His Temporary Wife (The Brides of Sunflower Falls #2)

Chapter 10

ten

After dropping Button off with her mom a couple days later, Melody drove down the main road of Sunflower Falls. She stopped in at the diner and picked up her take out order of a breakfast sandwich.

Nancy herself walked the order out from the kitchen. Standing a good six inches taller than Melody with shoulders broader than Eric’s and craggy features, Nancy was an intimidating figure. Her hair was pulled back into a neat bun under her hairnet. She handed over the bag and looked Melody up and down. “You doing okay?”

“Yeah. Thanks for letting me do take out.”

Crossing her arms against her chest, Nancy frowned. Her voice, when she spoke, was a comforting rumble. “Your mom and Ana are worried about you. You need anything, you let me know. I haven’t seen your dad around, but if I do, I’ll kick his ass back out of town.”

Melody laughed. “Thanks. I haven’t seen Dad in a couple months.”

Nancy grunted. “You let me know. You and Eric do good work here. Can’t have you running off thinking we don’t appreciate that.”

Touched, Melody leaned in and gave Nancy a quick hug. She’d been one of the most solid, supportive people Melody had known. Nancy shifted and patted Melody’s back. “Get going. Can’t let anyone else’s food burn while I’m out here jabbering with you.”

Melody headed back out and drove down to the beach. She had a little bit of time before Eric and the crew expected her on the site, and she wanted to enjoy her breakfast sandwich and do some thinking.

Being around a part of Tony brought up feelings. Ones she wasn’t ready yet to deal with as she still needed to sort through the feelings brought up at the doctor’s appointment and subsequent shopping trip.

She parked at the beach, grabbed a work blanket and her breakfast, and headed for the sand. Some people were out exercising, or walking their dogs, but other than a few waves, everyone left her alone.

Once she got settled, she took a large bite of her sandwich as she watched the waves roll in.

It soothed the part of her that still felt rocked by the other day. The experience had awakened the bloom of hope in the deepest part of her soul that being with Tony had nurtured before the lie was revealed. Every time he’d been over since they got back from Niagara and he’d had his shirt off or undone, she’d gotten a thrill at seeing the ring she’d placed on his finger hanging from a chain.

One night she’d been playing with it after sex and asked him about it.

“Simple. This ring is your claim on me. The marriage is secret, but I keep your claim close to my heart. ”

When she’d overheard him that day at Geraghty’s, she’d thought the bloom had died like the hope she’d once held of having a father who actually loved her. But it was still there, sturdier than it had initially appeared, but a bit withered.

If she nurtured it again, and something else happened, she didn’t know if she could be the person she had to be for Peanut. She didn’t want her baby to have a broken parent for a mother, but this fear had deep roots.

She also couldn’t deny that she still had feelings for Tony. Warm, positive, sexy feelings. It was so hard to reconcile the man who made realize she could be a better person, a man she could still see, and the one who’d knowingly lied to her.

The alarm on her phone chimed, so she quickly finished her sandwich and headed back to her truck.

Once she was at the job site and out of the truck, she drew in a deep breath of air scented with lake water and fresh sawn lumber and drywall. This was home. Her foundation.

Eric had parked his truck up against what would be the house’s front entrance. The decking was simple in design as Tony wanted the back deck and patio to be the main gathering area, but this would still be an enjoyable area for a morning coffee.

It had taken some doing—and money—to get the house that had previously stood on this property cleared. They’d been lucky in that, because of the lot’s location, there was no basement or cellar space to also clear. The existing foundation slab had been easy to rip up and truck out.

They’d also been lucky with the timing of when they’d poured a new slab to fit the new house’s configuration. The weather had cooperated, and they’d been able to let it cure for three whole weeks. A full month would have been ideal, but with needing to get the exterior framing up and closed in before the onset of winter, they needed to squeeze the schedule where they could.

When she heard her name called from the roof, she looked up and spotted Mike and Patty, the primary roofers on their crew. She waved. “Eric up with you?”

“Down in the house. I already beat his ass for the Halloween party pick.” Mike grinned down at her.

“Fuck.”

“That’s what I said, too.” Patty flipped Mike the bird when he did a little happy dance.

“I’ll leave you to it. Patty, don’t throw him off. We don’t need the insurance company upping our rates.”

Patty let out a sigh loud enough to be heard over all the other work the crew was doing. “Fine. If you insist. Good thing I like his wife and don’t want to make her a widow.”

Mike did another mini dance. “Malort for everyone.”

Melody rolled her eyes and headed inside. At least she had the perfect excuse to get out of drinking Mike’s disgusting favorite liquor from his hometown.

How Chicago had gotten a reputation as a food destination, she had no clue. Besides deciding that bread pie covered in sauce and cheese constituted the ultimate in pizza, they also had to inflict the worst tasting liquor ever on the world.

After making sure her hard hat was firmly situated on her head, she went inside. Eric was standing over a table with blueprints unrolled and held down with a hammer and a tape measure on the loose ends.

She dropped her work bag on the floor next to him. Her brother just continued to stand with his arms crossed against his chest and study the prints .

“How could you let Mike win?”

“Libby called.”

“She knows better than to call during the first day of roofing.”

He finally looked over at her. “There’s an offer on the table.”

Melody frowned. “Offer of what?”

“Our own show. Greer’s got some family issue going on, or she would have been the one to call.”

She drew in a deep breath through her nose, and let it back out through her mouth. Back in August, while Libby was still down in the city dealing with her father’s shit, she and Eric had filmed a concept reel for Greer, their media agent and Libby’s business partner, to send out.

It helped that she and Eric had both appeared as guests on Uncle Stef’s shows more than a few times, but they’d been wanting to bring more focus to helping revitalize small towns by doing a mix of a single, season-long house rebuild, as well as highlighting the work being done in Sunflower Falls and other small towns they’d research.

“Who offered?”

“Triple H for one of their streaming networks.”

Home, Hearth, and Holidays was Big. In addition to the multiple cable networks they’d built up, they’d been expanding into the streaming market with even more niche networks. “Does Uncle Stef know?”

Eric pulled at his lip. “Not yet. I wanted to tell you first.”

Melody looked around. While most of their crew was on site today, they were spread out in other areas of the house. The electrician was also due in today to finish installing the last of the outlets. She’d likely be here any minute.

But for now, it was just the two of them. Melody placed a hand on her lower stomach. “How does this affect things?”

Eric shrugged. “It doesn’t have to. We either do this together or not at all.” He slung an arm around her shoulders and pulled her in tight to his body. “You know I’ll support you all the way. What’s most important to me is that you and the nibling stay healthy and safe.”

Melody leaned into him and let her head rest on his shoulder. Eric had always worked to protect her from the worst of their dad’s shit. He hadn’t always been successful, but he’d tried. “You’re a good brother.”

He leaned back and looked down at her. Then put the back of one of his hands on her forehead. “I didn’t hear sarcasm in there. Are you running a fever?”

She snorted and pushed him back. “Fine, I won’t be nice to you ever again.”

“There’s the baby sister I know and love.”

“I’m over thirty, and I’m about to become a mom myself.”

“Not for another nine months, and I don’t care how many kids you have. You’ll always be my baby sister.”

She stuck her tongue out at him, and then evaded the punch he aimed toward her shoulder. “What’s on the agenda for today?”

Eric ran down the checklist for the day and then flipped to the part of the plans focusing on the top floor. “Tony called yesterday to see if we could adjust the plan for the bathrooms upstairs.”

“What about them? I’ve got the tile guy coming in later this week to do the final measurements so we can order everything.”

“He wants the shower in the secondary bathroom changed to a tub situation. ”

“What? Like one in the primary? There’s not enough space for a free-standing tub in there. That’s why we’re putting in the shower.” And it was a nice shower with lots of fancy jets and a rain shower head. She’d had fantasies about the configuration.

“Not free-standing. A typical, but nicer tub. He said he wanted the house to be more family-friendly.”

Melody’s eyes narrowed. “Family-friendly?”

Eric glared right back at her. “Don’t take that tone with me. I don’t know what’s going on with you two at the moment, but he didn’t say anything about you. For all we know, he’s decided to change how to market this as a rental. And you know damn well that having a full tub in the secondary will make this more marketable to families looking to rent in the area.”

“They can use the free-standing tub.”

Eric got that “you’re irritating me” look on his face that he always got when she chose to be stubborn about something that made sense except for her having a grudge against someone. “Pretend to be you from the future. Do you want to be bending over the wall of a free-standing tub in order to give your kid a bath?”

She hated it when he used logic against her. Why couldn’t she ever just hold her grudges tight and ride them out? She poked at his chest. “You’re irritating me.”

“We’re even then. Answer the question.”

She wrinkled her nose. “How hard can it be?”

Eric looked up at the ceiling. “Why?”

“No one up there to answer you.” Melody hip checked him out of her way so she could look closer at the plans. She pointed to the area where the shower was sketched in. “We could get a standard sized tub. It won’t be as deep as the shower, but it should fit length-wise. If anything, we might need to build a small bump out to make up the difference, but that could be used as a storage shelf for whatever he’d want to keep in the shower.”

“Yeah. I wanted to run it by you first before I confirmed with him it was possible. I asked him if he had a specific style in mind, and he said he was fine with whatever you picked out since you know the style he’s going for.”

Melody chewed on her nail. “Okay if I go home and trawl through the design catalogs?”

“Go for it. Don’t forget that we’re meeting at Geraghty’s at five.”

“Do I have to?”

“And you wonder why I constantly refer to you as my baby sister.”

Melody stuck her tongue out at him, but knew she was pushing it. Tony had been the one to organize the meeting at Geraghty’s and had made it clear it was a group thing, not an under-the-table date with her. He was making an effort. She had to give him that, even if it went against her nature to do so.

“I’ll be there. Do you need me to do anything at the office?”

“Need to, no. But if you want to head over there, go right ahead. Libby said it was time for us to hire a part-time office assistant as she couldn’t give us any time right now.”

“It’s your bad filing habits she’s talking about. I keep my space in pristine condition.”

Eric just grunted. “Get on out of here.”

Melody grabbed her work bag and headed out. The crisp fall day was calling. She could go home and sit on her deck while she perused the design catalogs. If she went into the office, she’d be tempted to do other things. Like organize Eric’s desk.

Decision made, she swung by the motel to retrieve Button even though she’d dropped her off not even an hour ago. Her mom was surprised, but was busy with guests checking out, so Melody was able to get Button without argument or explanation.

Back home, she grabbed her laptop and the latest catalogs from their main suppliers. The paper catalogs were anachronistic, but sometimes were better for her thinking process.

She flipped through a few and tagged possibilities.

Around lunchtime, she got a text from Ana.

ANA

You going to Geraghty’s tonight?

MELODY

Yes. You knew this.

ANA

...

Mom’s acting up.

MELODY

Need me to come over? Pretend we’re going out to sleep with random guys?

ANA

This isn’t high school. I’m an adult and allowed to sleep with any random guys I want to.

Melody snorted. Ana had never slept with a random guy. As much as Melody had encouraged it, that had never been her best friend’s way.

MELODY

Sure. What’s Helen going on about now?

ANA

I have no clue. She’s been in a spiral since Jillian announced she and Frank were getting divorced.

Ana’s oldest sister Jillian had been a near mythical figure in their house growing up. She’d been an only child until their brother had shown up when she was ten. Five years after Hank, Bethie had arrived with Ana following a year later. Jillian had gone off to college when Ana’d been a toddler and treated them more like distant cousins than her younger siblings. Melody had only vague memories of Jillian because she’d been around so rarely.

MELODY

Her perfect child is no longer perfect?

ANA

Jillian’s only failure prior to the divorce was in not giving our mother picture perfect grandchildren. Probably for the best, though, with the divorce.

Floating dots appeared a few more times, but Ana never came back. Melody let it go as she didn’t particularly care one way or the other about Jillian. Ana did, but Ana’s family, other than Bethie, was fucked up.

After eating some lunch, she dove back into the catalogs. She got another hour in before her phone blew up again with texts. This time from Libby.

LIBBY

I need you to come over.

Eric’s still over at Tony’s, and I need help.

Now .

Frowning, Melody grabbed her phone and got Button into her harness. She thumbed out a response as she opened the driver’s side door of her truck and got Button hooked up into the puppy restraint system.

MELODY

Should I be calling emergency services?

Libby typically had her head screwed on straight, so if emergency services really were needed, she’d call them instead of texting Melody. But it never hurt to check.

LIBBY

No.

That was it.

Trying not to get freaked out over why Libby needed her help, but refused to tell her why, Melody drove the few blocks over to Eric’s house.

Libby’s car wasn’t parked in the driveway as it usually was.

MELODY

I’m here, but I don’t see your car.

LIBBY

...

Office

Of course. Melody blew out a breath and then turned her truck around to head downtown. She parked next to Libby’s car behind their office space. Button recognized where they were at and was wriggling as Melody unhooked her.

Once they were out of the truck, Button strained at her lead to get into the office. She probably smelled Mayzie in there.

It took a couple moments for Melody’s eyes to adjust to the lower light of the office. As soon as they had, she froze in the act of unhooking Button from her lead.

Libby sat at Eric’s desk with a gorgeous woman sitting across from her. Mayzie was in the pen area they’d left up after the rest of Button’s littermates had been given over to the veterinarian’s office to arrange their adoptions. Two young kids, a boy and a girl, were sitting on the other side of the fencing watching Mayzie chew on one of her toys.

“Uh, hi.” She picked Button up. Her dog was not happy with not being able to play with either the kids or Mayzie. As they passed the pen, Melody saw Mayzie’s eyes track them and she swore Mayzie let out a relieved huff when Melody kept Button in her arms rather than setting her down into the pen.

The strange woman grinned. “Hello. You must be Melody. I’ve heard…some things about you. Not enough. I’ll have to ream out Anthony next time I see him. Libby was telling me about what you and your brother do. It’s so fascinating. I looked up some episodes of your uncle’s show on the way out.”

“Mom. Breathe.”

Melody looked behind her and saw the kids hadn’t taken their attention away from Mayzie. But one of them had called their mother out, who was indeed taking a deep breath.

“Sorry. Sorry. I’m just so excited. It’s been forever since Anthony talked about any woman, and now…” She froze. Her eyes jumped between Melody and Libby. “Sorry. My mouth sometimes gets away from my brain.”

Weirdly, this strange woman kind of reminded Melody of Ana. Kind, but overly enthusiastic when something caught her attention. “You’re a friend of Tony’s?”

She grinned and nodded. “From California. We used to work together.”

Melody’s brows rose, and she saw Libby’s quick glance out of the corner of her eye. Shifting Button to her other side, she held out her hand. “Melody Keller.”

The woman shook her hand. “I can be so scatterbrained. Aspen Brandon. And those are my kids, Hannah and Kieran.”

“Nice to meet you…Aspen? Wait a minute.” The way the light coming in from the plate-glass windows looking out onto the street hit her face and the angle of Aspen’s grin struck a memory. “You’re Lily Whitting.”

Aspen grinned. “I am! And my husband is Anthony’s attorney. He finally let me bring the kids out to find out who Anthony’s hiding from him.”

Melody’s stomach dropped. If Tony’s attorney was interested in her, and sent his wife who knew Melody was pregnant, then nothing good could be happening. Even if his wife was a freaking award-winning actress.