Brunch at Bittersweet Café

by Carla Laureano

  “. . . you should only date women who don’t expect too much from you,” Melody finished. “I get it, Justin. It’s totally reasonable. I mean, it’s a lonely way to live, but I understand why you’d feel that way.”

  And yet somehow he’d gone ahead and dated Melody, who he’d pegged from the beginning as the kind of woman who wanted, needed, and deserved a commitment. He’d broken his own rules, thinking that the time limit on their relationship would keep things from getting too serious.

  “Hey.” She reached up and turned his face toward hers, looking deep into his eyes. “I knew what I was getting into. I’m not going to do anything drastic if this doesn’t work out. Have a little faith.”

  Faith. As if that had done him any good before. As if God had bothered to heal his sister or reconcile his parents or keep Ally from speeding full force into a tree. He had no doubt God existed, had even prayed to turn his life over to Him as a teen with several other members of his youth group. And yet in the ensuing years, he’d begun to wonder if sending a Savior to earth had been God’s last attempt to help His creation. The world often felt like a cosmic windup toy, set down and left to careen wildly on its own, unhinged, without direction.

  “I’m not sure I know what that means anymore,” he said quietly. “I’d like to believe that there’s some bigger pattern at work, but so much seems to be just rotten chance.”

  Melody leaned her head against his chest. “Trust me, it’s not always easy. There are things in my life that made me wonder where God was, why He didn’t step in when He could have. But then things like this bakery make me realize that there has to be a plan in there somewhere. Every step of this venture has fallen into place far too easily. I can’t help feeling like God orchestrated it all to come together because this is what He wants me to be doing. And if that’s the case, who am I to argue? It doesn’t feel like coincidence.”

  “You know what I like most about you?”

  She smiled up at him. “No, but I can’t wait to hear.”

  “Your unshakable optimism.” He chuckled and kissed the top of her head. “However, I do not feel optimistic about flying groggy tomorrow, so I think it’s time that we call it a night.” He carefully extracted himself from Melody and held out his hand to help her up.

  Melody followed him silently up the stairs to their adjacent rooms. Away from their cocoon by the fire, he began to regret telling her about Allyson and interjecting that heavy note into what had been an otherwise-lighthearted day. He stopped in front of the door marked eight, and Melody turned to him.

  “I’m sorry if I ruined the mood.” His hands went to her waist of their own accord, drawing her nearer. “This was supposed to be fun.”

  “It was,” she said softly. “It was better than fun.”

  There was that warning again that they were straying into dangerous territory: the softness of her voice, the way she looked at him with shining eyes. He should turn around and leave her, but he stayed rooted to his spot.

  Like their very first date, she was the one to move first, stretching up to press her lips to his. The sweetness of her lips teased at the edges of his self-control, begging him to deepen the kiss. But they were alone in an otherwise-deserted lodge; there would be nothing to stop them from falling into her room and letting the electricity that sparked between them lead to its natural conclusion.

  And he wouldn’t. For one thing, it would be wrong. For another, it was just plain unfair. They had yet to determine their future together. He wouldn’t make a tacit promise to her that he might not be able to honor.

  Justin disentangled himself, seeing his own desire mirrored in her expression, and pressed as chaste a kiss as he could manage to her lips.

  “Good night, Melody. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  He turned to his own room before he could change his mind and shut the door behind him, telling himself he’d done the only honorable thing. God might not care how His creation broke one another, but at least Justin still did.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  MELODY THREW THE LOCK on her door and paced the length of her room, both relieved and confused. It had been a magical day. The flight, the snow, the amazing meal. The way Justin focused on her like she was the only woman in the world. There was no shortage of chemistry between them—that kiss in the snow had proven that—but he seemed determined not to take advantage of the convenient opportunity that the weather had provided.

  She sank onto the edge of her bed. Micah—or any of the other men she’d dated recently—wouldn’t have shown the same kind of restraint. Hadn’t, in fact. The only conclusion she could draw was that she’d finally broken her streak of bad choices.

  And yet Justin was an even worse variety of bad choice, because she could no longer pretend her interest was temporary. When he left, it would be a pain that didn’t compare to the betrayals she’d experienced.

  “You’re so stupid,” she whispered, the resignation in her voice surprising even her. How could she have thought she was getting out of this intact?

  Melody stripped off her jeans and sweater and climbed between the cool, smooth sheets, but sleep wasn’t going to come easy. Not considering her slow-adjusting body clock, and not considering how thinking of the future wound her in knots. She finally slept before sunrise and woke up just after 9 a.m., no more refreshed and every bit as troubled as she’d been three hours earlier.

  She dressed in yesterday’s clothes, washed her face, and went down to the dining room, where Justin was already sipping a cup of coffee and making notations on a clipboard. She paused just outside his notice, watching how his ridiculously handsome face creased in concentration, and felt the little leap of her heart that meant something wonderful and absolutely no good at the same time.

  “Good morning,” she said finally, walking over to the table.

  He looked up, his face breaking into a beaming smile. “Good morning. Sleep well?”

  “Okay, I guess. Are we leaving?”

  “Just need to file the flight plan. I was waiting for you to wake up.”

  “Sorry. It took me a while to fall asleep last night. I’m used to shift work. It’s still hard to sleep when normal people sleep.”

  “I forgot about that. Had I remembered, I would have kept you up and continued to kick your butt at Scrabble.”

  Her jaw dropped. “You did not kick my butt. You beat me by one point, and I still think that longeron is not a valid word.”

  “It’s in the dictionary. I know you’re used to winning, but so am I.” He leaned forward and pitched his voice low. “I will say, that killer instinct is pretty irresistible.”

  Melody wrestled down a flush and plopped herself into the seat across from him. She tapped a half-empty French press. “Coffee?”

  “Help yourself.” He slid a clean mug across the table to her. “Or I’m sure Eloise will brew a new pot. She said to let her know when you woke up so she can bring breakfast.”

  Melody poured the remainder of the coffee into her mug and took an experimental sip. It was already lukewarm and slightly too strong, but it was caffeinated, and it slid into her like a magical elixir. “I’m going to need a couple more of these before I can have a conversation.”

  “You’re in luck, then.” He pointed to the doorway, where Eloise was bustling through with a basket of baked goods and another French press. The woman either had hearing like a dog’s or she had them under surveillance.

  “Good morning, Melody,” Eloise said cheerily. “I hope you don’t mind a cold breakfast. I didn’t know when you’d be up and I know that Justin wants to get going as soon as possible.”

  “This is wonderful, thank you.” There were house-made blueberry muffins, carrot bread that looked suspiciously like cake, and a small bowl of fruit. Melody would never find fault with baked goods and coffee.

  Justin put aside his clipboard and rose from his seat. “You eat; I’ll be right back.”

  Melody waited until Eloise bustled back to the kitchen
and then slid the clipboard around to face her. When Justin returned, she was frowning at a chart filled with numbers and abbreviations in his neat block penmanship.

  “What is this?” she asked.

  “It’s a flight log.” He pulled his chair closer to hers so he could look over her shoulder, his nearness sending shivers through her. “These are waypoints, minimum altitudes, course headings.” He flipped to a chart beneath it and showed her a line that connected their location to Centennial Airport.

  “Isn’t that why you have a GPS?”

  “Electronics can fail. This is a short flight, and I’m familiar with the route, but I always have a hard copy and navigational charts just in case.” He shot her a sideways grin. “It’s a good idea to avoid peaks and ridges and other obstacles.”

  “I would think so.” She looked closely at the chart, which was basically a topographical map with overlapping concentric circles and little square boxes with numbers in them. Frequencies for the control towers, she thought. “This actually makes sense to you?”

  He moved his chair back around to his side and reached for a blueberry muffin. “I’d be careful asking too many questions or I’m going to be tempted to wow you with my incredible aviation prowess.”

  “And here I was just thinking how humble you were for a pilot.” She stuck her tongue out, earning a grin in return from him.

  “In all seriousness, I’m careful flying into and out of the mountains. It takes specific training and experience and a lot of attention. If you hadn’t noticed, by the way, there’s emergency equipment behind the seats, including food to last us three days.”

  “In case we crash?” That wasn’t a comforting thought.

  “In case we make an ‘unexpected, off-airport landing.’” Justin made air-quotes with his fingers and went back to his muffin, completely unperturbed.

  Well, if there was one thing she’d learned about him, it was that he was cautious. She could appreciate that when he had her life in his hands at ten thousand feet. She watched him from beneath her lashes while she sipped her coffee. She’d misread him so badly on their first meeting. He wore the good looks and the flirtatious manner as a mask, a costume. It took time to realize he was as cautious and methodical about life as he was in the captain’s seat.

  They polished off far more of the baked goods than was good for them, then moved out the back of the lodge toward the airfield. Melody remained in one of the rocking chairs, watching as he did his preflight walk around.

  Reggie emerged from the side door and approached slowly before sinking into the chair next to Melody’s. She watched Justin for a minute too before saying, “He’s a good guy.”

  “I’m getting that feeling.”

  “He must like you. He doesn’t do things like this for just anyone.”

  Melody shot her a searching look. “He did for you.”

  Reggie gave a little laugh and shook her head. “We have a different relationship than you probably think. He helped me through a tough time in college. I needed a friend, and he was there when no one else was.”

  “He told me about Allyson. I’m sorry.”

  “He did?” Reggie seemed genuinely surprised. “He doesn’t talk about it with anyone. Not even me. Not anymore.”

  “He said you two got together for a little while after it happened.”

  “We did. We had shared something terrible. I think we both assumed that meant we should be in a relationship, before we were mature enough to understand that there’s more than one kind. But honestly? It was like kissing my brother.”

  Melody arched an eyebrow, and Reggie pressed her hand to her forehead. “Right? How could that be? Look at him. He’s probably one of the most attractive guys I’ve ever seen in real life. And there was just . . . nothing.”

  Melody looked out toward Justin, who was still going over the plane’s mechanics with every bit of thoroughness she’d come to expect from him. The tightening in her chest was almost painful. When she turned back, Reggie was watching her with a knowing smile. She pushed herself to her feet. “It was nice meeting you, Melody.”

  Melody shook Reggie’s outstretched hand. “Same here. Good luck to you.”

  “Thanks. I’m going to need it.” She smiled without elaborating and walked out to Justin, giving him a quick and completely platonic hug. When she came back, she tossed Melody one more smile. “He’s about ready to go.”

  Melody crossed the snowy field to the plane, where Justin waited to help her up onto the wing and into the passenger compartment. He disappeared for several minutes, then climbed into the left seat and pulled the canopy forward.

  “Ready to go?”

  “Absolutely.” She stayed quiet while he flipped through his notes on the clipboard, went through the preflight check, and started the engine. They put on their headsets, tested to make sure they could hear each other, and then they were taxiing into position on the airstrip.

  He throttled the engine up to maximum power and fiddled with a bright-red knob for a moment; then they hurtled down the narrow airstrip. Melody’s stomach dipped when the wheels left the ground, but Justin didn’t climb immediately, instead hovering what felt like inches above the dirt as they picked up speed. Then the plane nosed up into a steep-angled climb, and she couldn’t stop herself from digging her nails into the leather upholstery. The sensation of weightlessness made her head spin, and she purposely focused on the instrument panel in front of her rather than the steeply pitched view out the side. Only when they finally leveled out did she release her death grip on the seat and dare a peek out the window.

  They were already above the nearest mountain peak. Justin reached over and rested his hand on her arm. “Are you okay?”

  Her breath came out in a rush. “I’m fine. Now.”

  “Sorry. I should have warned you. It’s a pretty hard climb.”

  She let out a shaky laugh. “Now you know the truth. I’m a total coward.”

  “You are not a coward. I’m honored by your trust in me.”

  “I don’t have much choice if I want to get home.” She shot him a smile so he knew she was kidding, then slid on her sunglasses against the glare of the rapidly rising sun.

  They flew in relative silence, the muted hum of the engine in the background. And then Justin asked, “What were you and Reggie talking about?”

  She turned to him. “You.”

  “That’s not unsettling at all.”

  “I think you probably know what she had to say. She was reassuring me that there was nothing between you two.”

  His tone was calm but curious. “Did you need reassuring?”

  “Not really. I know you’re friends, and I also know that you wouldn’t have gone to all this trouble for me if you were still interested in her. I believe her when she says she’s not attracted to you—”

  “Ouch.”

  “Which is good for me, since I most definitely am.”

  He gave her a look that made her heart beat a little faster. “Good save on the ego crusher there. Does that mean you’ve forgiven me for stranding you here overnight for the sake of some snowballs?”

  Melody laughed. “I already told you this was the best date I’ve ever had. I’m so glad you managed to drag me away for a while.”

  “I guess now would be the time to tell you I’ve got to leave at the end of the week.”

  “I expected as much. We’re about to begin construction, so I’m going to be busy anyway.”

  “You know, this is the first time I’ve ever had this issue. Usually women want more of me and not less.”

  Melody gasped. “I didn’t say that! And seriously, could you try for at least a little humility?”

  He grinned. “I could try, but I wouldn’t succeed. Like you said, I’ve got the whole package going on here—”

  “You’re impossible, you know that?”

  He pulled her in and planted a quick kiss on her lips, taking just long enough to look into her eyes. “You wouldn’t like me so mu
ch if I weren’t.”

  It was true, but she wasn’t going to tell him that. “Eyes on the . . . air. Or whatever you call it.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” He winked at her and turned forward again, pausing to check the flight log on his knee.

  “I have been meaning to ask you: Are you going to be home two Saturdays from now? The eighteenth?”

  He glanced at her. “Pretty sure. I think I get home the day before.”

  “Then would you like to come to the Saturday Night Supper Club with me?”

  “Meet your friends, you mean?”

  Melody just nodded, holding her breath.

  “I’d love to. I’ve been wondering when I might get to meet everyone.”

  “Good. It’s a date, then.” Which meant she needed to actually tell Rachel and Ana that she and Justin were together. She hadn’t meant to keep it from them—not exactly—but it was way past time to come clean.

  Melody peered out the window, watching the mountainous terrain turn more developed as they passed over the Front Range foothills and then breached the borders of the metropolitan area. As he had on their way there, he skirted the edge of the city and then turned back toward the airport. She stayed quiet as he contacted the Centennial tower and made adjustments to their heading to get on the airport approach, focused, relaxed, and absurdly handsome. How had she ever thought she could resist him?

  Compared to the high-mountain landing, their return to Centennial was uneventful. She tuned out the tower frequency chatter, only paying attention when Justin transmitted, and that was mostly because she liked the sound of his voice. Their descent was gradual and smooth, and they touched down on the concrete runway with scarcely a shimmy or bump. It was literally coming back to reality, being set down on the edge of a city where her life would resume as normal, where he’d be leaving again for over a week. And despite the fact she’d meant what she said—she really did need to focus on the restaurant—it wasn’t without a twinge of regret.

  “Safe and sound,” Justin said. “Almost a day late, but who’s keeping track?”