Resurrection Dreams Read Online Free PDF

Vicki told herself. You can’t avoid him forever, so you might as well go ahead and get it over with.
    There was enough gas left to reach Ace’s, so she didn’t absolutely have to stop. But that would leave the U-Haul with an empty tank and she needed to drive forty miles to Blayton tomorrow once she finished unloading at the new apartment Ace had found for her.
    Maybe the Arco station at the other end of town would still be open. It used to close down early, but its hours might’ve changed.
    Just go ahead and stop at Melvin’s, she thought.
    Though she was still at least a mile from the Ellsworth city limits, the decision made her heart thud faster. The steering wheel felt slick in her hands. Cool trickles slid down her sides all the way to the waistband of her shorts. She wiped a hand on the front of her blouse, then fastened the two top buttons she had opened earlier to let the air in.
    Maybe he won’t even be on duty, she thought. He could’ve hired a kid, or someone, to run the place. God knows, he could afford to.
    He shouldn’t have come back to Ellsworth. What was he, a glutton for punishment? He’d been an outcast even before he flipped out at the Science Far, and nobody was ever likely to let him forget the Darlene Morgan business.
    When Ace told her on the phone last year that Melvin had returned, she’d been so appalled that she had given a lot of thought to changing her own plans. As much as she looked forward to returning to Ellsworth once she finished her residency, the idea of living in the same town as Melvin made her queasy. Maybe he was “stable,” maybe he would never do anything crazy again, but she knew that every time she saw him she would remember his Amazing Miracle Machine.
    Still, Ellsworth was home. Even though her parents had moved to Blayton during her first year at medical school, it was Ellsworth that she longed for: the quiet, familiar streets of her childhood, the shops she used to visit, the woods and river, her friends. It was where she had been carefree and happy and where she had fallen in love.
    Knowing that Melvin Dobbs had returned there after his release from the institution took away some of the town’s nostalgic glow.
    It might have been enough to make Vicki change her plans about returning. Except for one thing.
    A $25,000.00 loan from Dr. Gaines, offered to Vicki, and accepted, on the condition that she return to Ellsworth and help him in his family practice until the loan was paid back. A great deal, especially since she had always hoped to practice in Ellsworth. And she’d looked forward to working with Charlie Gaines, a charming old guy she liked a lot.
    Her obligation to the doctor removed any real possibility of avoiding Ellsworth, where she wanted to live anyway, so she had resigned herself to an eventual encounter with Melvin.
    The encounter had been eventual a year ago.
    Now, it was imminent.
    Vicki felt sick.
    Calm down, she told herself. It’s no big deal. He’s not going to do anything to me.
    Rounding the bend in River Road, she saw the lighted service station ahead. There was Melvin standing slouched in front of a car, apparently writing its license plate number on a credit card receipt.
    The way he was dressed, he might have looked ridiculous. He wore a baggy, bright Hawaiian shirt, plaid Bermuda shorts and dark socks that sagged around his ankles. But he didn’t look ridiculous; there was nothing funny about it. Vicki doubted that anything about Melvin, however odd, could ever strike her as amusing.
    Her courage faltered.
    Go to the Arco tomorrow, she thought.
    But that would only postpone the inevitable. Better to face a nasty situation than to put it off and keep dwelling on it.
    She slowed down, let out a shaky breath and swung off the road. The car was pulling away from the full-service island. She started for the self-service pumps, then changed her mind. This would be bad enough without having to get out of the truck. Especially the way she was