Need You Now (Love in Unknown) - By Taylor M. Lunsford Page 0,25

of undergrad to prove it following her split from Caine. And the overtime hours her intern year after the Daniel fiasco. And the six papers published in medical journals in the four months since she’d ended things with Andrew. Some people might not think it was healthy emotionally, but it'd helped more than crying and wallowing on a couch ever had.

“Micah worried that she'd lost the will to live for a while there," Mel said. "I told him he was being dramatic. She was mourning for Daddy and she had every right to, but Mama is way too independent to curl up and stop living just because her husband died. She just needs time to work it through."

Gage raised an eyebrow, taking a drink from his soda. "Mel, there's working it through and there's working herself to the bone."

“Okay, so she’s taken it a bit far." Mel couldn't fight back the wave of guilt. She knew she should have been here for her mom. She’d wanted to stay in town after the funeral but Andrew had told her she couldn't. He’d said she would be an idiot to miss any more than two days of her residency, even for her father's death. He wouldn't hear of her coming back to town to check on Mama, either. Said he'd miss her too much. What a crock. If she'd stayed or come to visit more, she might have seen how lost her mother was, how much she needed her family.

She squared her shoulders. "The most important thing is that she's doing better and she's got her family around her now."

“We'll keep her with us for as long as we can. You know we'd all be lost without our Mama Em." Gage squeezed her hand, a rare show of affection from him. To offset the gesture, he picked up a French fry and threw it at her. With aim he’d perfected during their middle school lunches together, the potato projectile landed in the hint of cleavage revealed by her shirt.

Staring down, Mel broke into helpless laughter. Digging the fry out, she threw it back at him. “Ass.”

“Twerp,” Gage said. The fry landed in her hair this time.

“Jerk face.”

God, it was good to be back here with her best friend. She needed this. All of the medical books and intricate techniques she learned couldn’t match up to the fun she had being around him. They’d been apart for too long. So much had changed. It was nice to know that they could still make each other laugh.

#

Caine stopped at the Fortune River Cafe a week after the very unexpected, very welcome phone call from Mel to pick up a black coffee for himself and a mocha for her. No sudden moves, that was the party line right now. He’d seen Mel only in passing, but that was by choice. Better to ease into this slowly. Let her get used to having him around before he took things to a different level. Hence the coffee. Friends took friends coffee, especially when one friend had worked the night shift at the hospital the night before.

Forgoing the golf cart, he walked through Town Square with a little spring in his step. There’d been a few hot days, but the beautiful spring weather didn’t show any sign of fading, there weren’t any disturbances in town, and he could bring Mel coffee without her freaking out. That put this day, only a few hours old, as a pretty freaking great day.

Micah’s truck sat at the front of the bakery. Caine nodded to his friend through the window but didn’t stop in. They had plans to have poker night at Gage’s that evening. Things on the square were still quiet. The morning rush didn’t really start until eight or so, once kids were sent off to school. Making his way down the side of the building. Caine caught sight of Mel’s car. He almost dropped the coffee cups.

The cute little blue car she’d owned since high school looked like it had spent the night in the middle of a Harlem graffiti war. One of the side mirrors hung from its cords, the mirror smashed. Florescent spray paint glinted in the early morning sun. Skank! Bitch! Get out of town! No one wants you here!

“Shit.” He hurried up the stairs, a million different scenarios running through his head. All Caine could think about was making sure Mel was all right. He needed to see her. Hands full of coffee cups, he