Junrig: Brides of the Mylos, #3

By Loretta Johns

Thirty-two, a single mom, and her world crashing down around her...

Melissa's thirty-second birthday was a train wreck of a day only made worse when she ran out of gas. Not only did she have to go into work, but after coming in late once too often, she finds herself fired. Following her supervisor's suggestion that she look into taking some courses to gain a job qualification that might work better around her children's schedules, she's surprised when the financial aid officer suggests she go apply for the Bride Program grant. After seeing the stipend offered and armed with the knowledge that there is only the remotest of possibilities that she'd turn out to be someone's perfect match, she decides to take a chance...

Junrig joined the Bride Fleet not to find a bride, but to help make life easier for those who did. He knows he's more at home with starship environmental systems than people, and that's okay. His assignment to the flagship of the Bride Fleet means he'd be among the last entered into the matching program anyway, and only then once more of the warriors and support staff on the other ships have mated. The day he is alerted to his match, he's astounded.

Is it all a mistake, or is their melded family's happiness truly written in the stars?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pahoa Paradise
• Release date: Feb 19, 2021
• ISBN: 9781393182344

Book preview

Chapter 1

Melissa

Melissa peered into the mirror. So this is what thirty-two looks like. A little wrinkled, some cellulite, three kids, and a divorce. She leaned in closer. The bags under her eyes had bags of their own, and they were bruise-colored. Great, just great. Happy birthday to me.

Mommy, Jeffrey farted at the table, her three-year-old daughter, Maisie, said through the bathroom door.

I did not! You're just mad 'cause I got the last of the marshmallow cereal! Jeffrey shouted from the kitchen.

Melissa winced. The mobile home they lived in was only a fourteen by seventy, so there wasn't that great a distance between the rooms. At least they didn't have any neighbors close enough to be disturbed by their ruckus, living as they did on the back half of her uncle's ten-acre parcel on the outskirts of DeFuniak Springs, Florida might not be the most exotic place, but it gave plenty of shouting room. Good thing, too, as my kids can shout with the best of 'em.

She rummaged in her makeup bag for her bottle of concealer. It was almost out as was her foundation and mascara. She eyed herself critically. It'd have to do. She was due on shift soon. She grimaced, glancing at her phone. If she didn't get a move on and drop the kids off at the daycare, she'd not make it in time. She'd already been warned that if she was late one more time, that'd be it.

She opened the bathroom door. Grab your backpacks and let's go!

But I don't got my shoes on, Johnny said.

And why not? Mellissa asked, trying not to panic. You had them on before breakfast. She knew all three of them had, she'd checked before allowing them to pour their cereal while she got ready.

Because I don't like red no more, he said in a reasonable tone.

Johnny Lamont Clark, you get your shoes and march to the car right now. By the time we get to daycare, you best have them on and fastened.

But that'll get my socks dirty, he whined.

Should've thought about that before you took them off. Oh, never mind, she groused. Where are your shoes?

Here they are, Mommy, Jeffrey said with a trying to be helpful lilt to his voice. I got my backpack, too.

Melissa took Johnny's shoes from Jeffrey and sat them on her kitchen table. Lifting Johnny up, she sat him on the table next to his shoes. You and your sister go get in the car and fasten yourselves in. She thanked the good Lord for built-in child seats.

Okay, Mommy, the child chimed. Come on, Maisie, you heard what Mommy said.

Melissa thrust Johnny's feet into his shoes and velcroed them shut. Picking him and her phone, purse, and car keys up, she rushed to the door. She hurriedly fastened him in and then climbed into the driver's seat. A quick glance at her phone showed her she was now ten minutes late leaving, thanks to that escapade. This is so not good. She turned the keys, eying the gas gauge as the car turned over. Really, she needed to stop for gas, but hopefully, it'd last her until she got ready to leave work. I can always fill up at the station there.

She thought she was home free when she got to the daycare center and got the kids signed in with no delays. Her stroke of good luck ran out when her engine refused to turn over. She was out of gas. No, no, no! she cried, gripping the wheel tightly while banging her head in frustration. When will I ever catch a break, huh? One of the mothers tapped on her window. Car trouble? You need me to call AA? Melissa inwardly groaned. It was the woman who was always spreading gossip and always adding a malicious twist. No doubt this would be one of her newest topics.

One of the fathers overheard and came over. You need a jump? I've got cables.

Her face reddening, she replied, No, no. I'm just out of gas. I was hoping it'd last me 'til I got to work, as they have the cheapest gas prices. She watched as they exchanged glances. Yeah, go ahead and think it. Why didn't she get gas yesterday? Okay, sure, I should have, but I worked late enough that I had to really skedaddle to get here before five to pick the kids up. Not like Uncle Clem would be any help. He's off gambling in Biloxi again. And the kids' daddies are long gone. And both of these folks are probably judging me for that too.

Sorry, I don't have a gas can, the man said slowly as if she'd asked him for one and was too stupid to know he didn't have one.

Me neither, the woman piped up. Both of them ambled off to their cars, uninterested now that they knew it was something mundane and that they couldn't be of any help nor was there a more interesting story to talk about. Melissa gritted her teeth. She didn't have a gas can, either. She eyed the auto parts place across the street from the college extension campus where her children attended daycare. Hopefully, they'd have a gas can then she'd just have to walk to the gas station. First, though, she'd have to call into work. Dread seized her as she flicked through her phone's address book and pulled up the store.

Thank you for calling Save-a-Lot Super Center, a cheerful female voice said. It sounded like Marcia, Melissa thought.

This is Melissa, she interrupted. I need to speak to the supervisor.

One moment. She heard the canned music and decided to go ahead and start walking to the auto parts place across the road. This time of day, Highway 90 was fairly busy. Whoosh! Cars whipped by.

Hi, came the wind muffled voice of the supervisor on duty.

Hi, it's Melissa, she replied loudly, hoping she could be heard and didn't sound as if she was angry and shouting. Whoosh! An eighteen wheeler went past. She stepped out hurriedly. Traffic was clear on her side of the road. Beep! A car coming the other way blared at her, even though she was still on the other side of the road. I'm gonna be late, I'm having car trouble. I'm heading to the car parts place now.

Okay, see me when you get in. The call disconnected. The road was clear now, enabling her to finish crossing. She purchased her gas can and began the trek to the gas station. She snorted, remembering the woman at the daycare asking if she wanted her to call AA. "As if I could even afford an AA membership,' she said out loud to herself, ruefully. Truth be told, she couldn't even really afford the gas. She was going to have to skate a ten dollar check at the gas station. She hated doing that, but she'd not bounced a check yet.

Finally, soaked in sweat thanks to the unseasonal mid-October heat, and now over an hour late, she made it to the nearest gas station. She filled her gas can and walked up to the cashier who rang her up. She wrote out her check and passed it to the cashier with her driving license. The cashier scanned her check. I'm sorry, but payment has been rejected. Do you have another way to pay?

Melissa's face turned scarlet. Um, no, sorry. I left my debit card at home and I don't have any cash, she claimed. Can a manager authorize it or something? It's only for ten dollars and I've never bounced a check. There must be a mistake.

I'll pay it, the man behind her in line said. You just pay it forward later, all right?

Melissa nodded mutely, humiliated but too desperate at this point to refuse. The cashier accepted the twenty the man passed to her and handed him the receipt. Have a nice day, she said to Melissa.

Thank you so much, she said softly to the man before making her escape. The walk back to her car seemed to take even longer than the trip to the gas station. It was closer to noon and the Florida sun wasn't shy about letting Melissa know about it. Now nearly two hours late for work, she put the gas into her tank and made the drive to work.

You look like something the cat dragged in, Ron, the security man said as she trudged in past him.

I ran out of gas and had to walk all the way to the gas station in this heat.

That'd do it. Were the kids with you? he asked.

Nah, I'd just dropped them off at daycare.

That's good, was all he said.

She winced, spying the checkout supervisor heading her way. Melissa, in the office, please.

Melissa followed Nicky Reid into the office. This is the third time in two months that you've been late and you had to leave early two times other than that and called in two days besides those.

My kids were sick them two days. If they're sick, I can't take them to daycare.

I'm afraid we're going to have to let you go. It's obvious that you cannot maintain a compatible work schedule. I've already had to call someone in to cover for you today and the rest of the week, so just turn in your things. We wish you the best in the future. Maybe you can take some classes, get a home daycare license or something and work around your kids' needs. With that, Nicky left the office.

Future, what future? She once thought she had a future. She'd worked hard, not even seriously dating until she hit twenty-five. Then she met Tom. They got engaged and moved into an apartment together in Ft. Walton and everything. Then she found out she was pregnant and he emptied their joint bank account and took off, never to be seen again. A year later, she'd met Rob at the children's Little Boggy playground in Niceville. He'd been there with his niece. They got to talking and he asked her out. He was cool with her having young twins. They got married and she thought everything was great. Then she came home to tell him she was pregnant again, only to find him plowing their next-door neighbor, only four months into the marriage. She threw him out and divorced him using a do-it-yourself divorce kit. He was supposed to pay child support, but the state was always having to chase him as he seemed to get fired a lot, something his family swore never happened until he met her, as if she'd somehow ruined him.

Deciding she might as well go pick her kids up from daycare. Pulling into the parking lot, she pondered her supervisor's words again. Maybe they had some kind of grant or something for people her age. What did they call them - mature students, that was it. She walked around to the front entrance and went into the office. She felt welcome and a nice woman there talked to her about the forms of financial aid available. One of them guaranteed full payment of tuition plus a generous stipend towards living expenses. The stipend made her eyes grow round. She could pay her bills with that