and responded to it. He was more and more convinced he’d like his new step mom, and it sat better than he expected.
    Melissa’s eyes flashed and her painted lips parted, but she swallowed whatever she had planned to say and pasted on a brilliant smile. “Of course.”
    Shuffling in the hall gave Heath the excuse to exit the room, and he found his father struggling with the remainder of their cases. He rescued the ones sliding from the old man’s grasp and set all but one inside Melissa’s new digs. She and Renee were exchanging small talk, so he eased back into the hallway and picked up his own bag resting at Roy’s feet. “Where to?”
    “I thought … we thought …” Collecting himself, his father motioned farther into the depths of the big house and turned into a much smaller room. “This okay?”
    A double bed and a single nightstand reposed along one wall, and the dark, somber colors were altogether depressing, but Heath was thrilled. He didn’t bother explaining about Melissa. His real reasons for bringing her were better ignored. “It’s great.”
    “We haven’t finished redecorating.” His dad made a deprecating sound, partly a laugh, partly a clearing of his throat. “The house doesn’t really fit in here, but I own it and so Renee is trying to make it more coastal inside.”
    “The hardwoods might not stand up,” Heath said solemnly, wondering why they were talking drivel when years of unspoken strain seethed between them. Probably because of those many years. He suddenly wanted to ask about Ellie but bit the words back.
    “We’re leaving those until last. Let’s collect the women, have a drink, and talk a bit.”
    Heath nodded and paced behind his father. His dad stopped suddenly and he almost ran up Roy’s heels.
    Turning, the old man spoke quietly. “Thanks for staying here instead of a hotel. It means a lot. To both of us.”
    This was another of Mia’s plans, staying with the old man. Heath had resisted to the end before giving in to his sister’s pleas. She insisted the hotels were too far away to make visiting convenient, although he thought putting distance of any sort between him and Roy made the best kind of sense. Yet here he was. He contented himself with raising one shoulder. “No problem.”
    Dark eyes, so like his own, searched his face before his father awkwardly patted him on the forearm then resumed his trek to where the women gathered in the great room. Or at least what passed for a great room with soaring ceilings and heavy beams. It was nothing like the seaside cottage his mom had loved, although Renee’s decorating was apparent here too, the windows unadorned and the paint color more in keeping with their surroundings. Heath forced himself to quit finding fault with everything.
    Melissa sauntered to his side and slipped her arm through his, pressing close. Her heavy perfume was cloying in his nostrils and he fervently wished he hadn’t brought her. He shouldn’t have come back here, period. With an effort, he disengaged himself from Melissa’s grasp and focused on his dad’s offer of a drink. He took the squat glass and passed Melissa a tall-stemmed glass of wine.
    “Melissa was telling me she models,” Renee said.
    “When I feel like it.” Melissa sounded like the snotty bitch she was a great deal of the time when it came to her looks and her so called career. Mostly she spent her mother’s money and filled her days with shopping, and her evenings were filled with elite parties. Heath met her at one such event.
    “Melissa, this is my father, Roy Granger. Roy, this is Melissa. And of course you’ve been talking with Renee Willis.”
    Melissa offered her hand and his dad shook it briskly, bringing a pained look to her face that she quickly erased. Heath smiled. She might think winning over his family was important to him, but he was already counting the hours to when he’d be on the road again. Had he really agreed to take