Off Limits Read Free

if
you hadn’t known him his whole life, you would never imagine him to own a place
like a diner, you would think he owned a car dealership, a fine piece of real
estate, or something equally as sophisticated. You also would never imagine
that he was as kind as he was, but he was a gentle and good-hearted man, who
had worked hard to pass those same morals down to his son.
    “Well, you heard wrong,” Mitch picks up
the sugar and drops two spoonfuls into his steaming hot cup. “How many times do
I have to tell you to not buy into the gossip that floats around this town?”
    “Gossip? What gossip? I don’t buy into
such things. I’m just saying what I heard. Why that nice Melissa was in here
just this morning telling me about some secret paperwork she came across-“
    Mitch practically spit the coffee that
was floating around in his mouth out all over the counter. “She was WHAT?”
    Of course, of all the people in town,
leave it to his mother to have taken a liking to Melissa Miller. Ever since
high school his mother had been convinced Melissa was some kind of saint. It
was Melissa’s sister Ashley who had been class president and captain of the cheerleading
team, Melissa was always quite, and kind of mousy, easily taking a back seat to
Ashley’s beauty and extra curricular activities. Mrs. Manner, however, had
claimed to see something special in Melissa for years.
    The first time she had met her had been
at the local high school one night. The first football game of the season was a
big deal around there, had been for as long as anyone could remember, and it
was an occasion the whole town made the effort to come out for. So there was
Mitch, starting quarterback and captain of his senior class team, ready to lead
his team to its championship season, and as he’s about to step onto the field
he looked up in the stands to find his family, and there was his mother,
sitting right next to Melissa Miller, laughing away.
    At first he thought he must have seen
wrong for sure, but after opening and closing his eyes a few times, he realized
he had in fact had it right. Melissa Miller and his mother were up in the
stands chatting away like they had known one another for years, not just
minutes.
    Ever since then his mother refused to let
go of the idea that Melissa was some sort of goddess. She even refused to let
her pay for anything when she came into the diner, she could eat there three
times a day if she wanted for the rest of her life and never have to pay a
dime. If you knew Mitch’s mother at all, you would know that free food meant
she loved you more than words could say. It was all kind of ridiculous, and a
notion that Mitch had long ago stopped trying to figure out.
    After everything that happened with
Ashley’s death, most people in town had written Melissa off as crazy. Sure,
they were sympathetic at first, she had, after all just endured a horrible tragedy.
A town can only handle so much though, and after a while, they grew tired of
the wild stories that would come into light whenever they associated with her,
one can after all only nod politely for so long. After a while, most people in
the town had walked to the other side of the street when they saw her coming,
not wanting to be seen with her. Not wanting to be wrapped up in the extreme
thoughts that seemed to replay over and over again in her mind.
    Not Mitch’s mother though, Mitch’s mother
had stayed loyal to Melissa through it all, listening to her thoughts morning
after morning, day after day, patiently trying to put the puzzles together of what
had happened on that catastrophic morning. Leave it to his mother to buy into
everything that woman said. Mitch had even been called down to the diner on
several occasions because his mother had refused service to Charles Morgan. She
said she would not have “a murderer” eating in a building she owned. The whole
thing was a major inconvenience, and honestly Mitch felt a little bad for Mr.
Morgan. I mean, the