Chapter 37: Chapter 37

Melody was helping her mother put the books she’d gone through the afternoon before onto a newly-cleared-off shelf when her phone started buzzing. At first, she thought she’d just received a text, but the more it vibrated, the more she thought something might be wrong. She knew it wasn’t nearly time to go pick up Michael from school; it couldn’t be the school calling to say she was late. As she slid the phone out of her back pocket, she wondered what in the world might be going on.

There were five text messages all sent within the last minute, all from Delaney.

“Where are you?”

“Are you at the shop?”

“Get down here, girl.”

“Seriously, get down here now.”

“Are you ignoring me?”

There hadn’t even been time for her to ignore her friend since the texts had been fired off one after another, and Melody began to worry that something was wrong. Her face must have worn her concern, because her mother asked, “What’s wrong? Is everything okay?”

“I don’t know,” Melody replied. “Delaney wants me to come to the bakery right away.”

“She didn’t say why?” Sarah asked.

Before Melody could even answer, a sixth text came through. “MELODY?!?”

“No. I’m going to run down there really quick.”

“Okay,” Sarah shrugged, and as Melody jogged out the door, she hollered behind her, “Don’t forget your coat!”

Melody didn’t wait to slip it on, nor did she turn back when her mother’s words registered. It was less than a block to Delaney’s Delights, but it had gotten much colder that morning than it had been the day before, and since it wasn’t even 11:00 yet, the sun hadn’t yet had a chance to fully attempt to fight off some of the wind. Melody hugged herself tightly against the gales and hurried her pace, wishing she’d listened to her mother.

She half expected to see smoke billowing out of the building as she approached, but since that wasn’t the case, her mind began to jump to other conclusions. Why did Delaney need her to rush down to see her?

As soon as she stepped through the door, she realized what her friend was up to. Delaney was standing in the back, next to the entry to the kitchen, her phone in her hand. When she saw Melody come in, she set it down on a prep table, and with a big smile, she gestured with her head toward the far end of the front counter.

It wasn’t necessary, however. Melody had seen Reid standing there talking to Edie just before she noticed Delaney about to send her another text. He looked up when she came in, and his face morphed into a crooked grin. “Hi,” Melody exclaimed, still shivering. “What are you doing here?” She hoped her surprise sounded genuine.

“Hey, Mel,” he called, turning to face her. “I had to stop by the hardware store on the way to Mrs. Watson’s house, and I thought I’d come by and say hello to Delaney. How are you?”

“I’m good,” she said, “I was just coming in to… uh…..”

“Here’re the cocoas your mom ordered,” Delaney interjected, sliding two to-go cups across the counter.

“Thanks, Delaney,” Melody replied, trying not to grit her teeth. “But didn’t you promise her one of your chocolate muffins, too? A really big one, with extra chocolate?”

Delaney fought back a giggle. “That’s right,” she said, and under her breath she added, “I guess your mom doesn’t recognize when other people are doing her a favor,” in a sing-song voice, with a wink.

Reid looked at Delaney, confused, and then returned his attention to Melody. “Where’s your coat?”

“Yeah,” Edie chimed in. “You keep runnin’ around out there dressed like that, you’re gonna spend Christmas in a hospital bed.”

Melody glanced down, as if her frozen limbs weren’t reminder enough that she hadn’t bothered to put on her coat. She was wearing one of her thinner sweaters, too, a red one, and even though she really liked it, it didn’t do much in the warmth department. “I was in a hurry. Mom gets a little cranky if you don’t go get her drink in a timely manner.”

“Really?” Reid asked. “Hard to imagine your mom getting cranky about anything.”

Melody tried not to let the sarcastic snicker in her head escape her lips, but she only caught the end of it. Deciding not to launch into a lengthy discussion of her mother’s short-fallings lest she be forced to face her own, she changed the subject. “Did you finish with Mrs. Gregory’s lights yesterday, then?”

“I did. And I only fell off of the roof twice.” He winked at her, and Melody felt her heart flitter, even though she was certain it was only intended to punctuate his joke.

“Mrs. Watson’s roof is even steeper than Mrs. Gregory’s,” Edie spoke up, and Melody silently wondered when she might excuse herself from the conversation. She knew she couldn’t keep Reid here for long if he needed to get back to work, and she didn’t want to spend half of her time talking to Edie, as much as she liked her.

“Here’s your muffin,” Delaney said, sliding a brown paper bag onto the counter next to the cocoas. As if she sensed Melody’s annoyance at her employee, she said very calmly, “Edie, could you go see how many we have left in the back? We might need to make some more.”

“Sure,” Edie said, as if she hadn’t just been sent away from a conversation she was intruding upon, and Melody smiled at her and then at Delaney for the help.

Delaney knew better than to hang around, so she grabbed a coffee pot and started making her way around to the other customers to see if they needed refills.

“You be careful up there today,” Melody warned, returning her full attention to Reid. “The wind is blowing pretty hard.”

“I know,” he replied. “I’ll get as much done as I can today, but I won’t stay up there if it’s too dangerous. I think her roof might need some repairs, too.”

“I sure hope your joke doesn’t come true—or you fall through her roof instead of off of it.”

He smiled, as if he were picturing that happening. “I’ll go back and patch it up in a week or two when I have time. She’s a sweet old lady, and I don’t think she has much family.”

“She doesn’t,” Melody nodded. “Her husband died a long time ago, and I think she only had one daughter. She lives in a nursing home herself. In Harper’s Ferry or Shepherdstown. Not sure.”

“Can you imagine being so old that your child is in a nursing home?” he asked. He picked up his own to-go cup and took a sip before setting it back down. “I can’t picture Michael being that old. For that matter, I can’t even imagine him being sixteen and driving a car.”

“You are really going to have your hands full then!” Melody exclaimed. “He’ll be out on the town, with the ladies, probably driving a fast car way over the speed limit.”

“Hey, that’s my kid you’re talking about,” Reid reminded her. “Why can’t we just imagine he’s some polite, rule-following wallflower with absolutely no sense of adventure?”

“He sleeps in a pirate ship,” Melody reminded him, putting her hand on his arm for emphasis. Once it was there, she had trouble pulling it away, and this time, he didn’t even look at it like it was out of place, but eventually she put it back in her jeans pocket.

“Yeah, you should see what I sleep in,” Reid replied, and then immediately his face went red. “I mean… I was going to say something silly—like I sleep in a train, or something—but that came out all wrong. Sorry. I wasn’t trying to be… inappropriate.”

Melody bit her bottom lip so hard, she was afraid she might taste blood. While she had initially felt her own face turning red, as soon as he began to stammer, the entire remark became hysterical to her, and she was doing her best not to burst into a fit of laughter.

“So anyway, I’ve got to go now,” Reid said, turning away from her, toward the counter to collect his drink.

“Oh, stop,” Melody said, punching him in the arm. “I know that you didn’t mean what it sort of sounded like you were trying to mean.”

“No, I didn’t. I would never, ever say anything so off-color to a lady, I assure you,” he said, turning back to face her. The sarcasm was definitely there, but Melody also knew what he was saying was true. “But I really do need to go.”

“Yes, duty calls. I need to get back to my mom, too, before her cocoa is cold.”

“It was nice to see you,” Reid said, a sincere smile forming on his handsome face.

“It was nice to see you, too.” She felt the color rising and hoped it stayed below her turtleneck sweater.

He turned to go, and Melody felt her eyes chasing him toward the door of their own accord. Before he reached the exit, he turned back around, and said, “By the way, Michael mentioned a parade on Friday.”

“Yes, he was talking about it yesterday.”

“He was wondering if you might want to go with us,” he continued.

Smiling, Melody said, “Sure. I’d love to.”

“Great. Then it’s a date,” he said, turning around to face the door. His hand was on the door when he spun back around and said, “I mean… I said date. What I meant to say was….”

“Yes?” she asked, holding her breath.

He stared at her for what seemed like an eternity before he said, “What I meant to say was, could you still consider it a date even though we won’t be alone?”

Melody couldn’t control the grin that was spreading across her face, but she did manage to say, “Yes.”

Reid nodded and disappeared through the door so quickly, Melody was thankful no one was trying to come in or else there would’ve been a collision.