“We are more than that to him,” her sister said, looking down into her lap.
Melanie crossed her arms. “Really? So are you working at the company?” Anderson Food Group was first started by their grandfather. Ever since Melanie could remember, it had been her father’s obsession. Making more money, proving to his father that he could do better than even him. Anderson Food Group was a name she could never hear without feeling ill, just as it had the other night when it fell off Cole’s gorgeous lips.
Her sister looked up at her, jaw set. “No.”
“Oh, so what are you doing then?” Melanie felt cruel to do this to her, but she was trying to help, trying to point out everything that was wrong, how far his manipulations went.
Meredith’s face paled. “I’ve been busy wedding planning. Not all of us want to live and die alone, Mel. Principles don’t keep you warm at night or pay the bills. If you could tell me that you finally trusted someone enough to let them in, then maybe I’d take some of what you’re saying seriously. But you can’t. You can’t trust anyone enough to save you.”
Melanie bit her lower lip and darted her eyes away from Meredith’s accusing ones. The image of Cole at the cabin, pouring his heart out about Sarah danced in front of her. Or her running out of his house last night.
“I’m not the one who needs saving, Merry.”
Meredith shook her head. “We could have helped each other, if you had only stayed.”
“We did. For years. I wasn’t going to sit there and exchange my dignity for an allowance. I walked out on that without a dime to my name.”
Her sister put her coffee down and got up. “It was good to see you again, Melanie. I’m very pleased you’re successful and have a nice life here in Passion Creek.”
“No, wait. Please, Mer, let’s visit. We’ll talk about whatever you want to talk about.” She followed her sister to the front of the boutique. She couldn’t let her go, not yet. She just wanted a sentence, a look, a smile from the girl she once was.
“I really should go. I don’t want to keep Ron and Dad waiting.”
“Don’t be mad at me.”
Her sister smiled, a vacant, hollow smile that resembled nothing of her real sister’s smile, and everything of their mother’s. “Of course I’m not mad. You were always passionate in your beliefs. I’m glad we saw each other.” She leaned forward and gave her a hug. Melanie clung to her sister’s thin body, the supple cashmere coat the only softness in the hug.
“Wait,” Mel called out as her sister began walking away. “If you’re still in town, Cori is getting married this weekend. I’m planning the wedding for her. I know she’d be so happy to see you again. It’s at the ranch. I’ll be there. You’re more than welcome to come.”
Her sister gave a slight nod and then turned to open the door.
“Meredith.” Melanie approached her, frantic to keep her here, to get through to her.
Meredith sighed and turned around to face her.
She held her breath, looking into her sister’s eyes. “Did you give him the test?” Her heart pounded with an aching fervor while she waited for something from Meredith, and then she saw the light of recognition in her sister’s eyes. But when her chin tilted upward, Melanie’s heart sank.
“That’s silly. How old were we when we came up with that juvenile plan?”
Melanie swallowed the hurt at her sister’s description of one of their almost sacred memories. She searched Meredith’s eyes and as her sister broke the stare, Melanie’s stomach dropped. Her sister was lying.
“Did you give him the test?” she whispered again. Melanie panicked when her sister reached the door and showed no sign of stopping. “You gave him the test and he failed, didn’t he?”
Meredith paused, her gloved hand on the doorknob, her head bent. “You keep holding out for that hero of yours, Melanie.”
“No matter what happens, I will always be here for you. You could always join me. We could be partners just as we planned. There is always a way out, always a choice. I hope Ron is your hero, I really do, because you deserve a hero.”
Her sister opened the door and slipped out into the cold night. Melanie locked the door, flipping her store sign to CLOSED, and then sank to the floor.
She had lost Meredith all over again.
Chapter Ten
Melanie stared at the community board through blurred eyes. It was freezing cold outside, but she was standing on the sidewalk in downtown Passion Creek looking for a particular listing. She was trying desperately not to think about Meredith and to erase the image of her sister panicking as she looked at her watch. She knew that look. She felt Meredith’s anxiety mounting at the thought of keeping her fiancée waiting. She had seen that look on her mother’s face hundreds of times. Meredith had been lying to her.
As soon as her sister walked out of her studio, Melanie sat and bawled her eyes out, and she wished she had someone to call, someone to reach out to. But after a good cry, she did what she always did: she put on a brave face and pulled herself together. She was determined to prove Meredith wrong.
Melanie hopped from one foot to another and frowned as the various sheets of paper with advertisements ranging from childcare to housecleaning to exotic dancing flapped in the wind. She chewed her lower lip as she looked for the paper advertising horseback-riding lessons for novices. Her sister’s accusations had hit a sore spot. She had been right. Meredith tried to make her feel as though she was no better…and it was true She had run from Cole, she was still afraid of horses, giving their father power because of that. What he’d done to her all those years ago, the injuries she’d suffered by him forcing her to ride, was horrible, but it was within her power to make it right again, to conquer her fear.
Melanie smiled as the she found the advertisement with the riding lessons. She pulled down one of the paper tabs and folded it in her hand.
“Looking for something?”
Melanie jumped at the deep, smooth voice in her ear. She could pick that voice out in a crowd of thousands. She turned around and looked up at Cole. Her heart stopped and then pummeled forward at the sight of him. His brown eyes were twinkling under the rim of his Stetson. He glanced at the board behind her. “Find what you need?”
She inhaled sharply and tucked the slip of paper into her jacket. “Nope, I just like looking at the community boards every now and then,” she said, lying. She decided a smile might help pull it off. Judging by the adorable smirk that triggered his dimple, he wasn’t buying it.
“No, I distinctly saw you pulling something off the board,” he said under his breath. He stepped beside her, and a waft of his aftershave filled her nostrils. He smelled just as she remembered. Clean, fresh, with a hint of the outdoors and a whole lot of man. “It was somewhere around here,” he said, his index finger circling the area of the board very near the horseback riding lessons. She really did not feel like explaining why she was looking into lessons. She had no desire to admit she was terrified of horses, why she was terrified of horses.
She tried to shove him over, but his large body didn’t budge. “Stop being nosy.”
“No, since you never tell me anything about yourself, I think I need to do a little detective work,” he said, narrowing his eyes on something. Melanie saw what he was looking at. Fine. That would be easier to pull off than having to tell him the truth.
“Well, you caught me,” she said, throwing her hands up in the air. “I’m going to apply for an exotic-dancing job.”
His tanned face was definitely a few shades whiter. “Pardon me?”
“Yes, um, I’ve always enjoyed the…arts. Dancing…you know,” she said, her voice trailing as his eyes grew wider. She was suddenly second-guessing her lie.
“You do realize what exotic dancing is, don’t you?”
She closed her eyes briefly and nodded. “It’s just very expressive dance.”
“You’re not doing any exotic dancing.”
She waved her hand casually. “Well, wh
o knows if I’d be hired.”
He scowled at her, giving her a quick once-over. “You’d be hired.”
“There are auditions. But I have experience. I was fond of ballet.”
“You get that exotic dancing isn’t like ballet? Like you’re not going to be wearing a tutu?”
“I’m not an idiot, of course I know that. But I do know how to dance. In high school I was in The Nutcracker.”
He tilted his head to the side. “That sounds about right.”
She frowned at him.
“Or I guess even ball-breaker might have been appropriate.”
“Crass, Cole. Crass.” She folded her arms across her chest and tapped her foot.
“Do you need money for your business; is that what this is all about? I can loan you money.”
“Thank you, but let’s just drop this.”
“You’re not exotic dancing.”
She frowned up at him. “Even though my diminutive stature might lead you to believe otherwise, I’m an adult. Fully capable of making my own decisions.” On some level she knew it was silly to engage in an argument about something she was never intending on doing anyway, but it was the principle of things.
He ran his hand along his mouth. “I don’t even know where to begin with that one. It’s like a loaded gun. I’m just looking out for you. Of course you’re capable of making your own decisions.”
“Oh, well, good then,” she said with a nod. She was not going to analyze the sudden disappointment she felt that he didn’t seem to mind anymore that she was becoming an exotic dancer. She clasped her hands together and took a deep breath. “Well, it was nice running into you. I’m actually in a bit of a hurry, but I’ll see you later,” she said attempting to walk past him.
He reached out and grasped her hand. “We didn’t run into each other, Mel. I drove into town looking for you. I want to take you to dinner.”
“Oh,” she said softly. He squeezed her hand and she stared into his eyes, his expression changing from teasing to tenderness, like she’d seen the night at the cabin. She looked away quickly, Meredith’s words tormenting her. It’s easy for you to sit there and judge when you don’t even have the courage to put yourself out there… If you could tell me that you finally trusted someone enough to let them in, then maybe I’d take some of what you’re saying seriously. But you can’t. You can’t trust anyone enough to save you. But how could she actually encourage any of this when he was entering a business deal with her father? She should have asked Meredith. She’d been so preoccupied with finding out about Meredith’s fiancée that she hadn’t even bothered to find out if she knew anything at all about Cole. But then again, her father never spoke about business to either of them. Or their mother. And if Meredith’s fiancée was anything like their father, Meredith was merely a sparkly little ornament on his arm and nothing more.
He took a step closer to her, the streetlight highlighting his perfect face. “I know a great restaurant.”
“So do I,” she said, her heart beginning to thump with the possibility of carrying out her plan. Her test. The one she and Meredith had thought up all those years ago. She was not going to run from Cole. No, she would test him instead. She was going to prove her sister wrong. Did she want Cole? Yes. So what was the one thing holding her back from having a relationship with him? Fear. Well, she was going to kick it. “It’s the perfect dinner place. It’s good that it’s not six yet. We’ll beat the crowd. You can’t even find a table if it’s one minute past six.” Melanie pointed to the small restaurant a few doors down from her shop.
“Done, let’s go, sweetheart.” They started walking in the direction of the restaurant. Cole hadn’t let go of her hand and she let the warmth of his skin seep into hers. “Huh. Never heard of this place,” Cole said when they reached the restaurant. He looked up at the black-and-white patterned sign with the neon-pink letters THE HAPPY COW scrawled across.
Melanie hesitated for a moment, wondering if she should prep Cole. But he’d already opened the door and was waiting for her to walk through. And if she warned him, well, then she wouldn’t really be performing the test, the hero test her sister and her had devised so many years ago. Melanie shot him a quick, shaky smile before entering the small, minimalist café. She took a deep breath and waited for the inevitable falling out of her plan.
…
Cole tried to hide his disappointment at the restaurant Melanie had chosen. He wanted to take her out to a real restaurant. He wanted to treat her to wine and candlelight, crystal and china. A white tablecloth and silverware. This little café, even though it was trendy and nice, wasn’t exactly the mood he was hoping for.
“Mel, is that you?”
“Hey, Tim,” Melanie called out. A short, skinny man, wearing a purple, sparkly T-shirt ran out from the kitchen and enveloped Melanie in a hug. Cole watched with curiosity at their warm exchange. Melanie hadn’t said anything about knowing anyone here. His eyes narrowed on the man’s scrawny arm as it rested on Melanie’s shoulder.
“Tim, I’d like you to meet a friend of mine, Cole. Tim is the owner and chef at THE HAPPY COW.”
“Nice place you got here,” Cole said, shaking Tim’s hand.
“Well, thank you. Any friend of Mel’s here is a friend of mine,” he said, winking. Cole turned around, looking for the person this man could possibly be winking at.
“You’re the best, Tim,” Melanie said, stepping out of his embrace.
“Aw, Mel.”
“I like your choice of artwork,” Cole said, pointing to the black-and-white photos of cows grazing in fields. Obviously, this guy appreciated the animal. Cole reached into his back pocket and pulled out one of his business cards, handing it to him. He never missed an opportunity to expand their business. At the roots, they were still a small-town ranch and no business was too small. Just because he’d scored this deal with Anderson didn’t mean he wasn’t still willing to work with the little guys.
“What’s this?” Tim’s face had crumpled up as he stared at the gold, engraved cow business card.
“Um,” Melanie said clearing her throat. She touched his arm and he looked down at her. Her face was red and her eyes kept darting between him and Tim. Maybe she was mad he was mixing business with pleasure. “Actually, Cole, this place…”
“Are you a cattle rancher?
“Yes. And you own a restaurant called the happy cow, so excuse me if I thought this might be a good business—”
“This is a vegan restaurant. The cows are happy because they’re alive!”
Cole swallowed what felt like five thousand curses as he stared at Tim.
He took a deep breath and tried to count to ten or think of some other shitty, useless technique that must have been invented by people who had never been in contact with Melanie Simms. He slowly turned to look at Melanie. Her face was bright as a tomato, but she was staring at him. Closely. She shrugged, almost imperceptibly and then looked down at her feet.
He turned back to Tim. “Well, my cows are happy too, thank you very much,” he said through clenched teeth. “They graze all day, grass-fed, organic—”
“Oh sure they’re happy until you slaughter them. How hypocritical. You pretend to love them and then you kill them! Do you do that to your friends, too? Watch out, Mel.”
Cole took a step closer to him. “I think you can stop now.”
“Why, what are you going to do? Force-feed me some beef?”
“It might help with your pale complexion.”
“Okay, stop,” Melanie said, moving to stand between him and Tiny Tim. Her voice was high-pitched and her face had turned blotchy again. “I think we need to calm down and be rational here.”
“Mel, you know how I feel about this.”
Melanie was holding her face in her hands, and Cole scowled at Tim while she wasn’t looking.
“I really think we should get going,” Melanie finally said when she lifted her head.
Cole gave her a terse nod.
&n
bsp; “That’s probably for the best. Mel, you come here any time you want, okay? I’ll make you your fave tempeh burger and we’ll have some wine.”
“Sounds like you already got plenty of whine.”
Melanie swatted him on the arm and gave him a shove in the direction of the door. Tiny Tim’s voice was whiny. High pitched, too.
“Good-bye, Tim,” Melanie said as she grabbed Cole’s hand and yanked him out the door.
He was thankful for the blast of winter air that hit them as they stepped out onto the sidewalk. Melanie took a deep breath and then smiled up at him. Her expression had completely changed. He had no idea what the hell had just happened, or why she was suddenly so happy.
“Uh, I’m guessing you might want to tell me what that was all about?”
She was still smiling at him. “Hmm?”
“Tiny Tim?”
“Oh. Right,” she said glancing at her watch.
Something was definitely going on with her and he intended on finding out. He couldn’t handle being the candid one in this relationship.
“Are you mad?” she asked, watching him in a way that made some of the anger drain out him to notice how weird she was acting.
“Mad? I think this whole thing is too absurd for me to even be mad. You take me to a vegan restaurant that’s parading itself like it sells beef. You let me start talking to this guy without ever prefacing that he’s some sort of sparkle-wearing activist that also happens to be your ex-boyfriend.”
She bit her lower lip and then looked up at him. God, he wanted to figure out what she was hiding. “We only went out a few times,” she said, her voice trailing off.
“Those thin, effeminate fingers were a turnoff, weren’t they?”
She frowned at him and shook her head.
Snow was falling gently, and the white flakes landed in her dark hair. The tip of her nose was red and he found himself getting lost in the sound of her voice, the movement of her full lips. He took a step closer to her, clueing in to the fact that she was still defending Tiny Tim.
“Yes, well not everyone is blessed with the rugged, masculine looks that you possess. Some of us have to deal with stubby, little legs and blotchy skin,” she said with an adorable huff of frosty air. That again. The short comment.
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