"This was an amazing idea, Mel." They brought out the breakfast that Nick made out onto the patio and watched the sunrise in the sky. They had finished and were swinging on the porch swing.
"I would do this in Chicago all the time."
"Watch the sunrise?"
"Yeah, I would go to the top of my apartment and watch the colors change."
"I hope you were wearing more than that when you did it." Nick stated looking at his shirt on her.
"I can change." Melissa started to stand up.
"No, you don' t." He pulled her back to him. "You look better in that shirt than I did."
Melissa laughed at him and gave him a sweet kiss.
"Why would you go out and watch the sunrise?" He asked wrapping an arm around her.
Melissa snuggled up against him. "It was the only time of the day when it was somewhat quiet. I would close my eyes and try to pretend that I was back home in Fairview. And it would work till; I opened my eyes and saw all the buildings and the bumper to bumper traffic."
"Did you ever feel like Chicago was home?"
"No, I knew it would never be home. But I had to make the best out of it. It isn' t a bad city, there' s always something to do at any time of the day."
Nick turned away from her and she noticed. "What' s wrong?"
He looked at her. "Are you going back to Chicago?"
She touched his face with her hand and rubbed her thumb across his cheek. "I' m not going anywhere. Fairview is my home, it always has."
Nick kissed her, so happy to hear that she wasn' t leaving. He broke the kiss, resting his forehead against hers. "You don' t know how happy that news makes me."
"I can tell, your smile gives it away. I love you."
"I love you."
"Reporting for duty!" Brian stated entering Melissa' s house with Samantha. "Wow Mel, the place looks great."
"Yeah, you can' t tell there was ever a fire." Samantha stated giving her friend a hug.
"Good, my mom would be so heartbroken to know about the fire."
"So how can we help?" Brian asked taking off his jacket.
"You can help Nick; he' s out back setting up tables for the party."
"Alright." Once Brian exited the room, Samantha gave Melissa a huge smile.
"What?"
"Don' t what me! I want to know what happened on your date with Nick."
Melissa started to blush and smile.
"Okay now I know it was good, dish!"
"Hey Nick, put me to work." Brian stated coming down the porch steps. Melissa had decided since the renovations were done that she wanted to have a party to welcome her mother home. What a better way to welcome her home than having all the people she loved in her finished childhood home.
"Set those tables up and put them along the edge, Mel wants to set food on them."
Brian grabbed on of the tables and pushed out the legs of it. He watched Nick and he could tell something had happened on the date with Melissa. He had this grin on his face and it hadn' t disappeared.
"Is everything okay?"
Nick looked over at him. "Yeah, everything is fine."
"That' s the last table, what' s next?"
"The lights, we need to wrap them around the railing. The outlet is over by that table." He pointed towards the corner of the deck.
As they wrapped the lights, Brian noticed that smile was still on Nick' s face. He was dying to find out what happened between his two best friends.
"Wow, this looks great. Thank you, guys." Melissa stated as she and Samantha came down the stairs.
"What' s next?" Nick asked her.
"Food, but Sam and I will handle that." Melissa replied as she glanced over everything. She wanted it to be perfect for her mother' s homecoming.
"Go home and shower, but get back her before seven. My aunt and your mother promised to keep my mother busy till at least seven thirty."
"Okay, call if you need any help with the food." Nick stated looking at her.
"Thank you, for everything." Melissa walked over to him and gave him a long kiss as Brian and Samantha watched.
They pulled apart and instantly felt eyes on them.
"What?" Nick asked them. "You two act like you never seen me kiss my girlfriend." He smirked.
"What?" Brian asked not sure he heard correctly.
"Brian, Nick and I are back together."
"That' s great Mel!" Samantha gave both of them a hug.
"That' s amazing." Brian smiled at his friends.
"Okay, enough of that, we need to get to the store." Melissa laughed. "Love you."
"Love you." Nick said and watched as Melissa and Samantha went up the stairs and entered the house.
"Can I have everyone' s attention?" Melissa asked all the loved ones who were on the deck, waiting on the arrival of her mother.
"My mother should be here in five minutes. My Aunt Rachel will bring her out here and that' s when everyone should shout surprise. Till then enjoy yourself and thank you for coming." The crowd went back to mingling as Melissa felt some strong arms around her waist.
"Hey beautiful, are you looking for a date?"
"As tempted as I am, my heart belongs to this amazing guy."
"Really? Amazing?" Nick smiled at her.
"Yeah, amazing." She touched his face. Nick lowered his face to hers and kissed her lips softly. The kiss grew intense and Nick forced himself to pull away.
"We better stop or you are going to miss your own mother' s homecoming party."
Melissa smiled at him and gave him one last kiss.
Ring…Ring…Ring.
"That should be my aunt." Melissa picked up her cell. "Hello? Hey, okay, thanks." She flipped the cell shut. "They are pulling into the driveway."
"Okay come on; let' s join the rest of the guests." He kissed her cheek and they exited the house.
"Why is the house so dark?" Kathleen asked as she grabbed her bag from the trunk.
"Oh Mel said that there was an electrical problem with the renovations."
"I' m sure it is an easy fix." Rachel stated. "Mel said she would be out back by the pool. Let' s leave the luggage here; we' ll come back for it later."
The three of them made their way around the house to the back.
"SURPRISE!" Everyone yelled once they saw Kathleen.
"What is all of this?"
"It' s your homecoming, mom. Welcome home." Melissa gave her mother a hug.
"So there isn' t an electrical problem with the house?"
"No, I told Aunt Rachel to tell you that so you wouldn' t go inside the house."
"I should have known." Kathleen laughed as she looked at her sister.
"Sorry, but it was Mel' s idea."
"Come with me and I' ll show you why."
Kathleen followed her daughter and so did the guests.
"Welcome home, mom!" Melissa stated and then flipped on the lights.
"Oh my gosh!" She looked around the house. "It looks beautiful, it' s perfect." She looked around the living room. "It' s just the way your father wanted it, but how did you get it done so fast?"
"I have connections." Melissa said as Nick wrapped his arms around her.
Kathleen smiled seeing the two of them together. She wanted to know more details, but right now she was so happy to be home with her daughter and all of the people she loved.
"Alright, let' s get this party started!" Nick yelled as Brian turned on the music and all the guests headed back out to the deck.
"Mel, can I talk to you?"
"I' ll see you out there." Nick kissed her cheek and left them alone.
"What' s going on?"
"We will talk about it later, mom. Right now enjoy your party."
"Mel, please."
Melissa sighed and looked at her. "Something good happened while you were gone."
"And what was that?"
"I finally faced my demons and I listened to my heart."
"What did your heart tell you?" Kathleen asked her daughter.
"That it belongs to Nick." Kathleen gave her a hug.
"I' m so happy for you, honey. You look so...so..."
"Happy?"
"At peace."
"I am." She smiled at her mother. "We will talk about that later, come on there' s a party going on."
