Secrets in the Sand by Carolyn Brown

            “Are you going to let Angel run your life and treat me, the mother of your child, like this?” Melissa held her red cheek and let a few well-trained tears run down to her quivering jawbone.

            “She can run my life like a toy train.” Clancy smiled.

            “Then both of you can go straight to hell, and, Clancy, you can just wonder until this child is born if this baby belongs to you.” Melissa stomped silently through the sand and back to her car, where she slammed the door and peeled out.

            Angel sat right back down in the water and poured herself another glass of wine. “And now, what have you got to say for yourself?”

            Clancy’s heart fell again. She would never believe that he had told the truth. She’d certainly never trust him again, and they hadn’t even begun to renew their romance. In fact, they were back where they started, and he was sure he’d never see the day when he’d take her to dinner again.

            “This is what happened. I left you at the cemetery, stopped by the liquor store, got some beer and bourbon, and decided I’d get drunk and give myself a hellacious headache. I wanted to hurt so much that I couldn’t think of you and I wouldn’t see that tombstone with my son’s name on it. I wanted to forget what a jerk I’d been to you, and a good old-fashioned hangover seemed like an appropriate punishment.” Clancy sat down beside her.

            The pieces were tumbling into place in her hunch factory again. Clancy was telling the truth. “I see. And where did you go to create this humongous headache?”

            “To the dam,” Clancy answered. “I took an old blanket and spread it out in our spot, and I sat down on the sandbar and put my feet in the water and started drinking beers. One minute I was all by myself. The next minute, Melissa was there beside me. At first, I thought it was you. I guess I hoped it was you. Melissa thought she’d ruined my life by divorcing me, so I told her the truth about why I was getting drunk. She slapped my face and stormed off, saying if I didn’t tell my mother the whole story, she would the next day.”

            “And did you?” Angel held her breath.

            “Yep, I did,” he answered. “I thought she was going to take a hickory switch to me even though I’m twenty-eight years old and survived a marriage to that witch and then the divorce. Then she told me about Tom, and I told her I realized what a big mistake I made all those years ago.”

            “Then your mother knows about me?” Angel whispered.

            He nodded. “When I told her about your friends giving you this vacation, she said it was good that I was flying down here. She said that to face the future, I had to bury the past and learn to appreciate the present, or some philosophical thing like that. Seemed smart to me at the time. I sure never expected to look up and see Melissa on the beach tonight. Whatever possessed her to fly down here is a mystery to me, Angel. That baby is not mine, I promise.”

            Angel thought for a long moment. “It’s all pretty plain to me. She and her husband, Daniel, are getting a divorce. Being alone and pregnant is scary, Clancy. She moved out of her parents’ house into the dorms and a secure relationship with you, then into marriage with you, and then into marriage with him as soon as possible. The divorce isn’t final, and she’s losing her security blanket. She doesn’t care if her old blanket is a bit worn around the edges and tattered, it’s better than nothing.”

            “Are you saying I’m nothing?” Clancy asked.

            “I’m explaining her actions,” Angela answered. “Melissa’s scared to face life alone. At one time, she could control you, and it might have worked again if I hadn’t been there beside you. Her story didn’t make sense. You won’t even have a full glass of wine with me, but you’d get drunk with the woman who left you for another man? Come on, even you have a bit more class than that.”

            “Thanks, and I do mean it.” He sighed. “I really did not have sex with her. I had drunk several beers and I was a little tipsy, but I did not touch her, and that’s a promise. If she’s pregnant, I’ll go for DNA testing, I promise.”

            “That’s up to you, but it would be a smart thing to do if she insists on spreading rumors about you,” Angela said. “For now, I think I’d like to call it a day. I need a long, hot shower to wash all this sand out of my underwear, and you, sir, probably do too. You can walk me to my door. But I was only kidding about you coming into my room for a cold soda. I learned my lesson about sex many years ago. I don’t fall into bed with a man just because he has lots of sex appeal and a nice smile.”