Destroyed Dreams by Jessica Gray

call. When she didn’t immediately return to the deck, he glanced at her and found her sitting at the kitchen bar, staring at nothing.
     
    When she just continued to sit there, he decided to find out exactly what she was thinking about. Grabbing her coffee cup, he knocked on the doorframe before entering. “I brought your coffee back in. Is everything okay?”
     
    Melissa startled when she heard him knock. Turning around, she took the coffee cup her offered her and took a small sip. Grimacing because it was cold, she got off the stool and dumped the cold coffee down the sink. Pouring herself a fresh cup, she offered some more to Robert, but he declined.
     
    “Yeah, everything’s okay. That was my boss. He offered to let me return to work a few weeks earlier than planned.”
     
    “Oh yeah? Is that something you’re considering?”
     
    “I don’t really know. I haven’t even thought about work the last several days. And I can’t go back to my apartment for another two weeks.” Melissa looked at Robert across the kitchen. What she didn’t say is that she would also miss him, more than she was comfortable with. “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
     
    Clearing his throat, Robert didn’t know what to say. She appeared torn and confused about the choice to return to work, and he didn’t want to say or do anything that might add to that. Deciding that this was one of those times where saying nothing was the only right thing to do, he turned around and went back to work.
     
    As he worked, his eyes kept straying to Melissa. She spent a long time standing at the kitchen sink, staring out the window. When she finally left the kitchen, it was to get on the treadmill. She appears to have lost some of her joy and Robert finds himself becoming more depressed over the thought of her leaving.

Chapter 16
     
    Around lunchtime, he decided to start accustoming himself to her absence and didn’t knock on the door, or ask her to join him. He knew that would probably upset her, but she was leaving anyway, so why should he care? Unfortunately, he did care and it bothered him that he might have intentionally hurt her by not telling her he was going to lunch.
     
    Feeling worse the longer the day went on, he decided to avoid the issue and headed home right after lunch. He didn’t return to put his tools away or pick up as he normally did. He was feeling pretty raw, and after dropping by the liquor store, he headed home and started drinking.
     
    Robert wasn’t a drunk, but he had found that drinking himself to sleep worked wonders for getting his mind off his problems.  The fact that he would feel horrible the next day, and his problems would still be there, never factored in. It was all about the here and now, and right now, he wanted to forget the gorgeous woman sitting up on the hill who had worked her way under his skin.
     
    She was leaving and he needed to get her out of his system. Normally, that would include several sessions of hot sweaty sex, but since that wasn’t happening, a case of beer would have to suffice. Turning on the game, he settled down on the couch and opened the first of many beers to come.
     
                                                                          *****
     
    Up on the hill, Melissa was still keeping watch for Robert to return. She had lost track of time, and when her stomach had finally gotten her attention, she realized that Robert had never stopped for lunch.
     
    She had gone out on the deck to remind him, but he had been nowhere around. Seeing his tools still lying around, she figured he must have needed to run into town for something and would be back shortly.  As the afternoon slipped away, and Robert didn’t return, she went from being worried, to being angry.
     
    How dare he leave without telling her? She had thought they were becoming friends, or sorts. He didn’t even put his tools away. As darkness