I Will Always Love You Read Free Page A

table.
    Brigitte stood up and announced, “It is time to go.”
    “Already?” Melissa looked from her cousin to Stefan and back to her cousin. She was not ready to leave the man who very quickly captured her heart.
    “Yes. Papa gave us a curfew. And if we do not make the curfew, then we will not be able to come to the festival tomorrow night.”
    “Then you should go,” Stefan said. “I definitely want to see you here tomorrow night, Melissa.”
    “Okay,” Melissa reluctantly said as Brigitte and Rolf exchanged a look of amazement.
    As Brigitte was saying good night to her boyfriend, Melissa was saying good night to Stefan. “I had a really good time tonight.”
    “So did I. I am very happy that I met you, Melissa. You are a very pretty girl.” Stefan caressed her cheek with the back of his knuckles.
    Melissa looked up into Stefan’s blue eyes and felt something that she never felt before. She felt a complete connection with a man. She felt as if she found her soul mate.
    “Melissa, we need to go now,” Brigitte called as she and Rolf began to walk out of the festival tent.
    “I have to leave now,” she said with regret. “But I’ll be back tomorrow night.”
    “Good. I cannot wait to see you again.” He gave her a wide grin.
    “Goodbye.”
    “Not ‘goodbye’, Melissa. Tschuess .”
    What does that mean?”
    “That means ‘see you soon’,” Stefan replied.
    With a smile, Melissa said, “ Tschuess ,” before she turned and walked out of the festival tent.
     
    * * *
     
    “It looked like you and Stefan had a really good time,” Brigitte said on the short ride home.
    “Yes. He is very nice. But I don’t think that he is shy at all.”
    “To tell you the truth, Rolf and I have never seen Stefan like he was tonight. I cannot ever remember him asking a girl to dance. He must really like you.” Brigitte glanced over to see her cousin’s reaction.
    “Do you really think so?” Melissa asked with hope in her voice.
    “Yes. I think so,” Brigitte said with a chuckle as she pulled her car into the driveway of her parents’ home.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

Chapter 4
     
     
    “What do you girls have planned for tonight?” Karl Hoffman asked his daughter and niece as they sat down to dinner.
    “We are going to the festival tonight, Papa,” Brigitte answered as she spooned a helping of warm potato salad onto her plate.
    With a furrowed brow, Karl looked at his daughter. “Again?”
    “We had a good time last night, Papa. And Melissa even met a boy.” Brigitte looked at her cousin sitting across the table from her and gave her a wicked grin.
    “What is this? A boy!” Karl exclaimed. “I am not sure that your parents would approve, Melissa.”
    Melissa’s jaw dropped as she stared at her uncle.
    “Now, Karl, stop teasing Melissa. You know that she is allowed to date,” Inge said to her husband.
    Karl threw his head back and laughed. “I know. I know. But I could not resist teasing her.”
    Brigitte rolled her eyes at her cousin who was trying to regain her composure.
    “So which boy did you meet, Melissa?” asked Inge.
    “Stefan Koehler,” Brigitte answered before Melissa had a chance to.
    Inge nodded her approval. “Oh, he is a very nice boy, and he comes from a good family, too.”
    “Just make sure that he treats you like a lady, Melissa,” Karl remarked. “And remember, you are only here for six weeks. There is no need to ‘fall in love’.”
    Melissa looked down at her plate. It might already be too late , she thought to herself as she pushed the food around on her plate.
    “They are just spending some time together, Papa,” commented Brigitte. She turned her attention to her cousin. “Melissa, we better go now.”
    “Okay.” Melissa, still deep in thought about Stefan, stood up and followed her cousin out the door.
    “Do not pay any attention to my father. He loves to tease everyone,” Brigitte said as she got into her