I hope this trip can change things between them.

“Justin, don’t you think it would be nice to help the lady with all these bags?”

I eye the suitcases that belong to us.  They’re resting in a pile several feet away, obviously left behind when Trace, Tarin and Brittany piled into the SUV.  “Oh...I can help get...”

“You just sit yourself down in the truck and have a rest.”  Poppa smiles kindly and opens the door for me before I can grab anything.  “Hope you don’t mind sittin’ in the middle, sweetheart.”

I smile sheepishly and look back at Justin, who has begun to gather up the suitcases, three at a time, in a desperate attempt to prove to his grandfather that he’s not a lazy bum.  He won’t look at me, so I decide to simply get into the trunk and stop making things harder for him, reminding myself to kill Trace later for ditching us.

I get in the truck, making sure to position myself in the middle.  I can smell dirt..hard work, years of woodworking and construction.  It makes me feel a little warm inside because I’m seeing Justin in a different light now.  This is where he was raised.  It’s not Hollywood.  He’s not famous here.  If anything, he’s put in his place rather quickly whenever he comes back, and I think that’s what he needs.  He needs his grandfather to wake him up a little and make him remember where he comes from and how important that is. I glance out the window and see Justin heaving the heavy suitcases into the back of the truck while his grandfather stands there and watches him with a funny twinkle in his eyes.  

Justin is the first one in the truck, and his gaze shifts to me as if he’s about to say something, but then Poppa climbs into the drivers seat and he quickly looks away from me.  The truck shudders and rumbles loudly when it’s started up and Poppa looks over at me kindly as he fastens his seatbelt.  “Might be a little more bumpy than your used to.”

I wait for Justin to say something, but he never does.  “I’ll be okay.” I say quietly as I tug at the bottom of my blouse nervously.

Poppa turns the radio on, and turns it down so it only blares softly as he pulls the truck away from the curb.  For a while it’s silent.  Justin stares out the passenger window like he’s lost all of his stamina, and I stare straight ahead, taking in the scenery, not that there’s much to look at.  We’re traveling down back roads, most likely to avoid any city traffic.  It’s a world away from Los Angeles of course.  There’s trees, and land everywhere you turn.  It’s quiet here, not so busy, and I’m beginning to like it a little bit more as we ride along.  

“You like Johnny Cash?”  Poppa turns the radio up a little louder, and I recognize the song immediately as ‘Ring of Fire.’ I’ve never been a huge fan of country music, but down here I’m sure it’s treated as some kind of religion.  “I’ve heard some of his songs,” I chuckle.  “Justin must know most of them.”

Poppa snorts.

Justin doesn’t look away from the window.

“Oh look, there’s the general store,” Poppa points out after a while.  “Now, Justin will hafta take you there for a burger before you leave.”

I nod.  It looks like a little shack out in the middle of nowhere, but I’m sure it must have some kind of significant meaning, if his grandfather brought it up.  “I bet he will,” I speak up after it’s out of sight.  “You know, coming here is all he’s been thinking about.”  Okay, it’s not exactly a lie.  I mean, Justin has been thinking about it a lot...just not in the most positive way.  I nudge Justin a little, trying to get him in on the conversation so he won’t look like a complete asshole in front of his grandfather.  “Last night he was telling me how excited he was about coming home.”

Justin looks at me like I have about five heads.

“Good to hear, good to hear.”  Poppa snickers as he turns the car down another long, winding country road.  “Boy hasn’t been home in a long...long...time.”

“It wasn’t my fault,” Justin immediately says.  “And you know...”

“And this here, this is the church,” Poppa speaks over him as we pass by an old white church.  “My wife and I were married there.”

I can’t even pay attention.  Justin is looking down at his lap, chewing the hell out of his nails and shaking his head like he wants to say a million things, but knows there’s no sense it in.  Apparently Justin has a certain level of respect for his grandfather, and he wouldn’t dare raise his voice or talk back to him.  

Poppa continues to ramble on about some of the towns history, as we pass by a sign that reads: Welcome to Meeman-Shelby Forest.  I look back over at Justin, and it seems as if he’s seen it too.  He’s sitting straight up now, staring intensely ahead as if he’s on the lookout for something.

The neighborhoods we drive through are average, homey looking. There are kids playing on the sidewalks, and in driveways. It’s not until we travel up a long hill that it begins to get a little bit more upscale.  These houses are larger, made of brick and have massive paved driveways lined with expensive looking rock walls.  I can only guess that we’re close to Lynn’s, and when we slow down near the biggest houses on the street, ones that are flooded with cars in the driveway, I realize that we’ve arrived at the get together of the century.

Poppa cuts the engine after managing to find parking, and steals a wink and a smile at me before getting out of the car.  Justin follows silently, and immediately begins to unload the bags from the back of the truck along with his grandfather.  I don’t attempt to help, knowing it’s not the way of the South or something like that.  

“Oh good, you made it!”

I turn and Lynn is standing right behind me, a look of exhaustion spread across her face.  “Hi!” I smile at her and she pulls me into a quick hug, before glancing at Justin who is hauling the bags into the house.

“I gotta go into town to get some more stuff,” she says, letting out a long breath.  “I’m glad y’all made it okay.”  She begins to walk past me quickly, and calls back to me over her shoulder.  “Just make yourself at home Melanie!”

I raise an eyebrow as she completely turns her back on me.  She bumps into a younger girl on her way down to the bottom of the driveway and I hear her saying: “Make sure momma doesn’t give Tyler anymore cookies! He won’t eat dinner tonight and it’ll be all I hear from Beverly.”

The girl nods with a small laugh and makes her way up the driveway, not giving me a second glance as she goes into the house.  I look longingly at the doorway, half expecting Justin to come back for me, but he doesn’t.  I’m sure somebody must have stopped him, either that or his grandfather is giving him the ass reaming of a life time.  

I guess I’m on my own.

I finally get up the courage to go into the house on my own, and the minute I step through the doorway I almost wish I hadn’t.  A couple of small dogs run right past my feet, barking and nipping at each other, nearly causing me to fall right over them, and I barely have time to catch my breath before two small children run across the same path, yelling and screaming after the dogs.  I look up and into the large living room.  It’s crawling with people.  Dozens of them.  It baffles me that they all know each other somehow.

“TYLER! MAGGIE! STOP IT! DON’T CHASE THEM!” A woman hollers from her position on the sofa.  “Those children, they’ll never learn unless I woop their hides,” she says to several other women who are sitting beside her and they nod in agreement.

I try desperately to spot Justin in the crowd, but I find it impossible.  There are simply too many people, so I try to blend in, for fear that somebody might start asking me who I am and what I’m doing here.  I’m not prepared to deal with that after I’ve only just gotten here.
“Hey...hey you’re Melanie right?”

I turn, scared when I realize I don’t recognize the voice coming from behind me.  A petite brunette girl stands before me, that I recognize as the girl who passed me in the driveway just before.  She has a perfect tan, the same color eyes as Justin does, and looks about same age as he is as well.  I have no idea who she is, or if I should trust her, but still I manage to nod and say: “Well um...yeah...”

“Oh good.”  She lets out a relieved laugh and tugs on my arm.  “Justin told me to come find you before you were mobbed by the family.  By the looks of things none of them have noticed you yet, and that’s good.  The aunts are horrible when they meet strangers.”

She’s pulling me through the room as she says it all to me, and I can’t manage to get a word in.  Finally, we reach another hallway, which thankfully seems to be deserted for the moment.  

“I’m J’s cousin, Rachael.”  She smiles as she lets out a long breath.  “Sorry about all that.”

“Oh...” I laugh a little.  “It’s fine.  Where’s um...where’s Justin?”

“He got mobbed the minute he set foot through the door.  I had to rescue him.  He said he’s just changing and he’ll be down in a minute.  The best place to hide in the house is the laundry room near the kitchen, or the back porch.  Just let me know if you need a place to hide while you’re here.  I’m the expert, ask anybody.”

The first thing I think is that Rachael is really nice and I’d love to get to know her a little bit better.  She doesn’t seem like the type of person to judge somebody upon meeting them, and I can already tell that Justin trusts her a lot.  I’m a little sad he’s never told me much about her.  If he had, we might have something to talk about.  “Thanks.”  I say, feeling myself blush.  “There’s so many people here, I think I might have to take you up on that.”

“No problem.  And...” Her eyes get a little wide and she looks over her shoulder for a moment, before reverting her gaze back to me.  “If you have questions about anybody, just ask me.  I’ll tell you who to look out for.”

It makes me nervous that I would need to look out for anybody here, and I’m about to ask her who exactly those people might be, before I hear a loud cheer erupt from the living room again.  “What the...”

Rachael steps ahead of me and sighs when she sees what’s going on.  “Justin came downstairs.  Come on.  It’ll be safer if we go in here.  They won’t let him up for air for a while.”

She pulls me down the hallway and through a door.  A small sign on it reads “Granny’s Kitchen” and I swallow hard, praying that the woman isn’t on the other side of it, but of course she is.  I spy Justin’s granny bent over in front of the same small boy I almost tripped over before, handing him a large chocolate chip cookie.

“Nana, Tyler isn’t supposed to have any more of those,” Rachael chuckles.  “Lynn said he’s had too many and Beverly will be upset if he doesn’t eat dinner.”

“Oh hush you.”  Nana waves Rachael’s comment off with her hand and pats the child on the head before he races past us out of the kitchen.  “What’s it going to harm?  If anybody needs to be concerned about overeating it’s Beverly.”

Rachael covers her mouth and attempts to stifle her laughter but fails.  “Did you...um...know that Justin is here?”

“Well wouldn’t you know it, you’re the first person to tell me!”  She slaps a hand down on the counter as she begins to roll out some dough on top of the counter.  “I haven’t even seen your grandfather. That man...” she huffs.  “If I were a truck he’d take an interest.”
r32;I just stand there.  The woman hasn’t even acknowledged my presence and that either means that she hates me already, or she simply isn’t paying attention.  I hope it’s the latter.

“He’s outside putting up some more tables for Lynn,” Rachael explains.  “Justin’s in the living room being attacked.”

“You just never mind and hand me that butter over there,” Nana orders her, brushing off what she’s just been told.  Rachael does it, and Nana dumps the whole stick into a pot on the stove, immediately giving it a stir with a large wooden spoon.

Rachel eyes me quickly, as if to say: ‘ain’t she sweet?’ before placing her hands behind her and rocking back on her heels.  “Did you meet Melanie yet, Nana?”

“No, who’s that?”  She doesn’t look up as she continues to stir what’s in the pot.

Rachael motions me to come closer to where she’s standing, and I do it, even though I’d rather go hide out on the back porch right now.  “Nana...remember?  Lynn was telling you...”

“Don’t you even tell me that boy got a new girlfriend.”  She looks up from her cooking and places a hand on her hip, seeming to not have heard Rachael’s attempt at an explanation, and studies me like I’m some sort of alien life form for several moments.

“Nooo.  No Nana.” Rachael laughs and places a hand on her grandmothers shoulder.  “I was trying to help you remember. Lynn hired her to help Justin with his work, and around the house.  She kind of took Trace’s place.”

Nana continues to stare at me.

Oh God...r32;
“Oh...oh, I’m sorry dear,” Nana laughs moments later, seeming to remember the story.  “It’s been quite a day here.”

“If you knew her, you’d understand.”  Rachael laughs, and ducks as Nana swats at her.  

I’m relieved that the woman doesn’t wish I never crossed her path, but before I can introduce myself and get on her good side, the kitchen door swings open and I whirl around.  Justin is standing there, surrounded by two women that I recognize from the sofa.  One is the woman who was screaming at the two kids...probably Beverly, and the other had been sitting right beside her.  I look Justin in the eyes, and shoot him a small smile.  He smiles back at me, as if to say: “please help me.”

“Momma look who’s here,” Beverly smiles as she gives Justin’s shoulder a rub.  

Nana drops the spoon onto the counter top and comes around to the front of the island.  “You two girls let him go...he’s my grandbaby!” She says, tugging Justin towards her.  She touches his cheeks and gives him a big kiss, before pulling him down into a very long hug.

It’s heartwarming to watch it.  He clings to her so hard, and I know how much he’s missed her.  She’s not as hard as his grandfather has been on him so far.  She’s forgiving him, because she loves him too much to stay mad at him any longer.  I realize that these people don’t care what Justin has or hasn’t done since he was kidnapped, his grandfather being the exception.  They just love him, and want him to be happy.  And they’d act this way if he were simply a kid coming home from college rather than a rich and famous pop star, and they’d act this way regardless if he was kidnapped.  And it’s wrong, but...I’m almost a little jealous.  Nobody has ever missed me like that my entire life, and here Justin is with a huge family who wants nothing more than to spend some time with him.  If he ever cuts them off again, I’ll kill him myself.

“Hey um...” Rachael speaks up once Justin and his grandmother stop hugging.  She’s still looking him over and smoothing out the wrinkles in his polo shirt in a motherly way.  “Let’s figure out where Mel is going to sleep, Justin.”

“Oh yeah,” he flashes his grandmother another smile.  “Good idea.”

“Well, I suppose I have to let you go wander,” Nana sighs and puts her hand to his cheek one more time.  “You can go out through the garage, but you best be back here for supper, you hear me?”

“Yes, Nana.”  

He kisses her one more time before Rachael leads us out the back and through the garage.  We end up one house over, and I realize that must have been Justin’s grandparents house we were in.  This must be Lynn’s house, right next door.

“This is great.” Justin breathes out, seemingly relieved as he leans against the front door. “I can breathe again.”

Rachael laughs and eyes me playfully.  “Nana thought Melanie was your new girlfriend.”

Justin perks up a little bit, and laughs softly as he rolls his eyes.  “I bet she had a few choice things to say.”

“She said, don’t tell me that boy has a new girlfriend,” Rachael snickers.

I don’t say anything, just look at the floor.  I’m confused. This whole thing is confusing.  It’s as if his grandmother doesn’t exactly love Justin’s romantic track record, but I’m too timid to ask questions in front of his cousin.

“Hey,” Justin speaks up, and I force myself to look at him again.  He’s staring at me, a playfulness in his eyes.  “Maybe I could just let her fix me up,” he laughs.

Rachael shifts her gaze between Justin and myself.  I know I’m blushing and I’m sure she can tell.  “Ooookay, so the whole tension thing y’all have going on, like, you know I don’t care Justin, but I’m just saying, you might wanna work on it.  Tone it down, figure it out, ‘cause there’s way too many women in there that read into shit, and are ready to marry you off.  It’s a wedding, it’s Shelby Forest, and you know it’s gonna be the main topic of discussion.  I mean, don’t you think that Beverly and the rest of them are sitting in there right now talking about Melanie?”

There’s no doubt in my mind that she’s figured us out, and it’s so fucking crazy.  She’s only just met me, but I guess she’s known Justin long enough where she can read into things and know exactly what’s going on with him.

Justin lets out a hearty laugh and steps closer to her so he can thrown an arm around her shoulders.  “Damn woman, calm down.  It’s only day one.”

She tugs away from him and steals another glance in my direction.  “Hey, I’m just looking out for you.  You know there’s already been discussion about you having a ‘female assistant.’ No offense, Melanie.”

I just shake my head.

“I want to know why the word has been spread about her in the first place,” Justin grunts.

Rachael just laughs and shakes her head a little.  “Justin, you’re forgetting who you are, who your family is, and where you come from...” She trails off and pushes the door open.  “They’re all nuts down here.”

“I thought things were different now,” Justin says softly, not quite looking at either of us.

“Give me a fuckin’ break, J,” Rachael scoffs, and puts a foot inside the doorway.  “The only one who acts like things have changed...is you.”

She disappears into the house after that, without another word.  Justin and I are left on the doorstep staring at each other.  I have no idea what to say.  I’m officially overwhelmed but I don’t want him to know, because I know he probably feels the same way.

“Not so bad huh?” He snickers, pulling me closer to him now that we’re alone.

“Your family is a riot,” I sigh into him, as he kisses the top of my head.  

“You’re sorry you came.” He tells me.
 
“No.”  I shake my head.  “Overwhelmed maybe.  And the whole thing with your grandfather was kind of weird but...I’m happy to be here.  Your cousin and your grandmother seem really nice.”

He cracks a small smile.  “My grandfather told me that he wants to have a talk with me at some point.  I can’t wait.”

“I’m sure it’ll be okay.  He probably just wants to understand some things.”

Justin shakes his head, and touches my face gently.  “He can’t understand.”

“He will.”  I persist.  “Justin, give it a chance.  We only just got here.”

He nods at me.  “C’mon, lets get you set up, and then we can eat.”

I loop my arm through his as he leads me into the house.  “Sounds like a plan.”

He turns to me just as we enter the house and pushes the door closed, before gently pinning me up against the wall and planting a long kiss on my lips, seeming to know that his cousin isn’t around.  “I’m really...really glad you’re here.”  He smiles.

And I can’t help but smile back at him, realizing how great it is to be in his arms, with him at home, surrounded by the people the love him like I do.  I wish my mind could be completely clear too.  That I had nothing else to worry about.  But the conversation I heard between Justin and Trace is still resting in the back of my mind, reminding me that there are still a lot of things that I don’t know.  Will I find out about them this week? Or will those things stay a secret?  I don’t have the answer, but I do know that this place is going to make Justin’s wounds open up a little bit more, and he may suddenly come clean about everything that’s happened to him.  

I just hope I can handle it, and that his family can handle me.

My cellphone buzzes inside my pocket as Justin wanders off to find Rachael.  I smile when I see that it’s Kerri sending me a text message.

Finally home, God...I’m going to kill myself.  Hiding in my room for the night.  Wish me luck.

I sigh a little bit as I respond.  Think you’re stressed? I just met my boyfriends entire family.  I think the correct words to describe the situation are Southern Discomfort.

I didn’t know your boyfriend was from the South! What a coincidence. So is my ex.  He’s actually from Memphis like me.

My stomach begins to feel funny, but I blow it off.  I’m probably hungry and tired from flying, and meeting a bunch of people at one time.  Wow, my boyfriend is too!  Are you in Tennessee?

I actually am!  Are you here too?

Yeah! Maybe we can hang out!

I smile.  Maybe this week won’t be as bad as I thought.  With Kerri around to talk to and hang out with, I think a lot of my tension will go away.

Wait a second...

Kerri.

I quickly snap my phone closed and shove it in my pocket.  It can’t be possible.  I won’t believe it.  There’s no way she’s the same Kerri that...

Holy shit, but what if she is?

“Hey.”  Justin smiles as he returns with Rachael in tow.  “Ready for some more good old fashioned family fun?”

“Yeah, sure.”  I force a smile for him, and he eyes me uncertainly.  “What?”

“You okay?” He whispers as Rachael walks ahead of us.  “You look like you’re gonna be sick.”

I shake my head roughly.  “No, I’m fine.  Just hungry, tired...you know.”  I laugh nervously.

He looks at me like he isn’t buying it.  But I can’t tell him, and I think he either knows that or just can’t afford to be anymore nervous than he already is.  So he just grabs my hand instead, and leads me out the door.  Soon, we’re back in his grandparents house, and I’m too busy being introduced to the twenty or so other people that weren’t there before we left, that I quickly forget about my Kerri theory.  It’s silly anyway.  Memphis is a big place, and there’s bound to be more than one Kerri hanging around.  I’m just overly worried.  Too many stories about this Kerri girl have put my nerves on edge and I just can’t be that way anymore.  

We sit down to dinner, and I put it out of my mind as my boyfriend presses his leg into mine from underneath the table.  

I realize the only thing I want to concentrate on is being in love with him, and I smile.

Justin’s stepfather, Paul, stands up after several minutes and clinks his glass with his fork, making everybody stop talking and pay attention.

“Here’s to family,” he smiles, beaming at Justin.  I eye Lynn, who is sitting across from us, and I can see a few tears trailing down her cheeks.  “Let us be thankful for the health and happiness that surround us during this joyus occasion.  Let us also be thankful that our family can be whole again tonight.”

We all raise our glasses, and I can see Justin roll his eyes a little.  I nudge him though, and he looks back at me with a knowing smile.  We clink our glasses together and he leans in towards me nonchalantly, so he can whisper in my ear.

“Here’s to us.”

I smile, and feel myself melt into oblivion.

This is truly the best trip ever.