by Dawn McClure
And in-between her and her laptop was a storm that she didn’t want to be out in. A storm that no one wanted to be out in.
But she was going out in it. She had to get her laptop.
Her mom was way ahead of her. “You are not driving back into town to get it. We barely made it home. The wind picked up and I could hardly see to drive.”
Mel couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “All of your sons just left to go to their own homes. You said nothing to them.” Mel sobered for a moment. Had she not had this exact conversation with her mother about her siblings nearly five thousand times before? The words “but they got to” had been tattooed to her forehead while she’d been growing up.
Flashback.
“They’ve been driving in the snow since they could touch the pedals of the truck, and they all have trucks with four-wheel drive. You?” Her mom shook her head. “Not happening. And they left almost a half hour ago. It’s gotten worse outside since then. They should be home by now.”
“I have to edit that blog and post it tonight so there’s room for my Christmas morning article. This is much more than a want—it’s a need. It’s my job. If I drop the ball on the Christmas Eve and Christmas morning article…I can’t begin to think what Cindy would be forced to do.” She glanced at her watch. It was nearing nine at night. She had to move now if she wanted to get her little Christmas Eve blog post up. She knew she should have done it earlier, but she’d wanted to help her mother with the clean-up. “I’ll be back before you know it.”
“Mel—"
“Sorry, mom. I have to. And I’m not twelve, so you’re going to have to deal. I promise. I’ll be careful.”
Her mother stared at her for a few seconds, as though she were weighing her options, even though she had none. “Fine,” she said, finally coming to terms that she couldn’t stop her adult daughter from driving in a little snow storm. “Then I’ll take you in the truck.”
Mel just stopped herself from rolling her eyes, making her feel as though she and her mother had transcended time itself and she was back in high school. “Mom, the café is literally ten minutes away.”
“Not in weather like this. There were small drifts on the road when we were coming home. They’re going to be much larger now. Will you just listen to the wind outside? I’m coming with you.”
Mel was already grabbing her jacket and her rental keys off the table in the hallway. “I’ll be back before you know it. Worst case scenario I end up stuck in a ditch. Thanks to John, I have a great jacket for weather like this. I won’t freeze to death.”
“That’s not funny. At least take the truck. I’m serious. I won’t let you leave unless you take the truck.”
Mel gave her mom a kiss on the cheek when she traded the rental keys for the truck’s keys. She didn’t wait for her mom to say more. Instead she shoved her feet back into her knee-high boots, knowing she would have never pushed her mother like this back in high school. But she hadn’t had a job on the line back in high school. She had no choice but to jump into the truck and brave the elements to get her laptop. “Okay. I’ll be right back. Don’t worry.”
She headed out of the house before her mom could protest more.
Chapter 12
John had checked on his cattle and had just stepped inside his house when his cell rang. He shook the snow out of his hair and beard, snatched his phone out of his jacket with numb fingers, and saw Sophie’s name. She was going to push the chili and he was going to politely decline. Again. This was starting to get old.
Having braved the cold for the last hour and then stepping into a warm but lonely house, he wasn’t exactly in the mood for the back and forth. He started to kick his boots off. “Hello?”
“Mel had to run back into town. She’s been gone for nearly an hour and she’s not answering her cell,” Sophie said in a rush. “I’m freaking out, John.”
Having heard her worried tone and Mel’s name from the onset, he was already shoving his feet back into his boots when he said, “I’m sure her cell just died. She’s likely fine.” She was likely in a ditch, but he didn’t want to say that for obvious reasons. “But I’ll jump in the truck and take a look,” he said in a tone meant to placate. Please don’t let her be in the ditch.
“I’d call one of the boys, but they live in the other direction. Do you mind? I’m so sorry to send you out in this storm, but I know you have a truck with four-wheel drive and all I have at my disposal is her rental car. At least I convinced her to take the truck. Oh John, I hope she’s okay! She never ignores calls on her cell.”
“Sophie, you need to calm down and take a few breaths. She’s fine. I’ll call you when I find her.”
“Thanks John. Please call me the second you get to her.”
He pushed down his own knee-jerk reaction to picture Mel unconscious in a ditch, or walking down the road in a snowstorm that blinded drivers who wouldn’t see her small form, and set back out in the blizzard to head into town.
He slid into the cab of his truck and turned the key. He always prayed on Sundays while in church, but right now, he asked God to keep watch over Mel, wherever she was. He prayed while backing out of his garage, prayed while turning onto the main country road that would take him to town, begged as he kept watch for any tire tracks heading into the ditch.
The storm had doubled in strength since he’d gotten home only an hour or so ago. There had to be another two inches on the road, with drifts close to four feet tall in places. He plowed through the drifts, his four-wheel drive making his slow process achievable. Mel likely hadn’t had to use four-wheel drive in several years, but he’d taught her how to use it himself. You don’t forget stuff like that.
She’s fine. Calm down.
Why in the hell would Sophie let her out in this? He couldn’t see twenty yards in front of his vehicle. Visibility was complete shit.
Hitting a patch of ice, his truck slid several feet. He didn’t overreact. He turned into the skid until the truck grabbed onto the road once more. A drive that would have taken him five minutes was quickly turning into twenty. Tire tracks disappearing into the ditch had him stopping, but the car he found ended up being abandoned. Three other vehicles were in the ditch between that abandoned car and Main Street, but he finally pulled onto Main Street thirty minutes later. Sophie had called him no less than five times during that time, and he’d told her each and every time that Mel had likely made it to the café, but her phone had died.
His praying never ceased, but his doubts of her having arrived at the café safe and sound had decreased as he’d driven through the storm because he hadn’t seen Sophie’s truck.
Sure enough, his headlights hit the truck when he turned on Main. It was parked in front of the café. He let out a pent-up breath and thanked God. The streetlights on Main still weren’t on, and the town was pitch black, so the power was obviously still out and would likely remain that way until morning at the very least.
Now that he’d found her, he was a hell of a lot more angry than scared. She shouldn’t have come out in this storm, laptop or not.
He pulled in next to her and cut the engine. For a minute he just sat in his truck and thought about how his Christmas Eve was going so far. He’d just driven through a blizzard to find Melanie Edwards, a girl who’d stolen his heart many years ago and then shit on it. Not six weeks ago he’d thought he’d be wrapping presents and slipping them under the tree for Ben on Christmas Eve. Even though Ben would be back in Pine Grove sometime in the near future, John wasn’t counting Ben’s return as a win. Sure, he’d see Ben, and perhaps even be let back into his life—but for how long? Should he even contemplate starting that relationship up again?
He’d never been one to be melancholy, but he was doing a great job of it lately.
Not in the mood to deal with any of this, he got out of the truck. He wasn’t sure if he should knock or just let himself in, but when he tried the door to the café he found it locked, so he pounded on the glass. The wind was
whipping down Main Street as though Main Street was a wind tunnel.
Mel opened the door a few seconds later. She didn’t look surprised at all, she looked downright sheepish. “I’m guessing my mom called you.”
How could she cause his heart to beat faster after all these years? Just seeing her brought something to life inside of him. Instead of nourishing that feeling, he wanted to beat the crap out of it. “You’d be correct.”
She moved aside to let him into the dark café. “I’ve been trying to start the generator, but I have no idea how to work the thing. And to be honest, it kinda scares me.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t try to drive back home,” he muttered sarcastically.
“I did. I almost went into the ditch a few times.” She shrugged when he threw her a look. “I was scared to be here by myself. My phone died. I know my mom’s freaking out, but I just didn’t want to keep driving in the storm so I turned back. I’m so sorry that—"
“I was being sarcastic. Even seasoned South Dakota drivers stay off the road during blizzards. Unless they get a call from a worried mother.” He held his cell out to her. “Call your mom. Her name is in my recents.”
She took his phone and her eyes got wide when she saw all of his notifications. “Wow. She called you like six times in the past hour.”
The only woman on the planet who was blowing up his phone. He almost laughed. “She’s worried. Call her, we’ll grab your stuff and make sure everything is secure, and then I’ll drive you home. You can get her truck later.”
He left Mel in the front of the café and walked down the hall and into the small room that housed the breaker. Everything looked fine, so he shut the door. He checked the office, flipping all light switches off so that if the power did come back on, every light wouldn’t come on with it.
He could hear Mel speaking softly to her mother, but he couldn’t make out the words. He checked the back door, made sure it was locked, checked the bathroom light switch, and it was off.
When he finally came back into the main room of the café, he figured she’d be ready to leave. Instead he found her by the countertops, leaning against the wood with her elbows resting on the surface, his phone only inches from her face. She wasn’t talking on his cell phone any longer, she was looking down at his lighted screen.
Was she snooping? He cocked his head to the side and studied her. Hell yeah she was. She was snooping on his cell phone.
She looked up, the light from the cell making her face look a little more Halloween than Christmas, but even from here he could see pity in her eyes before she tried to mask the emotion and hide the fact that she’d been molesting his phone. “Mom said there’s a tree down on our road. When you didn’t answer my mom’s last call, she called Brian and he made it to the house with Macy. He couldn’t reach town because of the downed tree and he says the wind has picked up. They’re both stuck at my mom’s house. I’m not sure if she won’t let them leave or if he doesn’t want to brave the storm again, but suffice to say, they’re not leaving.”
“We’ll be fine. I have four-wheel drive.” He wasn’t staying the night here with her. It just wasn’t happening.
She shook her head. “I’m not going back out.”
“The hell you’re not.” He’d throw her over his shoulder and haul her ass out of here if he had to.
“Just start the generator for me. I’m going to stay here for the night. There’s coffee and pastries. There’s a couch and a blanket in my mom’s office. I’ll be fine.”
He wasn’t staying. He might not have had the most control over his life the past few weeks, but this he could control. He wasn’t spending the night with Melanie Edwards and she wasn’t going to stay in this café by herself while a blizzard raged outside. If the generator sputtered or ran out of gas she wouldn’t have the slightest clue what to do. “Grab your shit. We’re leaving.”
“Grab my shit?” She looked at him as though he’d just insulted her very existence. “Listen, I get that you haven’t been in the greatest mood the past few weeks and I understand why, but I’m not grabbing anything and I’m not leaving. There’s a tree in the road anyway. That road is impassable.”
What would she know about his past few weeks?
The answer to that question came easily—her brothers. He wanted to slap his palm against his forehead. Of course, her brothers would have told her about Jessica and Ben, and how they’d left. They’d probably told her that Ben had been like a son to him. “I’m not leaving you here,” he said, annunciating each word as though they had been the last. Now he wasn’t just annoyed that she’d braved a blizzard for a laptop, but he was embarrassed because she knew about Jessica and Ben.
What a fine Christmas this turned out to be.
She lifted a dainty shoulder. “Then I guess you’re staying.”
“Do you honestly think I can’t get you into my truck?”
She sucked in a breath. “Are you threatening me?”
“You can stop being dramatic now. This isn’t a me too moment.”
She rolled her eyes and glanced down at his cell phone just as it went dark. She touched the screen and it lit up again. “I’m sorry for what you’ve been going through. I really am. But taking it out on me right now isn’t going to get me back out into that storm.” She looked back at him. “Guess you could say my city’s showing,” she said, throwing his words back at him.
Son of a bitch. Maybe he should just leave her here. But the damned Good Samaritan in him was roaring at the idea. One thing was for sure. He wanted her to stop hedging around Jessica and Ben’s sudden departure. He wasn’t going to discuss it with her.
He honestly hadn’t thought it possible, but his crappy Christmas Eve had just gotten worse.
_______
As Cindy would have said in a deadpan voice, “red flag.” Only this time she’d be correct. Cindy had finally gotten her red flag moment and she wasn’t even aware of the societal snafu. The thing was, Mel didn’t rightly care if it was a red flag to snoop on a man’s phone, or if Cindy thought it was the beginning of the end of a relationship—because she and John didn’t have a relationship.
Couldn’t mess up what you didn’t have, could you?
Why was she ghosting on John’s phone if he wasn’t a part of her life? Sheer curiosity. She’d wanted to see what Jessica had looked like, because Mel had this crazy picture of a gorgeous, leggy blonde in her mind, and to be honest, it had been driving her nuts. Her attempts at stalking this woman on social media had failed dramatically. How could you possibly want to rip out someone’s hair you’d never met? And why the knee-jerk reaction to physical violence? Mel had a boyfriend of her own, and this chick was out of the picture anyway.
But instead of finding a leggy blonde, all she’d found were pictures of a cute, adorable young boy with a messy head of black hair popping up again and again in John’s pictures.
She’d scrolled through the numerous pictures and had quickly realized three things.
One: John and Ben had been as inseparable as Brian and George had said they were. Football games while holding up jerseys, hanging out at the park, tooling around with the livestock—they’d done it all. Two: John had never been in love with Jessica, because she was nowhere on his cell. Unless he’d deleted all of their pictures after they’d broken up, but then John just wasn’t the type to do that. The fact that he had no picture of the woman spoke volumes.
Which made Mel recall that she had zero pictures of Liam on her phone.
That was a revelation to ponder, but she’d ponder it another time.
Three: John had to be completely heartbroken now that Ben was no longer in his life. It looked like he’d invested not only his time in Ben, but his heart as well.
And that’s why he was making a huge deal about her wanting to stay at the café. He wasn’t exactly in the right frame of mind. Plus it was the holidays. That always made heartbreak worse.
Well, he had another thing coming. She wasn’t headi
ng back out in that storm unless it was in a plow truck. Hell, even the plows wouldn’t be out until morning. What would be the point in trying to remove snow when all that snow was blowing around like it was?
Nope, she wasn’t leaving. “Like I said, I’m staying. So if you think you can drag me out of here kicking and screaming, go for it. As you recall, I grew up with three brothers, so I know where to kick and exactly how much force to inflict to make you fall over drooling and speechless.” She let her words sit there between them. John didn’t make a move, and she hadn’t expected him to.
Well, this night was starting off on a fantastic note.
“I should leave you here,” he said through his teeth, disappearing into the back of the café before she could throw him a good comeback.
He was likely heading into the back area of the café to start the generator, which thankfully, her mother had left since she had two more at the house. There was a motor-like noise and then a few appliances behind the counter kicked on. Mel was strung out from the drive here and the verbal back and forth with John, but she was also tired. She heard the back door shut. Might as well do as the Romans. When in a café…“You want a cup of coffee?” She called out to him, blithely ignoring the fact that they were at each other’s throats not a minute ago.
“You’re really pushing it,” he yelled back.
“Decaf for you,” she mumbled, heading behind the counter to whip them up some coffee. She’d already posted what needed to be posted for her job, so there was that. She’d had to use the hotspot on her cell, and her cell had died shortly after. Now all that was left to do was to come up with some sleeping arrangements and each could stay to their own side of the café. She didn’t know what she’d expected when she’d come home to Pine Grove, but this certainly hadn’t been it.
“You know what I don’t understand about you?”
Mel jumped, her hand hovering over the espresso scooper as her heart skidded inside her chest. John had just come around the corner, hands on hips. She looked him up and down, trying to keep that fact that she’d nearly wet her pants to herself. “Uh, no?”