Chapter 11: Chapter 11

Melody straightened the hem of her pink sweater and brushed her hair back over her shoulders. Upon opening the door, she could tell immediately that he was a bit frazzled, and she couldn’t blame him. Despite the fact that he had been trying to sound calm on the phone, she knew he must have been moments away from a panic attack the second he found out Michael hadn’t made it to Ms. Karen’s house. “Hi, Reid,” she said, smiling and attempting to keep her own voice cheerful. If she didn’t think it was a big deal that his son had sought her out because Michael thought she was “nice and pretty,” maybe Reid wouldn’t either.

“Melody, hi,” he said, stepping through the doorway. “It’s nice to see you again, though I didn’t expect it to be under these circumstances.”

He was smiling politely, and she giggled at his comment, hoping she didn’t sound like a door knob again. “Oh, it’s no problem,” she assured him. “Michael and I were just finishing up a game of checkers. I know what he did was extremely dangerous, but I am glad I got to spend some time with him. He’s a sweet boy.”

“He is sweet,” Reid agreed his hands in his coat pockets. “Sweet, and smart, and rotten to the core.”

Melody couldn’t contain her laughter that time, and she put her hand over her mouth to try to stifle it. “I don’t know about that,” she said. “He does have a mischievous twinkle in his eye.”

“I have no idea where he gets that from.”

A giggle escaped her lips, and Melody dropped her eyes, an attempt to avoid that same mischievous twinkle before she became entrapped. She felt the color begin to creep up her neck, and quickly turned away. “Michael is in here,” she said, over her shoulder, as Reid followed her into the living room. “Boy, does he know his way around a checker board. Mind if we finish really quickly, or do you have some place you need to be?”

Before he could answer, Michael stood and ran across the room “Dad!” he exclaimed, flinging himself at his father’s knees.

“Hi Michael,” Reid said, picking him up. “Don’t think just because you’re cute you’re not getting into any trouble for this. You had both Ms. Karen and me very worried.”

“I’m sorry, Dad,” Michael said, looking up at his father with sad, blue eyes. “I’ll never do it again.”

“You’d better not,” Reid replied, setting him down. “No, I don’t have anywhere to be—now,” he said, returning his attention to Melody.

Realizing he must be implying he was missing out on work because of this situation, Melody gave him a sympathetic smile.

“Can we finish our game, please, Dad?” Michael asked, hopping up and down.

With a sigh, Reid said, “I guess so. We’ll talk about your consequences when we get home.”

“Yay!” Michael shouted, and grabbing the sleeve of Melody’s sweater, he pulled her across the room.

“Do you want a drink or anything?” Melody asked as she gestured toward the sofa and let herself be tugged across the room. Michael let go and plopped back on the floor, but she waited for an answer before she sat back down.

“I’m fine, thank you,” Reid said, taking a seat on the couch a few feet away from where Michael was pondering the checkerboard. His words were contradicted by the sigh he let go, and Melody imagined the day had not quite turned out the way he had expected.

She rejoined Michael on the floor and inspected the checkerboard. “Is it my turn?” she asked.

“Yes,” Michael nodded. “I took three of your checkers while you were gone. I jumped ‘em.”

“Well, then!” she said seeing what she had left to work with.

“Don’t trust him; he’s a cheater,” Reid warned, but that twinkle was back in his eye, and Melody knew he was teasing. He slipped out of his coat and laid it on the armrest of the couch.

“Nuh-uh,” Michael insisted, giving his father a funny look. “I don’t have to cheat. Miss Melody isn’t very good at checkers.”

Melody let loose an insulted laugh and considered proving him wrong. She could easily jump all of the pieces he had left on the board if she wanted to. As Reid reminded him that he needed to use nice words, Melody decided to make an easy move instead. If she ended the game too quickly, Reid would leave, and even though she wasn’t exactly getting a chance to talk to him while she was playing with his son, at least he was in the same room.

As soon as she was done, Michael jumped two more of her checkers, leaving her with just four, while he had eight. “Told you,” he said under his breath.

Melody exchanged glances with Reid, and he was just shaking his head at his child’s antics. She made another move, knowing he would also take advantage of that one and tried to think of something interesting to say. “What were you working on at Mrs. Gregory’s house?” It wasn’t brilliant, but it was conversation at least.

He leaned back against the sofa cushions and ran a hand through his hair. “I was fixing a few loose spindles on her stairwell and the newel post. But the roof damage from that oak tree out front is going to have to wait until next week, I guess.”

Michael was scrutinizing the board again, and she wondered if he was also employing stall tactics so that he could stay longer. “I’m surprised you have any time at all, the way my mother’s friends talk about you. She says you’re the talk of the town—in her circle anyway. Her bridge group, the ladies at the hair salon, her Bible study group—all of them keep raving about how good your work is and how you don’t charge an arm and a leg.”

He smiled, and she hoped she’d done a bit of repair work on the damage she may have caused the other night, not realizing he was the handyman her mom kept mentioning. With a laugh he said, “Maybe I need to find a younger clientele.”

Melody chuckled. “Maybe I should mention your door knob work to my Bible study group.” Before she even got the phrase out, she questioned what she was thinking. The last thing she wanted to do was have the other single ladies in her group after Reid.

“I was just joking,” he said, leaning forward again. “My customers are all ages. I think maybe ladies of a certain age may just choose their conversation topics a little differently.”

While Melody highly doubted that was the case—she had wanted to go to her best friend and immediately tell her about Reid—she let it go. No reason to flirt with danger again. “Michael, are you gonna make a move?” she asked, smiling at him.

“Just thinkin’,” he mumbled, still looking intently at the game board.

“Well, you better hurry up, buddy. I’m sure Miss Melody has lots of things she needs to get done today.”

“Actually, the longer I sit here playing checkers, the longer I can delay fishing that school desk out of the back corner of the hallway upstairs. So… never mind, Michael. Take your time.” She pulled her hair back over her shoulder as Michael finally made a move.

“Is it something I can help you with?” Reid asked, and Melody glanced over at him to see sincerity in his eyes.

“No, it’s okay,” she replied, shrugging him off. “It’s going to take a lot of rearranging.” She made one more move, realizing that Michael could easily end the game with one more jump. She hated to see them go, but she also knew she couldn’t keep them there all night.

“I don’t mind,” Reid said. “You must get tired of moving those boxes around.”

“I really appreciate the offer, but it’s fine. I can get it. Thank you though.”

Michael jumped her last checker and let out an exclamation of, “Woo-hoo!”

“Be a good sport, Michael,” Reid reminded him. Standing, he took a few steps toward Melody. She glanced up at him and realized he was holding his hand out to her. “Come on, let’s go take a look at the situation while Michael picks up the checkers.”

“Hey, I won!” Michael protested.

“Bus,” Reid said, hushing his child, who immediately dropped his eyes and began to pick up the checkers. His hand was still extended, and Melody hesitated, knowing the second she touched him, she would get all tingly again, and not wanting to lose her composure. “Need a hand?”

With a small smile, she took his hand, and let him pull her up, as electricity shot through her arm and her heart began to race. His hand was lightly calloused, as she thought it might be from years of construction-type work, but his grip was strong, and Melody could imagine what it might be like to walk along hand in hand with him at the beach or along a moonlit path. Once she was standing, he let go, and it took her a second to pull her own hand free and shake her mind free from the beginnings of a daydream. She felt the heat rising in her face again; he was only a few inches away, and he was watching her so intently with those blue eyes.

“Upstairs then?” he asked, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

“Uh, yeah,” Melody stammered. She took off, and he followed. “You really don’t have to do this,” she said, walking more quickly than she probably should if she didn’t want to lose her breath by the top of the staircase. “I mean… it’s a total mess, and I have no idea where to shift the boxes so I can get the desk out. But my mom thinks she has a buyer for it, so she wanted me to bring it down tomorrow.” Am I rambling again? It feels like maybe I am rambling again.