Sardinian Dream

Sardinian Dream(Mary Kelly) The summer was here at last. The previous months of rain and snow would make anyone feel gloomy, so the arrival of May seemed to give Melanie a glimmer of hope. She was about to embark on a two month working holiday in Sardinia, and she just couldn't wait. It wasn't the work that she was looking forward to, it was the sun, sea and sand she was so excited about. At 32 years old, with no job, man or children to look after it seemed the perfect opportunity for her right now. Melanie had a great job just last month. She was a P.A for a really handsome man named Rick. He was a major Sports Official, so she had got to meet a lot of fit football players, one of the perks she called it, although nothing ever happened between her and any of them, it was Rick himself that had caught her eye. He was the type of man any woman could dream of, tall, rich and very handsome. Melanie really couldn't keep her eyes off him. problem was neither could his wife!

It wasn't long before she found out about their affair. She confronted Melanie and gave her a choice, leave the job or she would inform the management of the company. It was one of their 'golden rule's' within the company that there would be no relationships with colleagues. So of course, Melanie quit her job. It wasn't like her to have an affair with a married man. in fact she had never done so before. it was Rick that had done all the chasing. Paying her compliments, buying her gifts, she just couldn't say no to him!

The last 2 months had been a rough patch for her. She was just coming to terms with her job and man loss, when her apartment was broken into. She really was having a bad time, when one day she spotted an advert in the local paper for a job in Sardinia. The job was a live-in role in a hotel, front of house type, so with a lot of managerial experience she applied and got the position. Now here she was packing her bags and getting ready for the two months ahead. anything was better than what she had right now, she thought!

The plane landed down and the minute she got off the plane the heat took her breathe away. She had never been anywhere more exotic than this, and she couldn't believe her eyes how beautiful this place was. Melanie found the short taxi ride to the hotel breath-taking. She passed small villages up in hills that looked so peaceful, and she also passed along some of the most exotic beaches you could only dream of. 'Welcome to Sardinian Dream', the male's voice greeted her when she arrived. A short stubby male, in his 50's, Alandro was the manager of the hotel, and he showed Melanie around. She had 4 days before she started work here, to look around, get to know the area, and meet some her new co-workers. Alandro was so nice, he reminded her a lot of her father, and he put her at ease right away.

Melanie decided on an early night. She was totally exhausted from travelling so that not even the white sandy beach across from the hotel could tempt her. She fell into her bed that night, and for the first time in a long time slept like a baby.

The sunlight beamed into the room, like a ray from heaven, at 5am the next morning. Melanie was wide awake, refreshed from her sleep the night before, so decided to go for a swim. She headed out to the beach, which at that time of the morning was nice and quiet, and went for a dip. She looked around after a minute or two, and suddenly felt very lonley. All the excitement and hype had suddenly calmed down and now here she was, in a strange place thousands of miles from home, without a friend in the world. 'What am I doing?', she thought to herself. Alandro knocked on Melanie's door at noon that day. He brought her down to the staff room, just off the back of the kitchen, and introduced her to some of the staff. A lot of them could speak broken english, so that was a help, but others had no english at all. Most of the non-english speakers had job's in the hotel out of the public eye, like maintanance men, chef's etc. Egna was friendly, she asked Melanie to dinner that evening so they could get to know one another. She was originally from Turkey, had been working at Sardinan Dream about 6 months now. She told Melanie all she knew about the hotel that she could think of. She told her all the local gossip too! Like Mandal, the little old lady that owned the fruit stall by the beach. Although she was 65, she took a keen shine to all the fit surfers on the beach! The girls laughed into the night, and by bed-time Melanie had cheered up a bit. Maybe she wouldn't be as lonely here as she first thought.

The 4 days seemed to pass by too quickly. Now here she was on reception of the hotel for her first days work. Her first customer that morning was Adam. He was the best man for his brothers wedding, and was checking the group into the hotel. Melanie didn't notice how utterly beautiful Adam was. Or how he looked at her either. She was more interested in being professional, and besides, she had enough of men for now! Those 8 hours she did on reception were over. Her first day down, and Melanie was happy. She knew in her heart she had made the right decision about coming. Alandro complimented her work, and told her what a great job she had done.

Now she got ready for the night ahead. Egna was taking her for a night out. They had one too many cocktails at the open bar along the beach, and danced too much too. Her feet were now stinging her. 'Why did I wear these stupid 6 inch heels?' she thought! Egna was gone about an hour now. She met some lady and just disappeared. Melanie couldn't work out where she had gone, but had given up waiting and started to walk back along the beach to the hotel. Maybe it was the drink, but she would never have walked alone at night before. But here she was walking sideways by the edge of the ocean, in the dark, and she didn't feel one bit scared. Before she knew it someone had come up behind her. He actually gave her a fright so she spun around to see who it was. 'Alan isn't it?', she said to the man. 'Actually it's Adam' he said. 'I thought you were actually so professional you'd remember my name'. Her cheeks blushed slightly at his comment, but she just kept on walking. They talked for a while, then suddenly Melanie fell flat on her face.

The alarm clock went at 6am. Melanie jumped out of bed, just for a second before flopping back down again. 'Ugh', she sighed. The headache was almost instant. The minute she opened her eyes it came on. The flashbacks started then. Her dancing on tables to old Spice Girls songs, then talking to Adam on the beach. She couldn't remember much more. Suddenly she felt very embarrassed. 'How did I get back here?', How did I get into bed?', was all she could think. She looked around the room, and just by the door she saw a piece of paper on the ground. She ran over to it and opened it. Inside it read 'Thanks for last night, I needed it a lot'. "Oh my god, what have I done?' Melanie said aloud.

"Good morning my dear" Alandro said when Melanie took up her position on reception. "I see you had a good night last night, sampling some of Sardinia's famous cocktails" he laughed. "Too much sampling I think I did" Melanie whispered back. "I can't even remember how I got back here" she blushed. "Oh you weren't that bad, actually if it weren't for that Adam lad you might have ended up asleep with sand in your hair" he giggled. "Oh Alandro, I hope I didn't make a fool of myself", she shyly said. "What an impression does last night say about me, that I'm a drunk silly old woman". "Don't worry, darling, you went out and let your hair down, you were off duty so what you get up to is your own business" Alandro said. Melanie hoped the day ahead would go quickly so she could go back up to bed and hide under the duvet for the night. The next day or two went without a hitch. People checked in and out of the hotel, and Melanie tried to forget all about the other night, and the note too, but she could not help thinking what Adam had meant by what he wrote. She still couldn't remember a thing. Egna showed up for work that morning too, although she was half an hour late. "Where did you go last night" Melanie half whispered across the reception area to her. "I'm so sorry, I met up with my ex and we got talking, then one thing led to another, you know how it is" Egna half shouted back. "I didn't see you with any man" Melanie said, half trying to remember that part of the night. "Yea course you didn't" laughed Egna, you saw me with Maria, she is my ex" Egna said with a smile on her face! Melanie half laughed when she got what Egna was saying. "Why good morning beautiful", Adam said as he strolled through the doors of Sardinian Dream's lobby. Melanie suddenly felt her cheeks burn up and didn't know where to look. She just prentended to look busy, busy enough to ignore him! "Melanie, sorry I didn't stop by over the last couple of days, but I was busy with my brothers wedding, which is all over now by the way" Adam said. Melanie tried to make polite conversation with him, not sure if they had got up to something the other night or not. "How did it go" she said. "Oh without a hitch of course" Adam chuckled, "especially as I was in charge of it all", "Always the groomsman and never the groom eh" he said. Melanie didn't know why he came out with such a sentence, if only she could recall some of their conversation that night, maybe she could understand some of the things he way saying now. They spoke for about 15 minutes, well Adam spoke and she just listened, half afraid to open her mouth incase she sounded like some alcoholic lady who blacks out every time she has a drink. "7pm tonight so" Adam asked, "we're still on right". Melanie looked at him for a second. "Sure no problem" she replied, not knowing what he was talking about. Adam said he'd meet her out front, that he couldn't wait for a repeat of the other night. Melanie was just left standing there in shock! The dresses came flying out of her wardrobe at intense speed. It was 6.45pm and she had 15 minutes to work out what to wear! Did she go casual, like for a stroll on the beach, or go with her clingy little summer dress, that she'd wear for a nice meal out! If she knew what he meant by a 'repeat' she'd have some idea, but if its what she thought he meant, she needn't wear anything, she thought to herself. Adam was really good looking, although he wasn't her usual type of tall dark and handsome, he was more tall, rough and sexy! He had a real surfer boy look about him, that Melanie suddenly felt very attracted to. Adam was waiting outside, just like he said. Melanie strode up to him, butterflys in her tummy. She had decided that hey she was single after all, so whatever happened tonight she would just go with the flow. She was attracted to Adam, and she guessed he liked her too, so what harm were they doing. Although she didn't want him to think she was easy, but she couldn't take back what happened the other night either. "So are you ready Melanie" Adam asked her. "Yes, am sure lets go", she blushed back. Adam held her hand as they started to walk along the beach. "Hey I think thats part of your lipstick stuck to that rock" he giggled as they walked further along. Melanie laughed too remembering the part where she fell flat on her face. "I'm so sorry about that" she said. "I never usually get that drunk, it was just all the excitement of being here, and the heat too". "Don't worry about it" he told her as he led her out to the peir off the end of the beach. They sat and dangled their legs out over the each, and Melanie felt as if she had known Adam all her life. They talked for about 2 hours, but Melanie couldn't talk any more. The only thoughts going around and around in her head were of the other night. "I'm sorry Adam, but I need to ask you something" she said to him. Adam smiled at her, and said "fire away". "Look I know we've only know each other a couple of days, well actually this is the 2nd day I've known you" she said, "but what actually happened between us the other night". Adam looked away for a minute then looked back again, "what do you mean" he said. "The other night when I was drunk, what happened between us". " What do you think happened" he smiled at her. "I don't know thats why I'm asking you". Adam laughed out loud. "Oh your funny" he told her. "Nothing happened the other night, you fell and I carried you back to the hotel, thats it". Melanie giggled a little. She really had thought she had got up to something naughty with Adam. She felt a little sad though, she and Adam together had become a picture in her head she had worked up so much over the last couple of days, now it just all seemed like a fantasy. That night Melanie had the most wonderful time with Adam. He took her for dinner, they danced a little on the sand outside the open-air bar. It just seemed like a dream. Adam walked her back to the hotel. "I'm leaving tomorrow" he told Melanie. Suddenly Melanie felt a knot inside her stomach. She had only just found him, now she had to let Adam go. She just nodded her head at him, letting him know she understood. She really wanted to shout out "No, please don't go yet" but she didn't want him to think she was desperate. Adam took her face in his hands, and pressed his lips to hers. She felt a tingling all over her body. The feel of his lips making their way down her kneck took her breathe away. He pressed a piece of paper into her hands, "promise you'll call me" he said as he started walking away. Melanie stood still and watched him disappear into the darkness of the night. She was smiling, even though she felt disappointed he was leaving. She was glad she had met him. It was like Adam had given her some hope of finding happiness out in this strange unfamiliar country. Melanie turned around to make her way back into the hotel. Just as she got inside the doors, she felt a pair of eyes on her. "Well I guess there is no hope for me now my dear", Alandro said, looking a bit upset. "Excuse me" Melanie relpied with a shock look on her face. "Well after the other night, when you kissed me I thought I had some chance, thats why I left you the note under your door", Alandro said. Melanie suddenly had alot of flashbacks. Her falling in the sand, Adam helping her back to the hotel lobby. Alandro saying he'll take it from here, him opening her bedroom door, her thanking him, then her pressing her lips onto his. "Oh my god, oh my god" Melanie repeated over and over to herself, while still rooted to the spot she was standing on. "Don't worry my dear, I will take care of you, Like I said on my note, thanks for the other night, I needed it".