by ID Johnson
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.
They reached the top of the stairs, and she remembered just what a disaster she had created earlier that day. It looked even worse than it had the week before. She stopped so abruptly at the top of the stairs that he bumped into her. “Sorry,” he said, and Melody took a step forward. “It’s no problem, Melody. It’s the least I could do after how cool you’ve been about Michael just dropping by.”
His hand had briefly touched her hip when he ran into her, and she knew her eyes were probably twice their regular size as she stood staring at him, inches away from her again. The scent of pine and leather filled her lungs, and it took her a moment to process what he had just said. After a lengthy pause, she said, “What are friends for?” flashed him a smile, and began to pick her way through the maze.
“You’ve been busy,” he said politely, following her.
“It’s ridiculous,” she mumbled. She had to turn sideways a few times. “See—I have no idea where to even put this stuff so that I can get the desk through.”
“What about the bedrooms?” he asked.
“Stuff is coming out of the bedrooms, not going back in,” she said with a sigh.
He chuckled softly. “No, I know that. It’s just temporary. If you move that large box over there back into that room, you can put this rocking horse here, and then you can at least move it halfway down the hallway.”
Melody could see what he was saying, now that he’d laid it out for her. “And then what?”
Reid took a look around and then made a few more recommendations of larger pieces she could move so that they could get to the desk. “Let’s get to it, and I’ll show you,” he proposed, and with a nod, Melody went to work. Reid helped her with the heavier and more awkward pieces and they each cleared several smaller pieces. Though Melody hated to see anything go back inside the bedrooms, without the desk there would be a bit more room in the hallway to bring the boxes back out, and she also had a few more containers she could take to the store the next day.
After about ten minutes of work, they had the desk to the staircase. “Wow,” Melody exclaimed, wiping the back of her hand across her forehead. “That didn’t take long at all. You have good ideas when it comes to spacial reasoning.”
“Thanks,” he shrugged, “I am an architect you know.”
“Right,” she nodded. Of course, he would have a good eye for moving pieces around.
“I’ll take this down and check on Michael if you want to start clearing the bedrooms.”
“Oh, I can do that later,” she said, glancing back over her shoulder. She didn’t want to keep him any longer just to do work or else he might never want to come back.
“I know you don’t want to leave it that way,” he said, picking up the desk and moving it down the stairs. “It’ll be faster if we work together.”
She knew that was definitely true, and as he disappeared down the staircase she shouted, “Okay. Thanks.”
By the time he returned, she had most of the pieces back in the hallway. “How’s Michael?” she asked, setting a box of knickknacks down on a shaker chair.
“I hope you didn’t have those Santas on the sideboard in any particular order because they are now ninjas, and there’s a good chance not a single one will end up where he started out.” He grabbed the last box out of what would have been her mother’s study, if it wasn’t full of clutter, and sat it in the hole it had vacated a few minutes ago.
Imagining Michael playing with her father’s Santas made Melody smile. “He can move them. He’s such a sweetie. I hope you aren’t too upset at him. I mean, I know what he did was not okay—but I can’t say I’m not happy he showed up today.”
The space was tight, and he turned to face her, only a foot or so away. She wondered if her attempt at saying she was happy to see Michael actually revealed her true meaning—she was happy to see both of them—and felt the color rising in her cheeks again.
The expression in his eyes had shifted, his left eye narrowed slightly, as if he were considering his response carefully. Melody took a deep breath and began to chew her bottom lip, afraid if she tried to further explain herself, she’d end up saying something silly. This close to him, she was inhaling the scent of pine with a hint of leather and the memory of how it felt to hold his hand earlier sent sparks of electricity through her whole body.
After a long moment, Reid gave her a small smile and quietly replied to her comment. “It was nice to see you again.”
Melody continued to look into his eyes, her hands folded in
front of her, trying to calm her breathing. She couldn’t remember ever being so entranced by a man’s gaze before. If this had been a date, she might think he was about to kiss her. But the sound of fast-paced footsteps on the stairs was a reminder that it most certainly was not a date, and Reid turned to face the stairwell in anticipation of Michael’s arrival, breaking the spell. Melody took a step back and put her hand on her heart, hoping it wouldn’t pound through her chest.
“Hey, Mikey, don’t try to come over here. It’s too crowded,” Reid warned, carefully making his way back over to the stairs where Michael waited.
“What are you guys doing?” he asked.
“Just moving boxes,” Reid said as he reached his son. Melody took a second to follow, but eventually her feet were moving, and she managed to trail them down the stairs, doing her best to regain her composure.
“Did you clean up the game and the Santas?” Reid asked his son.
“Oh! The Santas!” Michael shouted and shot off into the living room.
“And can you bring me my coat when you come back?”
Melody let out a soft laugh, trying to focus on Michael’s retreating form instead of the fact that she was alone with Reid again. “Thanks for your help,” she said, trying desperately not to look him in the eye so as not to become trapped there.
“Thank you for taking care of Michael,” he replied.
She nodded but kept her eyes on the tiled floor of the entryway, wishing Michael would hurry up and considering whether or not to tell him to just leave the Santas and she’d put them back later.
“Oh, can I have your phone number? Reid asked.
Melody looked up, her eyes wide. “My… what?” she stammered.
He had his phone in his hand and was pressing the buttons, setting it up for her, she assumed. “I’ll give you mine, too. That way if anything like this should ever happen again—which hopefully it won’t—I’ll have your number and you’ll have mine.”
“Oh, yeah. Right,” Melody nodded, asking herself how she could be so stupid as to think he’d want her number for any other reason. She fished her phone out of her back pocket and unlocked it, opened her contacts, and froze; she didn’t even know his last name. Leaving the new contact blank, she handed him her phone and took his. Her name was already entered. Melody Murphy. That’s me…. She put in her number and hit save, giving him a few more seconds to enter his information since he had to type in his name.
“Here you go,” Reid said, handing her phone back to him. “I hope you don’t mind. It’ll just make me feel better. Just in case.”
“No problem,” Melody assured him, trying to sound nonchalant. “I actually had the same thought earlier.”
Michael was back now. He handed his father his coat, which he slipped into as Michael picked his coat up off the floor where he’d dropped it earlier. Reid took it and held it out for him to push his arms into it. “Is it cold?” the little boy asked.
“Yes,” his dad replied. “They’re saying we might get some snow by Saturday.” He picked up Michael’s backpack and helped him put it on.
“Snow for Christmas tree day—yeah!” Michael shouted.
“Christmas tree day?” Melody echoed, her inquisitive nature helping her overcome her inability to speak coherently. “What’s that?”
“I promised him we’d go get a Christmas tree on Saturday,” Reid shrugged. “Of course, that was before this little stunt today.”
“We can still go, can’t we, Dad?” Michael begged.
“You had better be on your very best behavior for the rest of the week,” Reid warned him.
“I will. I promise,” Michael nodded.
“That doesn’t mean you don’t have any consequences, though.”
Michael’s smiling face melted into a frown. “I know.” Then, as quickly as it had come, the frown was gone. “Miss Melody should come with us on Saturday!” he exclaimed. “You don’t have a Christmas tree.”
Before she could even respond, Reid said, “I’m sure Miss Melody has better ways to spend her Saturday than traipsing through the snow looking for a Christmas tree with us.”
“Actually,” Melody heard herself saying before she could even consider whether or not Reid would want her there for Christmas tree day, “my friend Delaney and I are going to a Christmas tree farm in Shepherdstown on Saturday. If you wanted to, you could meet us there.” Michael was smiling at her, but she couldn’t decipher the expression on Reid’s face at all. “I mean… unless you already had some place in mind.”
“Can we, Dad? Can we? Please?” Michael pleaded, jumping up and down. “It’ll be so much fun if Miss Melody is there.”
“Michael, I don’t know. We don’t want to impose,” Reid said, looking from his son and back to her.
“You wouldn’t be,” Melody chimed in. “Delaney owns the bakery downtown, Delaney’s Delights.” The expression on his face let her know he was not familiar, but she continued anyway. “This guy came in there last week and mentioned he owned a Christmas tree farm, so she decided to drive over to visit it. In other words, I’m just along for the ride.” She did her best not to roll her eyes, and shook her head as if she could convey the sentiment of Delaney’s expedition without going into detail.
Reid chuckled, letting her know that he understood Delaney’s reason for inviting her along. “Well, if you really don’t think your friend would mind….”
“Not at all,” Melody assured him.
“Then, I guess we will meet you there.”
Michael bounced off the floor. “Yay!” He flung himself into Melody’s knees, and she patted him on the back, laughing at his joy.
“I guess I can call you later in the week and let you know the name and address of the tree farm since I haven’t gotten that information from her myself,” she explained.
“You’ve got my number,” Reid reminded her with a smile. “Come on, Michael. Let’s get out of Miss Melody’s hair so she can get back to whatever she was planning to do this afternoon.”
As Reid pulled open the door, Michael bounded after him. “Bye, Miss Melody!” he shouted, skipping onto the porch.
“Bye, Michael,” she said, and then to Reid, she added, “Thanks again for your help with the desk.”
“No problem. Thank you for taking such good care of Michael.”
“Anytime,” she said, stepping out onto the porch and pulling the door closed behind her. “Just maybe next time he’ll let one of us know he’s coming.”
“That would’ve been nice.” He smiled, and though Melody was sure it was partially at the antics of his child, she wondered if he wasn’t truly smiling at her as well. “Have a nice evening, Melody.”
“You, too,” she said, taking one last look at his blue eyes before he turned to follow Michael to the truck. This time, she couldn’t pull herself away from the porch until after Michael had climbed into the back, Reid buckled him in, and giving her one last wave, slid into the driver’s side and headed down the street.
Finally, when they had disappeared, she went back inside and closed the door. Even though it hadn’t been Reid who arranged the meeting, she couldn’t wipe the smile off of her face. There was just something about him that made her happier than she could remember being for a very long time.
Melody pushed open the door to Delaney’s Delights and braced herself for the barrage of Christmas music. There was no avoiding it now; it was everywhere she went, and though she did her best to tune it out, there were times when particular songs came on that memories of her father flooded her senses, and she needed to step away or turn it off. Luckily, this afternoon, her entrance was greeted by a particularly poppy rendition of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” and there was nothing specifically remarkable about that song.
Delaney was sliding a muffin across the counter on a bright red plate to a customer as Melody walked in. She looked up and smiled. “Hey, two days in a row! How did I get so lucky?”
Laughing, Melody crossed the crowded ro
om to the counter. “I was just dropping some boxes off at Mom’s shop and thought I’d come by and ask you a quick question.”
“Cocoa?” she asked, gesturing at the always present pot of her secret recipe.
“Not today, thanks,” Melody said, thinking of how easy it was to put on a pound or two this time of year if she wasn’t careful. “That Christmas tree farm we are headed to Saturday—did you ever find out if it is an actual lot where you can pick out a tree yourself, or do they just deliver to other locations?”
Delaney’s smile brightened. “No, you can buy a tree there. It’s actually really cool. They have all sorts of activities and even a shop or two. I looked it up online last night. I’m really excited.”
Melody could tell by the twinkle in her eye just how true the statement was. “Okay, good.” She cleared her throat and continued. “You don’t mind if I ask a couple of friends to meet us there, do you?”
Delaney’s eyebrows arched, but she said, “No, of course not.”
“Good,” Melody repeated, letting go the breath she was holding, “because I already invited them.”
Laughing, Delaney grabbed a damp cloth and wiped down the counter. “Who are they? Anyone I might know?”
“Well, this is a small town. There’s a chance you’d know just about anyone.”
“True,” Delaney said, tipping her head to the side and giving a shrug.
Melody hesitated. There were a few customers nearby, as well as Edie, the older woman who worked behind the counter. “It’s kind of complicated, but there’s this little boy, Michael, and we’ve sort of become friends this week. He wanted me to go with him to pick out his tree—so I invited him to meet us there. With his dad, of course.”
No longer interested in the counter, Delaney was looking at her as if she thought she had lost her mind. “You made friends with a little boy? Like, an actual little boy or just a guy that’s way too young for you?”
Scoffing, Melody said, “No, he’s an actual little boy. He’s five. He made the bus driver drop him off at my house yesterday. It’s complicated….”