This is the story that spawned my first story, The Rescue. Everyone from that one is introduced in this tale. It's going to be a little long so bear with me.
Thanks again to
Devir Ginator
for help in editing. I stuck with first person to adhere to how I wrote The Rescue.
Thanks for reading, commenting and voting!
Myrtle Beach International Airport
Private Hanger Area
Heat waves rose off the tarmac at Myrtle Beach International Airport as a private plane taxied to a stop near the private hangers. An attractive blonde woman exited the comfort of her air-conditioned car where she had been waiting to greet the passenger from the plane. Lissa Joiner shaded her eyes from the mid morning glare of the sun as it shone off the white hull of the private jet as she waited for her friend to deplane. The pilot opened the door and lowered the steps to allow a captivating brunette to step out into the South Carolina heat. A smile exploded on her face the moment she spotted her old friend waiting for her. She tossed her an excited wave then hurried down the steps heedless of the tropical feeling humidity beating down.
"Look who finally decided to end her winter tour of Europe in the middle of July," Lissa said as she pulled her friend into a loving embrace despite the sweltering heat.
"I meant to be back so much sooner but then dad had some business things he wanted me to do while I was there so I got kind of sidetracked," Addison Voss, heiress to the vast Voss Shipping empire, explained.
"I'll just bet you did," Lissa smiled as she tucked a piece of her long blonde hair behind her ear. "I thought that you were supposed to be back from your overseas vacation like two months ago. What happened?"
"After spending Christmas in England with Mom's family, we took a skiing trip to the Alps, kicked around Germany for a while, saw a little bit of Spain then Dad wanted me to check into a couple of irregularities at a couple of overseas offices. After that I went back to England to check out the design school that Karly is planning to attend."
"Funny you should mention Spain, because I'd say this looks a lot more like Spain than it does dreary old England. That is unless the English have just been lying to us all these years." Lissa remarked as she pulled a rolled up tabloid magazine from the back pocket of her shorts.
The cover showed a well known movie actor with his arms arms wrapped around a bikini clad Addison by a sun drenched pool. They looked to be on very friendly terms.
"Give me that!" Addison shrieked as she snatched it from her hands.
She quickly flipped through the pages to find the pics, flushing red as each pic seemed to get more intimate with each shot.
"God, I can't believe someone got pictures of us at this place. It was supposed to be the most secure villa in Barcelona!" Addison sighed.
"They must have had a long lens," Lissa teased her.
"Oh he did," Addison let slip. "Uh... I mean..."
"Uh huh, I think I know exactly what you meant by that," Lissa laughed. "At least you looked good and apparently had quite a bit of fun from the way you're blushing right now."
"I don't blush. It must be the heat," Addison reminded her as she handed the magazine back.
"Well you look pretty flushed in this picture, it must have been pretty steamy in Barcelona too, sweetie," Lissa giggled.
"Oh it was definitely that," Addison shared. "At least it was for a few days."
"Uh huh, let's go grab a bite to eat and give you a chance to cool off," Lissa stated. "Is there anything that you need from the plane or can we get this show on the road?"
Addison patted her Louis Vuitton purse that hung at her side and shook her head. Her long auburn hair gently blowing in the summer breeze.
"Dad's sending a car to get my bags and everything so we are good," Addison answered.
"That's good because I've got to hear the real story about what happened with you and Mr. Movie Star," Lissa laughed.
"It was just a brief summer fling, Lissa. I'm more interested in what's going on with you. I heard through the grapevine that you were getting pretty serious with this Scott guy you started dating while I was gone," Addison remarked.
"Oh I don't know if I'd call it serious," Lissa said while she waved her hand so the sunlight would catch the new diamond ring on her finger.
Addison quickly grabbed her friend's hand to hold it still so she could examine the ring.
"Lis, that is one serious rock for a not so serious relationship," Addison stated as she looked it over.
"I was just joking, Addison," Lissa proclaimed happily. "Scott and I are very serious as you can tell and I love him so much!"
"So who is this guy that tamed the infamous Lissa Joiner in just over, what, six months time?" She asked.
"I would never have been thought of as infamous if you hadn't spread all those rumors about me back in school," Lissa pointed out.
"That wasn't me, had to be Michelle cause I would never do such things," Addison stated.
"You are trying to pull that innocent on the wrong person, Addison," Lissa laughed. "Shame on you for trying to lay blame on Michelle when she's not even here to defend herself."
"She should be here and not in Oregon playing with some fish," Addison stated.
"She's in Orlando, not Oregon Addison and you know she wanted to be here but this trip was..." Lissa started to say but was cut off by Addison.
"Required by the higher ups at the Carolina Aquarium to make sure she knows every facet of how a successful park operates even though she already knows it all from poking her nose in everywhere she had access to since she's been interning there," Addison mimicked from memory. "We chatted about it before she left so I know all about it."
"I talked to her last night and she told me that she's bored to tears with this classroom nonsense they're showing them right now, but if she has to go through this to get her doctorate then she'll grin and bear it," Lissa informed her.
"Our sweet little geek girl who already knows everything because she's already read every book about whatever subject cover to cover twice," Addison giggled.
"Be nice, Addison. You never would have graduated without our sweet geek girl," Lissa stated.
"You know I'm just teasing; I love Michelle. She's family, well practically family. You know that Karly still calls Michelle her big sister even now?" Addison told her. "I'm her actual big sister but does she call me that? No! She reserves that title for Michelle."
"She does it because she knows that it gets under your skin, Addison," Lissa laughed.
"That was totally her reason at the beginning but now I think they've done it for so long that they believe it. It's too cute when they do it so I let it pass. "Speaking of cute, how's your new guy? He is cute right?" Addison asked.
"Well he's not some Hollywood hunk but then not all of us can be as lucky as you in that regard. He's a great guy and I guess you'd would call him ruggedly handsome. His name is Scott Brannock and he's a part time dive instructor at the scuba center down at the marina," Lissa informed her.
"He's not some muscle bound jerk is he?" Addison asked remembering the types of guys that Lissa used to fall for. "Lissa, you of all people, know how those guys are."
Lissa shook her head as they get into her Lexus.
"Give me some credit, Addison. I've learned from my mistakes while you were away playing house with your actor," she told her as she cranked up the air conditioning.
The cool air flowed in to the cab refreshing the both of them after standing out in the humid South Carolina air.
"He does charity work with underprivileged kids. He runs a program that teaches them diving then takes them out for a couple of weeks. He's also well read. He's got a degree in business just like I do. What more do you want to know?" Lissa asked confidently.
"Very impressive," Addison admitted. "All I want to know now is when do I get to meet this awesome guy?"
"Soon," She answered. "He's meeting us for lunch. Remember Hamburger Heaven?"
"The best cheeseburgers on this side of the Atlantic, how could I forget?" Addison asked.
"Arguably the best," Lissa said. "Michelle insists that Chef Smitty's is better but the jury is still out. She and I went there about two weeks ago just before her trip to Florida and I will concede that they are very good."
"I miss that girl something terrible you know?" Addison remarked.
"I know how you feel. She barely says a word half the time she's with you but if I look over and she's not there, I miss her," Lissa agreed.
"I take it she's met Scott?" Addison asked.
"Of course she has," Lissa told her. "She's been out with us a few times and I'm sure she told you all about it but then I'm sure you were preoccupied."
"I listen," Addison argued then added, "sometimes. So, what was Michelle's verdict?"
"She likes him," Lissa said. "They have the diving thing in common so they chatted about that a lot. He was in the Navy for a time so she loves to hear his stories about his time as a SEAL."
"A military man? Really Lissa, you never seemed the type to date a man in uniform," Addison stated.
"He's out of the service now. He was wounded over in Afghanistan along with several other members of his unit several years ago but he's fully recovered now with only some scars and bad memories."
"Scars huh?" Addison asked.
"One of those RPG things exploded a wall that he was hiding behind. It nearly killed him," Lissa shared with a haunting tone as if she were there when it happened. "They had to put a steel plate in to hold parts of his skull together but once his hair grew back you can't even tell it's there unless you run your fingers over it."
"That sounds awful, Lis," Addison said. "I'm glad that he survived it. Does... does the scar thing feel weird?"
"I'm used to it I guess," Lissa commented. "His dad joked that if I wanted, I could put a fridge magnet on his forehead to hold up any notes I wanted to make sure Scott read."
