A Reason to Love (12 page)

Melanie held up the bottle and shouted, “All the rules and regulations are hereby suspended for this one afternoon.”

She toasted the announcement with the first sip of the wine. The small rebellion did nothing to improve Melanie’s mood, but it did serve as a reminder of how close she was to losing it right then. As she trudged up the steps, she added one more thing to the afternoon’s activities: a good cry.

M
ooch growled and stared at the front door. Someone was approaching the house. Spence had already put in a long day making deliveries and an even longer evening helping Will rebuild a lathe at the factory. The last thing he wanted was company, but the lights made it clear he was home.

When the soft knock finally came, he yanked the door open, half expecting it to be that damn reporter again. Instead, it was Melanie standing there with her hand still raised as if she were about to knock again. He took a step back, unsure whether or not to invite her in. They hadn’t been face-to-face since the night they’d kissed, and he was fairly sure that was a deliberate choice on her part.

And to tell the truth, he’d been relieved. That kiss had packed quite a punch, one that had been occupying his dreams ever since. He would have been tempted to go for a repeat performance, but she’d been acting skittish around him. He didn’t blame her. More than anyone else, she’d been witness to how unpredictable his behavior had been since he returned to Snowberry Creek.

Rather than invite her in, he stepped out on the porch with her. “Hi, Mel, what’s up?”

“I was just, uh, wondering how things went with you and Mr. Cosgrove tonight.”

On the surface there was nothing wrong with what she’d asked, but his gut instinct was that she wasn’t really all that interested in how much better the lathe would be running tomorrow when the day crew showed up for work. He leaned against the porch railing and crossed his arms over his chest.

“It went fine. Will and I figure on having the rest of the machines serviced and tuned up over the next three weeks. After that, we’ll set up a regular schedule to make sure they stay that way. Once everything is caught up, he should be able to handle most of the routine stuff on his own, but he’ll call me in for the big jobs if he needs help.”

Melanie nodded. “That’s great, Spence. Be sure to keep track of your hours and add them to the time you’ve spent driving the truck. Turn them into Bertie in payroll every week so you can get paid.”

What the heck? “That wasn’t the deal, Melanie. You’re already letting me live here rent free for the month for helping Will. That’s enough. Besides, working for you gives me something constructive to occupy my time with. I’m not used to sitting around with nothing to do.”

Mooch had come outside with them. Melanie watched his every move as if riveted by the sight of the mutt poking his nose into every bush and plant, woofing softly when he found a particularly interesting smell.

“Aren’t you afraid he might run off?” She glanced toward Spence. “I mean, there’s nothing holding him here. No fence or anything.”

“Not really. Mooch knows where his food bowl is and who keeps it full for him. After growing up scrounging scraps in the streets, he’s got it good living here with me.” Spence inched closer to Melanie. “Besides, he’s been microchipped. If he did get lost, they’d be able to track down either me or Nick and return him.”

“That’s good. Really good. He seems like a nice dog.”

Spence snickered. “Yeah, right. He snores, leaves his toys lying around right where I’m most likely to step on them in the middle of the night, and has questionable personal hygiene. Other than that, he’s the perfect roommate.”

She laughed, which was what he was hoping for, not that he was exaggerating. Just the night before he’d damn near killed himself when he stepped on one of the fool dog’s rubber bones with his bare foot on the way to the bathroom. He’d bounced off the dresser while he was hopping around and cursing the dog’s entire lineage.

As if sensing he was the topic of conversation, Mooch trotted back across the yard and up onto the porch. Softy that she was, Melanie immediately sat down on the top step and let Mooch sprawl across her lap. As she stroked his fur, the damn dog looked up at Spence with his tongue lolling out of his mouth in a big canine grin, no doubt sensing his serious jealousy.

He joined the pair on the step. Something was definitely going on that had Melanie all tied up in knots. If she didn’t start talking on her own, he’d have to find some way to drag it out of her. After working a double shift, he was pretty much worn out, but for her he’d hang in there for as long as it took.

Finally, she sighed. “I didn’t really come down to ask about the lathe or argue about what I’m paying you.”

Spence leaned over close enough to bump her shoulder with his. “I kind of figured that out on my own.”

Still focusing all of her attention on the dog, she said, “I saw Callie today. She asked me to meet her at Something’s Brewing because we hadn’t seen each other in a while. That much was true, but it wasn’t the real reason she wanted to talk. She wanted to pump me for information about you.”

He wrapped his arm around Melanie’s shoulder and gave her a quick squeeze. “I’m sorry she put you in such an awkward position, Mel. I know she’s worried about what’s going on with me, and I haven’t been very forthcoming about it. But that’s no excuse for making things hard for you.”

Melanie leaned into him, her head coming to rest just below his chin. “I suspected going in that you’d be the main topic of conversation. I told her the same stuff that I’d told Leif about why I followed you to the bar that first night and that I was renting you this house and why you were working for me right now.”

She seemed to need him to respond, so he said, “All that’s okay. No big deal. Besides, she already knew that much.”

But instead of calming her, his comment seemed to send a new surge of tension through her. “What else did she say?”

“She thought you owed it to Nick to explain what was going on with you.” Mel lifted her head to look at Spence directly for the first time. “That’s when I lost my temper and told her that whatever had happened in Afghanistan wasn’t your fault and that nowhere is it written that she and Nick were the center of the universe. Then I told her to cut you some slack because you were doing the best you could under the circumstances.”

The words poured out in a rush as if a dam had broken. As soon as she reached the end of her explanation, she pushed Mooch off her lap and started to stand up. “I just thought you should know. I’m sorry if I’ve made things worse for you.”

He caught her hand and tugged her back down beside him. “You didn’t do anything wrong, Melanie. It’s hard to be caught in the middle. And I don’t mean to make things difficult for you, especially when you’ve already got so much on your own plate right now. If you want me to find another place to crash, just say the word.”

As much as he hated it, honesty made him add, “And Callie’s not wrong. I do need to figure out what to do about the house and everything. I’ve been letting it all slide, and that’s on me. I’ll call my attorney and make an appointment to find out what my options are. Once I’ve talked to him, I’ll get in touch with Nick and Callie and try to work it all out.”

Melanie offered him a small smile. “You’ll be glad you did, Spence. Believe me, I would rather keep my head buried in the sand, but ugly realities have a way of only getting worse when you ignore them. As bad as things are with the company, people are still getting paid on a regular basis. That’s something.”

And she was carrying that burden alone. By comparison, his own problems were pretty minor. The only one depending on him to keep food on the table was Mooch, and kibble was cheap.

“If I haven’t said so, I really admire what you’re doing, Melanie. You could have taken one look at the mess your father left, shut down the factory, and walked away. Instead, you’re doing everything you can to keep the place running, not to protect your family’s legacy, but because you know Will and the others depend on the millworks for jobs.”

Her eyes were so damn sad. “But what if I can’t figure out how to save the company?”

The fear in her voice made him ache, but she didn’t want platitudes or empty sympathy. “You’ll at least know you tried, Melanie. No one can ask more than that. Hell, you’ve put your whole life on hold to try to save the company. Not many people would make that kind of sacrifice.”

She let out a slow breath and shook her head. “All things considered, it’s a pretty small sacrifice, especially compared to what you’ve been through. Nick and Leif, too, for that matter. I might have had to give up my librarian job, but you three almost lost your lives.”

Melanie entwined her fingers with his and stared down at their hands. “God knows I have nightmares thinking about what you might have gone through before you were rescued.”

God had nothing to do with what had happened to him, and the last thing he wanted was to fill Melanie’s head with the actual details. It was bad enough he had to live with them. “Don’t let what happened to me bother you, Mel. I survived it. That’s all that matters.”

“Sometimes I have to pinch myself to remind myself that you’re really back.” She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. “The day of your funeral was one of the worst days of my life, far worse even than when we buried my father.”

What could he say to that? It still seriously creeped him out to know that they’d buried an empty coffin. He hadn’t gone back to the cemetery to see if they’d taken down his tombstone. Hopefully, someone had taken care of that chore for him.

He was still trying to think of what to say when he noticed Melanie was blinking a lot. Oh, hell, was she crying? Yeah, there was a silvery trace of tears on her cheek. It took all he had to stand his ground instead of giving into the typical guy reaction of wanting to run for the hills.

“Aw, Mel, don’t cry. I’m right here.” As if that fact would do anything to fix her real problem.

She swiped at her eyes with the back of her hand. “I’m sorry, Spence. I don’t mean be such a downer. Sometimes things just pile up, and today was a tough one.”

Yeah, he could relate to that. “If you want to go to the bar and consume an unhealthy number of beers, I could keep you company. I’ll even be the designated driver this time. I’m sure Liam would be glad to see you again.”

It was a relief to hear her laughter ring out across the yard. “That’s quite an offer. As tired as I am, it wouldn’t take more than a beer, maybe two, to knock me out. At least you managed to walk out of the bar on your own, mostly, anyway. You’d have to carry me out.”

Now, there was an image. He hadn’t forgotten how good it had felt to hold her in his arms that first night when she fainted. Placing his hand over his heart, he solemnly vowed, “It would be my honor to carry you out of the bar, Mel. I bet Liam would even hold the door for us.”

She was still chuckling. “Can you imagine the scandal if it got out that I ended up passed-out drunk at the local roadhouse? It would send shock waves right through the country club crowd for sure. Especially if they found out I’d already drunk most of a bottle of wine by myself today.”

Melanie leaned closer to whisper, “I didn’t even bother with a glass. Just swigged it straight from the bottle while I took a bubble bath. Who knows, maybe the scandal might even be enough to convince my mother to come back home. Protecting the sanctity of the Wolfe name was always her number-one priority, you know.”

Meaning the needs of her only daughter took a backseat to what best served the family name. Anger on Melanie’s behalf warred with the image of her in that old- fashioned claw-foot tub, chin deep in bubbles. Damn, he wished he’d been there.

“You’re looking pretty fierce there, Spence.”

He wasn’t about to admit that he had a raging hard-on, thanks to her innocent remark about the bubble bath. “It makes me mad that your parents didn’t appreciate you enough. They couldn’t have asked for a better daughter.”

“That’s sweet of you to say, Spence. They weren’t mean or anything. They just had such high expectations for me to live up to all the time. They worried a lot about who my friends were and what we were doing. Reputation was everything to them.”

“I’m guessing they didn’t want you hanging around with the likes of me.”

“And you’d be right. Of course, they didn’t know how much time you used to spend at Callie’s, and I sure didn’t tell them. I was afraid they’d tell me I couldn’t hang out there anymore.”

So Callie’s house had been a refuge for more than just Spence. He’d been so caught up in his own problems with his asshole uncle at the time to wonder why Melanie always seemed to be lurking in the background whenever he showed up at the Redding house. It would never have occurred to him that she’d been just as unhappy as he was.

If she could share, so could he. “Mr. and Mrs. Redding were a big part of the reason I survived those years. They stood with me when I had to have the police evict my uncle. I joined the army because I wanted to make something of myself so they would be proud of me.”

Melanie nodded. “I was so jealous of Callie sometimes for having such terrific parents. They never seemed to mind having extra mouths to feed or the constant sleepovers.”

Spence acted put upon. “I ate more than my fair share of meals there, but for some strange reason I never got invited to the sleepovers. That doesn’t seem fair.”

“If it’s any comfort, you were always a topic of conversation, accompanied by a lot of giggling.”

Odd that Callie never mentioned that little fact. “Really?”

“Yeah, you and Callie were always good friends, but some of the rest of us had secret crushes on you.”

Okay, now he knew she was pulling his leg. “So, if that’s true, how come I had only a handful of dates the whole time I was in high school? I had to beg Callie to go to the senior prom with me, and she made me wait until the last minute to make sure she didn’t get a better offer.”

She looked at him in total disbelief. “Seriously? She never told me that. I would’ve gone with you in a heartbeat!”

So, did that mean she was one of the ones with a secret crush on him? The idea had him fighting the urge to grin, but he wouldn’t embarrass her by asking. It was hard to bring that image into focus. When he looked down just in time to catch Melanie fighting the urge to yawn, he realized how long they’d been sitting there. As much as he was enjoying this trip down memory lane, they both had to work tomorrow. Glancing at his watch, he grimaced. It was well past midnight.