Hot Fudge Fraud Read Online Free Page A

me the good things.  The sweet memories.  That’s the best way to honor your mother’s memory.” He stroked the palm of her hand with soothing fingers.
    She melted into the affectionate touch, stunned by his request to talk about her mother.  No one ever asked to hear about the woman who had been gone so long, it was almost as though she never existed.  Digging into her memories, Melanie realized that sharing stories of her mother could be cathartic.  But not right now.
    “Keith, this is not exactly first date conversation.  Shouldn’t we talk about our hobbies and stuff like that?”
    “Meaningless stuff like that?  No, Melanie.  I can feel how much you want to talk about her.  The emotions are written all over your face and in those beautiful blue eyes.  Just start off slow.  What was your mom’s name?” Keith continued to stroke the palm of her hand, giving it a little squeeze to encourage her.
    “Maureen. ” The name rolled bittersweetly off her tongue and sounded like a foreign language.
    “That’s a nice Irish name,” Keith said, smiling.
    “Well, she was from Ireland actually.  She moved here when she was a teenager but never lost her accent.  My dad loved her Irish brogue, and she loved his southern drawl.  They were so perfect for each other.”
    Like sound bytes from a movie scene, the lilting music of her mother’s voice rippled through her mind.  She could hear the bedtime stories, the lullabies, and the romantic exchanges between her parents.
    “Go on, Melanie.  I’m listening,” Keith urged, sensing that he had u nhinged a secret door in Melanie’s heart that had been pad locked shut for almost two decades.
    “My mom didn’t have it easy growing up in Ireland.  She was abandoned when she was just a baby and never met her birth parents.  And she never went back after she moved here with her adoptive parents.  My father always wanted to take her on vacation to Ireland, but he could never afford it.  He was just scraping by in construction.  What’s really sad is that the year she got sick, he was finally starting to make a little more money.  They had started talking about going to Ireland for a second honeymoon, but it never happened because she was too ill to travel.”
    Melanie looked down at her bread plate, willing herself not to cry.  Usually, she was adept at burying her emotions, but that was when she kept them bottled up.  This was the first time in her adult life she could remember being so candid about her family.  It was also the first time in ages she had been on a date with a man she was actually interested in.  The factors blended together made for strange bedfellows.
    “Look, I don’t want to turn this dinner into a therapy session,” she said firmly, relieved when the waiter served a platter of fried green tomatoes and coconut shrimp with steaming bowls of crab bisque on the side.
    “I’m no therapist,” Keith countered, nodding politely to thank the waiter.  Keeping his hand over hers, he continued, “I’m a friend.  Someone you’ve known almost all your life…”
    “Someone I’ve known of for most of my life,” Melanie corrected brusquely.  “Tonight is the first time we’re actually getting to know each other since we were kids!”
    “Alright,” Keith relented with a sigh.  “I guess it’s time for me to share a tidbit of my life with you.  It’s only fair, right?”
    “Right,” she agreed, munching on a spicy tomato.
    “Well, my parents retired last year. It’s been a huge adjustment for them.  They don’t know how to handle being around each other all the time.  They’ve been fighting so much and even talked about getting divorced.  I couldn’t let that happen, so I tried to patch up their marriage by buying them a little house down in Hilton Head Island. I thought it would be perfect because my dad loves to golf and my mom is a beach bum. But they’re still not happy.  If anything, their relationship has