Need You Now (Love in Unknown) - By Taylor M. Lunsford Page 0,19
holding something back. “Look, I appreciate the ice cream and the concern. But if you’re trying to convince me we should be together again, don’t. I told you I’m trying to start a new life.”
Caine shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. He tried to think of a more infuriating woman, but he came up with nothing. No one got to him as much as she did. “I understand that, Mel. I really do. I just wish we could start over. Be friends again. Like Anne and Captain Wentworth.”
Not waiting for her response, Caine pressed a kiss to her forehead and left. Let her stew on that for a while. He knew she would. For all of her scientific practicality, his Melody was a sucker for her books.
#
“You really didn’t have to do this,” Mel said as she swept up yet another pile of glass. Two days after the break-in, she and Gage were finally cleaning up the wreckage. She thanked God all the floors in the clinic were wood. It made their job easier. Anna was in Doc’s office re-filing papers while Sandra scrubbed down the exam rooms upstairs. With any luck, they’d be able to reopen their doors tomorrow and she could get back to convincing everyone in town she was perfectly capable of running the clinic in Doc’s place.
Gage pulled a hammer out of his tool belt. Along with being police chief, he was also pretty darn handy with home repairs, thanks to her dad. The boys spent one memorable summer month building a tree house under Ethan Carr’s strict supervision. “But I really did. It’s the law.”
“The law?” Mel raised an eyebrow, leaning down to scoop the glass into a dust pan.
“Yup. Best Friend Law Code, Paragraph E, Sub-section Twelve. Best friend must assist other best friend whenever really bad shit happens to them.” He readjusted the door of one of the cabinets in the storage closet. “Besides, you seriously suck at fixing things.”
“You might be right there.” Brushing a stray piece of hair back toward her ponytail, Mel continued to sweep. She sucked at fixing a lot of things, like her own freaking heart. She was supposed to be moving forward with her life, damn it. Not being thrown into a tailspin by her past with Caine.
“What’d my brother do?”
Mel blinked over at him. It took a second for her to realize she’d said that last bit out loud. “Did you tell him to come by and check on me the other night after the break-in?”
Gage scratched his head and wiped sweat off his forehead. Spring was taking a break today with a heat wave. The air conditioner had suffered enough damage that they’d opted not to turn it on until the inspector gave it a once over. “No, Mel-bell, I didn’t. But I’m not all that surprised that he did.”
“Why? Has he said something to you?” God, she sounded like a tenth grader asking for gossip in the hallway between classes. But she needed to know what Caine was thinking so she could figure out the best plan to get him out of her head once and for all.
She watched Gage hesitate, the war between good brother and good friend going on in his head. “He might have said a few things.”
Mel rolled her eyes and huffed. She knew that tone. That was the mysterious, guarded tone that had infuriated her to no end as kids. “What kind of things? Things about him wanting to mess with my head and drive me crazy?”
“Depends on your interpretation. He’s never come right out and said it, but I know my brother still cares about you. A lot.” Gage bent down, picking up new boxes of gauze to store in the cabinet he’d repaired.
“No, he doesn’t. He…” Mel searched for a plausible explanation. “He likes the idea of me. I was his rebellion and now that he’s settled into the life your parents planned for him, he wants to revisit the time in his life when he did what he wanted and never had to think about anyone else’s feelings.”
Gage laughed. “You really believe that bullshit you’re slinging? Because I don’t. I know my brother, Mel. I saw his face when I told him you were back. It’s more than just nostalgia. Don’t try to convince me you’re apathetic toward him, either.”
Biting her lip, Mel looked away. She picked up a few boxes of band-aids. Gage didn’t know the whole story of what happened