by Sue Pethick
Or maybe it’s that big, hairy dog lying next to him.
“Back off a little, Shep,” she said, giving him a shove. “Let Bryce cool off.”
The collie retreated a few inches, then slowly began creeping back.
“Oh, never mind.”
Melanie shook her head. From the moment Bryce had tumbled into the bushes until she tucked him into bed last night, the collie had refused to leave his side. Whatever had happened between the two of them, it had turned their relationship upside down.
She got up and started peeling the blankets off one by one. For the last few hours, she’d been fantasizing about what it would be like to have Bryce back in her life, the two of them living together, building a new life for themselves in Fossett. For a little while, she’d even convinced herself that Bryce could be happy living there, too, that he was ready to make the commitment he’d backed out of years before. Now, however, Melanie wondered if she was just being foolish. She’d seen this movie before and it didn’t have a happy ending.
And yet . . .
And yet there was still a stubborn part of her that wanted to believe Bryce really had changed his mind. Why else would he have come there in person instead of simply calling her back? The reason he’d given—that he’d needed some fresh air—was patently false. And then there was all the work he’d done on Shep’s election campaign. He had to know that once her dog was the mayor, Melanie would find it impossible to leave. Would Bryce really have put in that much effort if he didn’t want Shep to win?
Then yesterday, Melanie had seen another side of Bryce—one she’d thought was gone forever—when he’d entertained those kids in the street. Yes, it had given her an opportunity to talk to their parents about the election, but it had shown her that he wasn’t the stubborn, controlling person she’d been making him out to be. He was the patient, kind, and funny man she’d fallen in love with.
Of course, caring about Fossett’s future wasn’t the same as wanting to be a part of it, and if Shep did become the mayor, it would only be the first step in her plan to revitalize the town. The real question was whether or not Bryce would be willing to stay for the long haul. What if the position at Norcross Daniels was his dream job? Even if it wasn’t, moving would be a big disruption: He’d have to sell his condo, find a place to live, look for another job. In spite of Bryce’s claim that he had no personal life, there must be friends and colleagues he’d be sorry to part with, too, and after his reaction to Melanie’s comment about Sofia Cardoza, the question of whether or not he was seeing anyone was still unanswered. Before she got too excited about the possibility of a reconciliation, Melanie needed to be sure that Bryce wouldn’t be as unhappy with his choice as she would have been had the decision gone the other way.
Nevertheless, as she watched him lying on her bed with Shep snuggled close, Melanie couldn’t keep herself from hoping he’d stick around.
With the extra blankets removed, Bryce started coming around. His eyelids began to flutter. He opened his eyes and smiled weakly.
“Hey.”
“Hey yourself.”
Melanie reached forward and brushed a few damp strands of hair from his forehead.
He lifted his head and tried to look around.
“How long have I . . . ?”
“Been out?”
She glanced at the clock.
“Well, let’s see . . . Lou and I brought you here around six last night and it’s twelve thirty now, so what’s that? Eighteen, almost nineteen hours? You’ve had some lucid moments since then and I managed to get some soup into you last night, but for the most part you’ve been zonked.”
Bryce let out a whoosh of air and shook his head.
“I’m sorry. The canvassing—”
“Is going fine.” She chuckled. “No offense, but your accident is the best thing that’s happened to the campaign. Volunteers have been coming by the shop all day, asking how they can help.”
He licked his lips.
“That’s great,” he said. “I’m glad.”
“Helena’s helping Kayla at the shop so I could come see how you were doing.”
Shep put his head back on Bryce’s chest and he began petting the dog absently.
“I’ve been a little worried,” she said. “You’ve been thrashing around a lot in your sleep. The doctor said it was nothing serious, but I couldn’t help wondering if something was bothering you.”
His gaze slipped away.
“Must have been a bad dream.”
Melanie felt a flash of anger. She’d spent the last few hours thinking that things had changed and now here was the old Bryce, putting up a false front rather than telling her an uncomfortable truth. Well, she wasn’t going to put up with it—not again. If there was a chance that they could work things out, then the truth telling had to start now, not in some imagined future.
“Bryce, do you love me?”
He seemed shocked for a moment; then his face softened.
“Of course I do. Always have.”
“Well, I love you, too,” she said, her voice thick. “But I’m not going to be lied to anymore. When you came into the shop on Saturday, you looked scared out of your wits. I wondered what was wrong, but I didn’t say anything because, well, I didn’t think I had the right to pry.
“But things have changed—at least I think they have—and I’ve been watching you writhe and thrash in this bed for half a day wondering what the hell was wrong. If you don’t tell me right now, that’s it. If we can’t be honest with one another then let’s just call it quits.”
Bryce closed his eyes and sighed deeply. Melanie prodded his chest.
“Oh no. Don’t you dare fall asleep again.”
“I’m not,” he said. “It’s just something I’ve been trying not to think about.”
“Well, judging from the way you’ve been tossing the covers around, I’d say you’re doing a pretty crappy job of it.”
He chuckled ruefully.
“You’re right.”
He glanced down at Shep and fingered a silky ear.
“Do you remember a guy named Jesse Lee Colton?”
Melanie felt a chill. Who in the Northwest didn’t remember him? She’d read an article once that described the man’s killing method as “vivisection.” She nodded.
“You prosecuted that case, didn’t you?”
“I did. At the sentencing, he promised to kill every one of us the same way.”
She felt a frisson of fear.
“Oh, god. He hasn’t escaped, has he?”
Bryce nodded.
“Last week. I ran into Glen Wheatley right after you called. He said I should make myself scarce until they found him.”
Melanie looked away. So, Bryce’s coming there had had nothing to do with starting over or moving to Fossett. He’d just been running away.
“That’s why you came here.”
Bryce reached for her hand.
“At first? Sure, that was part of it, but that’s not why I stayed.”
She nodded, trying to hold back tears. Why had she been so foolish?
“It’s all right,” she said. “The important thing is that you’re safe.”
Bryce was struggling to sit up.
“Will you cut it out? I told you, that’s not the only reason I came. I wanted to see you again. I hoped—”
He shook his head and lay back on the pillow.
“Since I got here, things have been so good, you know? I didn’t want to spoil it by telling you what was going on back there. I wasn’t sure you’d understand.”
Melanie smiled.
“All things considered, I’d say you were right to be concerned,” she said. “I’m sorry. I guess I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions. Almost losing you has made me realize how much you still mean to me, but I’m still confused about where we go from here. I just don’t know if it’s enough.”
He nodded in agreement.
“Yeah, me too.”
“For the
time being, maybe it’s enough that you’re still alive and we both feel the same. We can figure out the rest later.”
Melanie looked at her watch.
“Speaking of which, I’d better get back to the shop.”
Bryce tried to sit up.
“Let me help.”
“No, you don’t.” She pushed him gently back onto the pillow. “I just stopped by to see if you wanted some lunch.”
Bryce shook his head.
“No thanks. I’m not hungry.”
“Then in that case, I’m going to head back to work. Your phone’s here by the bed if you need anything and Selma washed your clothes, so if you feel like getting dressed later, they’re sitting on the dresser. For now, though, I think you need to just stay in bed and get some more rest.”
She hesitated a moment, then leaned forward and gave him a kiss.
“I’ll be back by five.”
* * *
There was no one at the counter and only three tables occupied when Melanie got back to the shop. She thanked Helena for the help and insisted that Kayla take a break. With all the election stuff going on and now Bryce’s illness, she’d been leaning on the girl pretty hard. She’d have to find some way of making it up to her.
“Everything go okay while I was gone?”
Kayla was sitting in the back room, checking her phone.
“Yeah. A few of the regulars came by and asked about Bryce. I told them you were at home checking up on him.”
“How did Helena do?”
“Okay.” The girl shrugged. “Mostly, she just cleaned stuff.”
Kayla gave her a sly smile.
“So,” she said. “Are you and Bryce getting back together?”
Melanie felt her face flush. She’d been trying not to talk too much about how her feelings had changed. Apparently, she hadn’t been doing a very good job of it.
“I don’t know,” she said.
“Mom likes him. She had us all in stitches showing us what he looked like when she set the Leaky Faucet burger down on the table.”
The girl opened her eyes and mouth like a cartoon character.
Melanie laughed.
“I suppose I should have warned him, but he took it well.”
“He seems like a nice guy. I hope it works out.”
“Yeah. I hope so, too.”
She turned away and started emptying the dishwasher. After all the disruption of the last few days, it was calming just to have something simple and mindless to do. Melanie felt a smile tug at her lips as she thought about Bryce. She’d taken a risk forcing him to tell her about Colton’s threat. The news had been so much worse than she’d imagined that she’d been almost sorry that she had, but she didn’t doubt that it had been the right thing to do. Unless they stopped making the same mistakes that they had in the past, it made no sense to even try to have a future together.
Kayla put her phone away.
“Would you mind if I take a break? I’ll only be a few minutes. Mom needs me to pick up a couple of things at Gunderson’s for dinner.”
“Sure, go ahead,” Melanie said. “I’m fine.”
The girl grabbed her jacket and slipped it on.
“Oh, I almost forgot.”
She reached into her pocket and took out a slip of paper.
“Some guy called for you. Said he was interested in maybe interviewing you about Shep.”
She held out the slightly crumpled note.
“Sorry. I was going to take it over to your place if you didn’t get back before I left.”
“No problem.”
As Kayla walked out, Melanie smoothed the wrinkles out of the paper and looked at the name and number on it. She frowned.
Chad Chapman.
The name sounded vaguely familiar, but she didn’t recognize the area code. She shook her head. Bryce’s warning about scam artists and her own natural skepticism made her wary of any unsolicited calls. Then again, she thought, what if the guy was legit? Bryce’s friend Dave still hadn’t called back. Maybe she’d hang on to it, just in case. Melanie folded the paper, slipped it into her apron pocket, and promptly forgot about it.
CHAPTER 16
Bryce had been sleeping off and on for the better part of the day before he finally got out of bed. He’d been only vaguely aware of Melanie’s leaving that morning, but her visit around noon was still etched in his memory. In spite of his recent debility, he felt stronger, more optimistic about the future, than he had in years; even his recent victory at work paled in comparison. It felt as if he and Melanie were on the cusp of building a newer, more honest relationship.
Shep was stretched out on the bed beside him. When Bryce stirred, the collie lifted his head and thumped his tail in a cautious greeting. Bryce reached out and stroked the dog’s head.
“You still here? I thought you’d be at work with Mel.”
Shep wriggled forward and nuzzled his cheek.
“Aw, you weren’t worried about me, were you? You should know I’m not that easy to get rid of.”
Bryce threw back the covers and sat up, feeling his head swim, then licked his lips with a sticky tongue; his mouth tasted like something had died in it. He walked into the bathroom, gargled a mouthful of water, spit it out, and drank three full glasses in rapid succession. When he was finished, he set the glass back down and stared at himself in the mirror.
His face was pale, his hair a tangled mess of greasy strands, his eyes a bit glassy. As bad as the hornet’s sting had been, the aftermath had almost been worse: a dream—the same one, over and over—in which Jesse Lee Colton had appeared, blade in hand, his wild eyes glittering with excitement, poised to cut and stab and slice through his flesh. Bryce looked, he thought, exactly the way he felt: like a man who had just cheated death.
He heard his phone ring and immediately recognized the ringtone: it was his office. As Bryce walked back into the bedroom, he felt his stomach clench. No doubt, he’d be in some sort of trouble. When he took off on Friday night, he hadn’t known how long he’d be gone; putting as much distance as possible between himself and Jesse Lee Colton had been the only consideration. Now, he realized, he should have given his admin an ETA. Having to cover for his unexplained absence would no doubt have put her in an unforgiving mood. As he picked up, he was prepared for a tongue-lashing.
Gemma’s voice was tense.
“Where are you?”
“Out-of-town emergency,” he said. “I thought I’d be back by now or I would have called. Sorry.”
He heard her deep intake of breath and hoped it wouldn’t be the prelude to something worse.
“Well, you’d better get back here pronto,” she said. “Daniels has called an all-hands for tomorrow morning at nine. Unless you’re on death’s doorstep, missing it isn’t an option.”
Bryce grumbled silently. He hated meetings on principle, but all-hands were the worst. The name lent them a sense of urgency that required everyone’s attendance, but without an agenda, any actual crisis was impossible to prepare for. Most likely, this was just another chance for the senior partners to lord it over their underlings. Daniels, in particular, loved nothing more than to snap his fingers and watch everyone jump.
Nevertheless, whether this meeting would be fruitful or even necessary wasn’t the point. Bryce was a professional; this was his job. As long as he was an employee of Norcross Daniels, he’d jump as high as they wanted him to. Even so, for a second Bryce was tempted to mention the hornet sting, but he decided not to chance it. His unexplained absence had already reduced the chances of being believed to zero.
“No problem,” he said. “Thanks for letting me know.”
As he put down the phone, a dozen tasks were fighting for Bryce’s attention. There was no time for a haircut, but he’d definitely need to get his suit cleaned, or at least pressed, and his shoes would have to be shined. There must be dozens of emails in his in-box to answer, too, and angry clients to contact, all of which would have to be done before he got back
. Once he set foot in the office, he’d be right back in the maelstrom with no time to catch up.
He dialed the garage to see if his car was ready.
“Sorry, man,” Pete said. “I’m gonna need another day to finish it. You wouldn’t believe where some of that crap ended up.”
“No, I understand,” he said, remembering the spray of sludge when Shep shook himself off in the back seat. “Just give me a call when it’s done.”
Bryce set the phone down and pursed his lips. He knew Melanie would let him borrow her Honda, but he hated to ask, especially since his absence had already disrupted their campaign schedule. His only other option, though, would be renting a car in Corvallis, and giving him a ride out there would take up even more of her time. At this point, he didn’t have much choice. He’d just have to take her at her word and make as quick a turnaround as he could.
First, however, he needed to take a shower. Melanie would be home soon and he didn’t want to be standing there in his own stink when he gave her the bad news.
Bryce went back to the bathroom and stripped off his clothes, taking a few seconds to probe the tender, quarter-sized bruise on his left thigh. Until then, everything in the immediate aftermath of the hornet’s sting had seemed like a dream, but seeing the evidence etched starkly into his skin made him realize just how close he’d actually come to dying. As he stepped into the tub, he closed his eyes and let the warm water flow over him. It felt good to be alive.
He’d just finished drying his hair when he heard Melanie walk through the door. Bryce threw on his clothes and prepared himself to deliver the bad news. As he stepped out into the living room, he saw her standing in the kitchen, putting something in the oven. On the counter were a bouquet of mums, a loaf of bread, and a pie. Shep was dancing around her, hungry for attention. Watching the happy domestic scene, Bryce felt a tightness in the back of his throat. How could he ever have given all this up? he wondered. And what would it take to get it back?
