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so she went looking for her Gran. She was halfway down the stairs when she heard her Grandmother crying. She didn’t know why she stopped but she did. She could just about make out what her Grandmother was saying.
    “Oh Tommy” she sniffed. “What is he going to do” .
    “He’ll be grand Pat” her Grandfather replied.
    “How can he be” She snapped at him. “Single, and with a child. And now this nonsense about going back to college. Why can’t he just face it, he ruined his life and so did that young one next door. He will never find a nice girl now and settle down. What girl is going to want someone else’s brat hanging around? That little girl has ruined everything for him”.
    “Ah Pat” Tommy replied. “Whatever else might be true Melanie is certainly no brat. She is a lovely little thing”.
    “She will grow up wild just like her mother and will be nothing but trouble” she snapped back in righteous indignation. “You mark my words”.
    Melanie couldn’t listen anymore. She crept back up to her bed and cried herself to sleep.
    After that Melanie never really liked her Grandmother. She never told anyone what she heard that night. S ince then she always had the same doubting insecurities in the back of her mind. But now they were soaring through her and sometimes they were so strong inside her she could barely breathe.
    “I will call Dad” Melanie promises her Mom. They talked for a few more minutes. “Love you Mom”.
    “Love you baby” Sarah replied and hung up the phone.
    But it was now four days later and Melanie still hadn’t rung her Dad. She had dialled his number a couple of time but never pressed send on her phone. She was miserable. Part of her wanted to just go home but there was also a part of her that wished she never had to.
    Maggie tried everything to cheer her up. She would ask her to go shopping, or go to a movie or to dinner but Melanie always replied politely saying she was fine that she would rather just sit on the back  porch and read.
    When she woke up on her fourth morning at the beach, it was Saturday. She climbed out of bed and pulled on her turquoise swimming suit. Then she pulled out her favourite white summer dress and slipped on her beach sandals.
    She let herself out of the house quietly and walked down to the water’s edge. The beach was empty because it was not yet 8 o’clock but the sun was already hot. She bent down and slipped off her sandals and dropped them on the sand. She walked forward until the waves tickled her toes. The water was cold yet refreshing. She didn’t feel like swimming today. She didn’t really feel like anything today. She sighed and walked back to where she left her shoes and sat in the sand.
    She didn’t know how long she was sitting there when suddenly she is aware of someone standing behind her.
    “Ok I have had enough of this” a voice said and sighs loudly before they sat down next to her.
    Melanie’s head spun around quickly to find possible the most gorgeous guy she has ever seen sitting beside her. He was smiling warmly at her, his beautiful piercing blue eyes staring straight into hers. His thick black hair blew slightly in the breeze. He had the perfect smile that just lit up his face. “Wow” she thought. He had to be the most perfect creature she had ever seen.
    “Excuse me” She finally managed to say after a few minutes when her brain began to work again. For a moment she actually wondered if he was even talking to her.
    “I have been watching you all week” he says , his piercing eyes holding hers. “And I don’t understand how someone so beautiful can sit in a place almost as beautiful and look so sad”.
    “I’m sorry do I know you” Melanie replied her heart beating so hard in her chest she thought it was trying to break free, completely taken back by what he had just said. 
    “My name is Sam” he said and held out his hand. “Sam Cooper”.
    “Melanie” she replied and shook his hand feeling a