“Oh, my goodness. I should’ve known you two were a couple,” the woman said as Melanie gripped her suitcase and waved goodbye. She bit her lip and tried to take a deep breath. She had no idea how many flights were leaving for Phoenix today, but she crossed her fingers that he would be on hers.
Chapter Five
May 3rd
Preston
Preston walked with Beatrice through the airport, trying not to rush her but at the same time wishing she would move a little faster. Not that it would’ve mattered. There was no way he would be able to find Melanie in an airport this size, but a part of him hoped he would have one more chance to see her before he boarded his flight home.
If he only had an opportunity to talk to her… He still had no idea where she was going and with her leaving Chicago, he had no way of getting a hold of her for at least a month.
“Here you are, Beatrice.” He guided her to the check-in line. Luckily, there was nobody waiting in line, and he was able to hand over her luggage to the agent.
“Thank you, Preston. You’re a sweetheart. Tell your girl she’s very lucky to have you.” He didn’t bother correcting her and instead wished her a safe trip then jogged to check-in his suitcase. He was just getting through security when his flight was called.
By the time he boarded the plane, he was irritated by the situation. If it hadn’t been for Beatrice, he would’ve had more time with Melanie or at the very least found out where she was going to be for the next month. He was overdue for a vacation; maybe he could take some time off and see her…if she called. “Please call,” he said to himself but drew the attention of his fellow passengers.
He ignored the stares and looked at his boarding pass to check the seat number. Being nearly the last person on the plane, it took him forever to get to his seat and when he did he slumped into it with a sigh not paying attention to the person next to him.
“Fancy meeting you here.”
He turned his head and swore he was seeing things. The woman he couldn’t get out of his head was sitting next to him. Her face flushed when he stared at her without speaking. He had no idea what to say. Thankfully, she didn’t wait for him.
“I wanted to tell you back at the hotel.”
“You’re going to Phoenix?” he asked.
His stomach dropped when she shook her head no.
“Well,” she rolled her eyes. “I’m flying to Phoenix, but I’ll be staying with my grandparents in Flagstaff.” She bit her lip and drew in a deep breath looking at him expectantly.
“Are you kidding me?”
She laughed and shook her head. “This is crazy, right? It’s not just me?” she asked.
“It’s not just you.” Not until here, on this plane, had he ever believed in fate, but he couldn’t deny it now.
They barely spoke until the plane started moving. That was when he heard her chant, “I’m okay. I’m okay. I’m okay.” Her voice kept rising until her words were choked out.
He took her hand and made her look at him. “Take a deep breath.” She did what he said, but her grip on his hand tightened as the plane took off. He calmly ran a hand up and down her arm and reassured her. “Everything is going to be okay.”
Once the plane leveled out, she loosened her grip and released the breath she had been holding. “I’m so sorry.” She ran her free hand over her face wiping the sweat from her brow. “That was embarrassing.”
“That couldn’t have been more embarrassing than when you tripped and fell with your skirt flying up in front of your boyfriend and all his family at that fancy restaurant.” She covered her mouth with her hand laughing so hard her shoulders shook. “Hey, you promised never to repeat that.”
“I did it for you. And am I wrong? That had to be more embarrassing than being scared to fly.”
She sighed. “You aren’t wrong, but still,” she pointed a finger at him, “We will never speak of that night again. I told you in confidence and only because you told me about you, that girl and whipped...”
He covered her mouth before she could say the rest. “Deal. Those events will never be spoken of again.”
To help her relax, he talked to her about Beatrice and what she had said after Melanie had left them at the drop off zone. “She told me we’re going to have beautiful blonde babies, but she hopes they have your nose and not mine.” Melanie didn’t comment, but her blush said it all. “She also said we shouldn’t expect to have blue-eyed babies, not with my brown eyes. Sorry.” He shrugged.
“Hmm. In that case, I may have to rethink having your children.”
“You’re thinking about having my babies?” He was teasing, but he was a little curious.
She laughed. “Well, thanks to Beatrice I am.”
“Okay, on a very serious note. How many kids are we going to have?” he asked. She giggled and rolled her eyes.
Not an hour later, she was fast asleep with her head resting on his shoulder. She had mentioned she hadn’t slept the night before…he suspected for the same reason he hadn’t.
The next thing he knew he was being woken up by the pilot’s voice announcing their arrival into Phoenix, Arizona. Preston felt a moment of regret that he had wasted their time on the flight sleeping until he remembered they would have four weeks. The first thing he planned to do when he saw his father this evening was to ask for some time off.
With his arm wrapped around her shoulders, he nudged her awake. She yawned and stretched then gave him a sleepy smile. “I’m not going to apologize for sleeping against you. I liked it.”
Her honesty and openness was like a breath of fresh air and for the first time in a long time, he felt content. “Well, I’m not going to be sorry about how much I enjoyed you sleeping against me.”
She bit the corner of her lip and laughed softly. “That seems fair.”
Her hand reached for his as they walked to baggage claim. Nothing in his life felt as right as that one simple act.
She stood on the edge of the crowd guarding his bags while he found hers. When he returned, he asked, “What now?”
“My sister reserved me a car rental for the next thirty days, so I need to pick it up.”
“I was going to rent a car but would it be presumptuous of me to ask for a ride?”
“Probably, but I’d hate to waste a perfectly good passenger seat. I will warn you that I love classic rock, and you will be forced to listen to it the whole way.”
“A woman after my own heart.”
Their three-hour drive to Flagstaff had been filled with witty banter, off-key singing to their favorite bands and entertaining stories about their families. His time with her never felt like enough, so when she pulled into his driveway, he felt a bit of resentment over having to say goodbye…again.
“You’re not going to believe this or maybe you will, but my grandparents live two streets away,” she said with a half laugh.
“In that case, it would be neighborly of me to invite you over for dinner tomorrow night.”
“Is this like a date?” she asked.
“Not like. It is a date.”
“I’d love to. What time?” she asked not bothering to hide her excitement. He loved that about her.
“Is ten AM too early?”
“For dinner?” she giggled.
“Yeah,” he shrugged.
“It’s not too early,” she confirmed.
Chapter Six
May 3rd
Melanie
Pulling out of his driveway, she let out a little squeal. She was going to see him again. Melanie had never connected with someone so quickly and easily. She was more of an introvert and making small talk had always been painful, but not for a single moment since she met him was it awkward or uncomfortable to talk to him. Conversations came easily and during the quiet moments, Melanie didn’t feel any pressure to speak.
She looked in the rearview mirror watching him watch her drive away. He ran a hand through his wavy blond hair attempting to force his hair out of his eye
s, but it flopped forward again.
As much as she stared at him the night before, it wasn’t enough. She had been tempted to ask him to drive so she could watch him. Instead, she felt his eyes on her the whole drive. Normally, she would’ve felt self-conscious, but she liked it. She liked having his focused attention.
A few minutes later she slid a key into the lock at her grandparents’ house as she read the note taped to the door. She felt a twinge of disappointment that they weren’t home, but she should’ve known they would be out and about. They had never been the kind of people to stay home. They had active social lives, the kind she should’ve been having. Today they were spending the day golfing then had dinner plans with friends.
Walking into their home, a rush of memories hit her. Every summer. Every party she had attended here. Every cooking lesson her grandmother gave her and Marla. It felt like she had come home.
She dragged her suitcase to the bedroom she always slept in but was surprised to see that the bed had been taken apart and leaned against one wall with full boxes lined up against another wall with her and Marla’s names written in black Sharpie. “What in the world?”
After dropping off her suitcase into Marla’s room that still had a bed and dresser but nothing else, she went to look around the house. That was when she noticed moving boxes in different stages of being filled. Her grandparents had a lot of explaining to do. They never mentioned moving, at least not to her.
If anyone knew what was happening, it had to be Marla. She picked up the phone and dialed. The first thing her sister said was, “I miss you! Shane is driving us crazy because you’re not here for Funday Sunday.”
“Tell him I mi…”
She was interrupted by a little boy who sounded like he was in distress. “Aunt Mel, why did you leave?”
There was no way she was going to take the blame for breaking his heart so she straight out said, “Your mom made me visit Great Grandma and Grandpa.”
She heard the phone drop, then he yelled. “Moooooom. You tell Aunt Mel to come home.”
A rustling sound came from the other end of the line then Marla got on and said with an annoyed sigh, “I hate you.” With a slightly more upbeat voice, she asked about their grandparents.
“I haven’t seen them yet. They’re out with friends.”
“God, I get tired just hearing about their social life.”
“I know. I hope I’m like them when I grow up.” Not just having their energy, but her grandparents were so sweet with each other and were best friends. Neither could stand being away from the other for more than a day.
“Wow. You haven’t been gone a day and you sound… I don’t know…different. Better. Relaxed. I should have forced you to take a vacation years ago. I’m a terrible sister.”
“You’re not terrible. You’re the best.” She should be thanking her sister because if it weren’t for her, she wouldn’t have met Preston.
“What the heck is going on there? You sound funny. Did you hit your head? I haven’t heard you this happy since… Oh. My. God. You met someone! You did, didn’t you?” Melanie pulled the phone away from her ear to keep from going deaf from Marla’s rising voice.
“Geesh! Settle down.”
“Answer me!”
“Stop bossing me around,” she said as firmly as she could while holding back a laugh. “And, yes, I did meet someone.”
“Hold on a second.” She heard her sister tell Ron, “Melanie met someone. Can you take Shane somewhere so I can talk to her without being interrupted?” Melanie rolled her eyes when she heard Ron laugh then the sound of him kissing her. Gross.
“We’ll be at the park down the street when you’re done talking.”
“Mmhmm.” She could picture Marla pushing Ron and Shane out the door so she could pour herself a glass of wine while she pulled all the details out of Melanie.
Marla did, in fact, drink a glass of wine and managed to get her to tell her every single detail about her time with Preston. “Mel. I don’t even know what to say. I’m happy for you, but I’m just worried about when you have to leave. I don’t want to see you crushed like with…”
“I know. Believe me, I don’t either but I’m having fun and enjoying my time with him.” The idea of leaving in twenty-nine days with a broken heart left a sick feeling in her stomach, but she wasn’t about to let it spoil her time here. “You never know. Maybe after spending a little more time with him, I won’t even like him.”
“But if you do, I’m here, Mel. I’ll always be here for you.” And this was why she loved her sister. She might be the Dragon Lady but sometimes it was good to have a dragon on your side.
“Stop being so nice. If I didn’t know better, I would think I had some terminal illness or something. First the forced vacation and now being sweet… It’s weirding me out. Anyway, I called for a different reason. It looks like Gran and Gramps are packing up the house. Are they moving?”
“Really? Grandma had mentioned they were thinking about downsizing, but I hadn’t heard anything else. Call me back when you find out, and if they are I call dibs on the house.”
“How could you even… ugh? You can’t call dibs!” Plus, if anyone was going to buy this house it was her. Even if she didn’t live here full time, there was no way she would allow anyone else to have it. Even her sister.
“Fine. But keep me updated.”
“I will. Love you.”
“Love you, too, Mel. Give Gran and Gramps a hug for me.”
Melanie sat at the kitchen counter glaring at a realtor flyer of her grandparent’s home as she ate leftovers. “How could they sell?”
“If you’re talking to yourself, then you were way overdue for a vacation,” her grandmother teased from the front door.
“Grandma!”
“Hi, sweetheart. Give me a hug.” Melanie wrapped her arms around her grandmother and held onto her like she did when she was younger and had to say goodbye. “Hey.” Her grandmother squeezed her tight then pulled back and looked at her from head to toe. “What’s wrong?”
“Are you moving?” She tried not to cry, but a tear slid down her cheek.
“Oh, dear.” Her brow wrinkled and she looked behind her just as her grandfather walked in.
“There’s my girl!” She let him pull her into a warm embrace.
“She figured it out, Arthur,” her grandmother said behind her.
“Oh, dear.” A smile pulled at Melanie’s lips at her grandparents’ matching responses. They did that as far back as she could remember. “I told you, Carol, we should’ve said something when I was on the phone with Marla,” he grumbled.
“You sure did.”
“One of these days you’re going to listen to me.” He pointed a finger at her grandmother.
Her grandmother leaned into him and gave him a sweet kiss. “One day,” she said cheerfully then turned back to Melanie. “I’m sorry you found out this way, but yes, we are moving. Most of our friends are already living in a retirement community with a golf course right in their backyards. Since we spend more time there than home, it only makes sense to move, plus the condos there are lovely.”
“So you’re selling?”
“Yes, sweetheart. Unless, of course, you or Marla want it.” She said, more as a question than a statement. She held a slight smirk waiting for Melanie’s response. Her grandparents had always hinted that they wanted her and Marla in the same state.
“I do want it but my life is in Chicago.”
Her grandparents raised their brows at the same time.
“Alright, I might not have much of a life but my job is and Marla and her family are there.”
Her grandparents looked at each other not speaking but then they nodded their heads at the same time. “We’ll wait a few weeks before we put the house on the market, sweetheart, but I hope we can count on you to help with the packing.”
“Of course.” She folded her arms and drew in a deep breath. Even though it had been years since she had been
here, it represented a time in her life when her only worry was time going by too fast and her only decision was which swimsuit to wear each day. Her throat tightened holding back tears.
“I’m going to head to bed. I have plans tomorrow.”
“Yes, you do. Church is at 8:30,” her grandmother reminded her. Melanie rubbed her temples. How could she have forgotten? There went her plan to sleep in. Too tired to discuss Preston, she decided to leave that conversation for the next day. “Oh, I almost forgot, we ran into some friends of ours and they said their son is home and we were thinking about inviting him to dinner on Wednesday.”
“Grandma…” she groaned.
“He’s cute, has a stable job and is single.” Her brows bounced up and down.
“Goodnight,” Melanie said harshly.
She heard her grandfather chuckling under his breath as she shut the door to the guest bedroom. Flopping on the bed, she reminded herself that she really did love her grandparents even if they were trying to set her up.
Chapter Seven
May 4th
Melanie
Melanie stood in the foyer of the church her grandparents had been attending since before she was born and waited for her grandparents to finish chit chatting with their friends.
Jerry, a woman her grandmother had introduced her to earlier approached her with a beautiful smile. “We didn’t get a chance to talk but your grandmother has told me so much about you.”
“I’m sure she has,” Melanie said under her breath. She didn’t mean to say it so loud. When Jerry began to laugh, she blushed. “That was mean of me.”
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