Need You Now (Love in Unknown) - By Taylor M. Lunsford Page 0,10

to come home and take care of them. “Well, Mrs. Brown, I know my daddy was sure proud the day he watched me graduate from medical school. He and Mama always taught me to do my best and use the gifts God gave me.”

The eighty-five-year-old sniffed. “Be that as it may. I certainly don’t know how you’ll find a man to marry you. Decent men don’t want a wife who’s had more schooling than him. It just isn’t fitting for a girl to have so much schooling.”

While she sounded like she’d never evolved past the 1950s, Mrs. Brown’s sentiments seemed to be shared by a lot of people in town. Education beyond high school had only become common place in Unknown in the last twenty years. Even then, the kids who went to college usually didn’t come back. Still, Mel loved being home. It would just take a little time to get the town to see things her way.

Mel’s cell phone blasted out an excerpt of her favorite David Garrett violin piece, breaking the cloying silence of the long afternoon. The number showed up as blocked, but she was only expecting to hear from one person today. Her blind date must be calling.

“Hello?”

She could hear someone breathing on the other end, but they didn’t respond.

"Hello?" Why wasn't this guy responding? Had she been butt dialed?

The voice that finally spoke was harsh and low, hoarse enough that she couldn't tell whether it was a man or woman. "Bitch. Leave town while you can."

Before she could say anything, the line went dead. The hair on the back of her neck stood up a little. Okay, so not her blind date. Seriously creepy. Maybe it was a wrong number. Briefly, she thought of telling Gage about it, but with a blocked number there wasn’t much he’d be able to do. She shivered a little before trying to turn her attention back to her patent's file. Unsettled, she struggled with the paper for several minutes before her phone rang again, causing her to jump a good half a foot out of her seat. She fumbled a little, almost dropping the phone before she could answer it.

Her greeting this time was a bit less cheery than before. “Hello?”

“Hi. Is this Melody?” The voice on the other end sounded warm, maybe a little nervous, but definitely eager.

“Mel, this is Ian Douglas.” She could almost hear the smile in his voice. “Emma gave me your number and insisted I give you a call to set up a date.”

She’d known this was coming, but Mel still had a “deer in the headlights” moment. If she wanted to back out of this, now would be the time. But she’d asked for this. She wanted to make her mom happy and she needed to get on with her life. No more living in past hurts. “Yeah, she mentioned that you’d be calling. What did you have in mind?”

Ian cleared his throat, a reassuring sign that he was just as nervous as she was. “I thought we could meet at Sage Place at seven tomorrow night.”

Meeting at the restaurant. Smart move. Sage Place earned him extra points. The nicest restaurant in town was the perfect place for a quiet date. Fancy enough to be impressive, but also not so popular that they’d run into half the town there. More time to get to know each other a little better, less chance of getting run through the gossip mill. “That sounds perfect. I’ll see you then.”

“I look forward to it.”

“Who are you going to see?” Gage’s voice made her jump in her chair. He stood in the doorway, an eyebrow raised at her, obviously more interested in butting into her personal business than using the manners her mama taught him.

Glaring at him, she sat her cell phone aside. “Ever heard of knocking? I swear, Gage Maddox, you’d think you were raised in a barn.”

“Best friend’s privilege. So, who are you going to see?” Gage sat down across from her, looking rakishly handsome with his grin and nicely pressed navy blue uniform. She knew from their many phone conversations that he only wore the uniform when he had to go over to the courthouse on official business.

“If you must know, Mr. Nosy, I’m going on a date tomorrow night.” Mel shuffled the papers, not wanting to meet his eyes. She loved Gage like a brother, but it felt awkward talking about her love life with him, especially given the fact that he was