“To be honest, I’m just not really a kid person. I’m not even the one who talks to him, typically. Like, his mom usually takes care of stuff with him, you know?”
Mel shrugged. “I can understand not being a kid person. But honestly, I didn’t mean to imply that I thought you weren’t good with him. Believe me, I’ve seen people bad with kids, and you are not one of them. You guys are happy together, and you like each other a lot. That’s what matters most, I think.”
Mitch smiled. “Thanks. Since Ash asked me to move out, I only see him one-on-one, and I keep forgetting he’s a little kid and I can’t talk to him the way I would an adult, you know?”
Mitch kept saying, “You know?” as though everybody could relate. It made Mel feel self-conscious, the way she sometimes did when her married friends all decided to compare stories about things she couldn’t relate to, like their kids’ elementary school science fairs or the art of implementing time-out. She didn’t know, at all. These difficult things, these parenting dilemmas, were mostly foreign to her, to be honest. The worst part was, she would have loved to already be a mother. It would have made her so happy to have a family of her own.
But she shook those thoughts out of her head. Complaining about her life wouldn’t improve it.
“I don’t personally know,” she said with a small smile. “But you can relax. Honestly, with my niece and nephew, and Subha’s kids, I can get driven pretty crazy, too. But talking to them, after a while, is so much easier than it seems. You basically just act like everything about them makes you amazed or impressed or happy. And when they act up, you set a hard line. That’s it.”
“That’s it?” Mitch asked, amused. “Easy for you to say.”
For a second, Mel was hurt. It would put a quick end to this pesky little crush she’d been forming on Mitch if he turned out to be one of those people who held her childlessness over her head. But he seemed to realize his faux pas just in time to blush, and he didn’t say anything else to offend her. So Mel went on.
“Hear me out. I had my sister’s kids stay with me for two weeks while Liz and Adam went on vacation last year. They could be such little stinkers. Every single thing you could imagine a kid might do to his baby sister, Caleb did to Riley. He colored all over her with his markers, he tried to lock her in the bathroom, he hid her favorite toys…”
“Ugh, I can’t even imagine having two of them,” Mitch answered, rubbing his forehead with the palms of his hands.
“Oh, it’s not so bad,” Mel said. “By the end of their parents’ vacation, the kids were getting along swimmingly.”
“Swimmingly?” Mitch smiled at her word choice, but she wasn’t embarrassed.
“Yes,” she said. “My brilliant technique of hugging it out and taking away their dessert has always been very effective.”
Mitch raised his eyebrows and sighed. “Maybe you’re right. I don’t know.”
“You don’t have to worry about fighting, though, with just one kid,” Mel added thoughtfully. She wished she had some better advice for him, but then again, maybe he didn’t need advice. Maybe he just needed to be heard. So she focused on listening.
“Yeah,” he answered. “Just one kid.” Then Mitch sighed. “You know, Ash really wanted to have another one. But I just don’t know why she’d want to do that much work. I mean, we weren’t even planning on the first one, so having two is just like, double the work.”
Mel shrugged. “I want a whole bunch. Someday.”
Mitch let out a deep breath, but to his credit, didn’t say anything inappropriate. After a moment, he nodded, smiling. “I see that for you. You’d be a great mom, I bet.”
Mel felt her face get warm. That was a nice thing to say, and something Greyson had really never mentioned or acknowledged. Knowing Mel so little, Mitch had still paid her a compliment that he must have known would make her happy, and it absolutely worked. “Thanks.”
“Ash is a great mom, too,” he added. “I just…I don’t know. I can see having kids being an okay experience, when you’re ready and you want them. But…I can’t even imagine that situation right now.”
Mel sighed. She understood. Hearing him talk about his life with Ashleigh, she could hear him talking about work, pressure, obligations—basically, all the things Greyson used to complain about with their life together. She used to ask him about getting married and starting a family, and he’d told her to stop nagging. They had never wanted the same things, she now realized. It had been doomed from the start. She understood now that the way Mitch felt with Ashleigh was a lot like how Greyson had felt with Mel; they both felt trapped.
So why was his deepest wish now to get back together with Ashleigh?
“Well,” Mel said, wanting to lighten the mood, “what do you think of our little winter wonderland?” She gestured with her chin to the softly-lit room. She had hung a stocking for herself over the mantle, and the lights on the tree cast red and green shadows along a floor that glittered with reflected light. Mel and Aiden had hung paper snowflakes from the walls, stood up all of her Christmas figurines on her newly hung shelves, and covered all her throw pillows with holiday slipcovers. She worked hard for her Christmas magic, and it always paid off. But it was so much more special this year to have these people to share it with.
“It’s awesome,” Mitch said with a smile. “I love that I get to do something special like this with Aiden. This is what a kid should have at Christmas, you know?”
Mel nodded. “Yeah. I’m personally of the opinion that everybody should have this for Christmas. Kids, grown-ups, cats, dogs—”
Mitch laughed. “I’m surprised you don’t have any pets.”
Mel stopped herself just short of asking what that was supposed to mean. Instead, she decided to take it as a compliment and smiled. “I seem like the type, don’t I? I used to have a cat, right after college. She ran away.”
Mitch cocked his head. “Oh. That’s awful. I’m sorry.”
Mel shrugged. “I sometimes think that a family down the road stole her. They were moving away, and the kids always liked her. I don’t know. There’s a remote chance she was living a double life.”
Mitch laughed. “What?”
“Yeah, she used to spend a lot of time outdoors, I presumed hunting or exploring or something. Like, she might be gone for a day at a time. And when I saw her again, I’d expect her to be starving because she was never a really great hunter. But she wasn’t particularly hungry, which was probably my first clue.
“Also, I always saw the kids down the road playing with her. I didn’t know them well enough to ask, but I think there’s a possibility that they thought she was a stray they’d adopted.”
“That’s crazy.”
Mel shook her head. “It happens all the time, apparently. I read about a family in France, after Maisie disappeared, that had almost the same exact thing happen.”
“A family moved away with their cat?”
“No, but a couple families thought a cat was theirs, when it was actually coming home to two houses and eating food and going to the vet and everything for two. It was the vet who figured it out, in the story.”
“A true story?”
“Yes, it was in the news!”
“What newspaper?”
“I don’t know,” Mel said flippantly. “Something French.”
At this point, Mitch was laughing openly, and he said, “You are never, ever boring, Melody; I’ll give you that.”
Mel looked at him with surprise. He’d never called her “Melody” before—in fact, he’d accidentally called her Melanie when they first met. He was giving her the most endearing, steady look. She had to look away. She couldn’t look away.
“I don’t think you’re boring, either,” she finally said. Then, her eyes twinkled, “Most of the time. I could do without some of the medical advice.”
Mitch groaned and batted the back of Mel’s head softly with a pillow. “I’m your doctor!”
She laughed. “I know
! But also, my friend.”
He nodded, still holding eye contact with her and smiling. “Yes. Your friend. Your friend who won’t let you bust up your knee any worse than you already have,” he added. Then he stood up, walked across the room, and returned with Mel’s crutches. “Let’s get you to bed,” he said.
“Okay,” Mel answered with a smile.
Chapter 7
On Sunday, Ashleigh was due to return, and Mitch decided to take Aiden back to his own place before she arrived.
“Not that there’s anything wrong with you,” Mitch added self-consciously as he told Mel over the breakfast table where she was drinking coffee. “I just don’t want her to think anything’s going on with us.”
“Nothing is,” Mel said.
“I know, exactly,” Mitch reiterated. “Nothing is, so there’s no reason to make her anxious.”
“Okay,” Mel said. “So…you’ll go to your apartment and pretend like you spent all weekend there?”
“Sure.”
“And…” Mel glanced toward the basement door, where Aiden was still sleeping late this morning, “And Aiden won’t just tell her the truth anyway?”
“I’ll talk to Aiden,” Mitch said.
Mel shook her head. “I don’t like it.”
“What?”
“Asking your kid to lie sets a bad precedent. Besides, I know moms,” she said. “If Ashleigh ever finds out you lied about somebody your kid spent the weekend with, she would never forgive you. She has a right to know everybody Aiden knows.”
Mitch frowned. “Aiden sees her boyfriend all the time.”
Ouch. Mel could tell that hurt even worse than Mitch let on. “Have you met her boyfriend?”
“Sam? Yeah, I have.”
Mel nodded, feeling like it was safe to let Mitch’s own mind do the rest of its own convincing. He was a smart guy, after all. He didn’t really need his hand held. Sure enough, after a few moments, he said, “Yeah, okay. You’re right. She’ll feel better if she knows.”
Mel smiled. “Okay. Good. I’ll feel better then, too. I mean, we both know we didn’t do anything wrong, but it would seem like we thought we did if we were hiding our weekend. And especially if we had to ask Aiden to hide it, too.”
Mitch returned her smile and said, “Yeah. You’re right. Nothing to hide.”
But oh, had Mel been wrong.
Ashleigh got into town just after lunch time, and her text to Mitch was to let him know she was only five minutes from his apartment. Mitch thought it would be easier to just call her back, and Mel agreed.
“Is that Mommy?” Aiden asked brightly. He on the couch with Mel, looking at one of her aviation magazines, and Mitch walked around the room with the phone up to his ear.
“Yeah, buddy,” he said. “She’s ready to pick you up, so I just have to let her know where we are. Ash? Hey, sweetie, how are you?”
As he listened, he began to frown, and eventually he walked out of the room. Mel was glad that he had. The tone of his voice was so sugary-sweet that it made her a little bit uncomfortable. Mitch was by no means a close friend, but she felt like she’d gotten to know him pretty well in the past few days. He was serious, but fun-loving. He was confident, but not actually all that cocky, which was nice for somebody so good-looking. What he was not, at least with Mel, was romantic or soft. Hearing him talk to Ashleigh like that was awkward.
But, as their conversation continued, Mel heard Mitch’s tone shift from sweet to defensive. He had been talking softly, but his voice was rising. Mel guessed Mitch was telling her where they’d been staying, and she wasn’t taking it well.
Mel looked back down at her magazine, but Aiden was no longer interested. He hopped up and said, “I want to talk to Mommy!”
Mel laid down the magazine and tried to pick herself up off the couch. Her knee was feeling a lot better every day, but she still wasn’t totally comfortable. “I’m sure she wants to talk to you, too,” Mel said, “but right now, it’s Dad’s turn to talk to her.”
Aiden whined and pouted for a moment or two, but when Mel suggested they play downstairs, he cheered up.
“Can you walk downstairs now?” he asked as he hurried toward the basement steps.
“Sure,” Mel said. “I mean, not walk, but I think I can scoot down if I’m careful.”
“Great!” Aiden rushed down the stairs and went straight to her impressive collection of toy blocks. Meanwhile, Mel tried to ignore the increasingly tense sound of Mitch’s phone conversation as she sat on the top step and lifted her leg down the stairs.
When she reached the basement, Mel was surprised at how messy Mitch had let the place get. The basement basically consisted of two rooms—a bathroom and a playroom, fitted up with bunk beds, a couple couches and a television, and tons of toys stashed away in various boxes, closets, and hampers. It looked like all the toy storage spots were empty, though. Toys and clothes were strewn everywhere. Amidst open board game boxes, piles of DVDs, stuffed animals, and art supplies, Aiden knelt beside a pack of Lincoln Logs, and he smiled up at Mel when he saw her. “I’m making Santa’s workshop!” he said.
Mel nodded and smiled. “That’s so cool! But, you know what, buddy? I don’t know if I can get across the floor on my knee, while it’s so messy in here.”
“Oh!” Aiden nodded seriously. “Do you want to do the clean-up song?”
“Um…sure,” Mel said. She didn’t know that song, but it sounded like the right kind of thing. What did she have to lose?
Aiden smiled broadly and began to sing a song about cleaning, while sweeping toys back and forth with his arms, creating a pathway that Mel could limp along to reach him and his makeshift North Pole. Ah, yes. This was what passed for cleaning to a child. Mel chuckled and decided that was probably all she could hope for. She hopped one-legged to the Lincoln Logs and helped Aiden build.
They had only been playing for about five minutes when they heard Mitch call for them.
“We’re down here!” Mel yelled.
As he stomped down the stairs, Mitch muttered, “You actually came downstairs with your knee like that? Seriously, Mel.”
Mel blushed a little, but not wanting to argue in front of Aiden, said, “We thought we’d give you your privacy to make that phone call.”
Mitch looked mildly chagrined when he reached the foot of the stairs, and smiled at the image of them playing together. “Oh. Well, that was nice of you.”
“Everything okay?” Mel asked casually. “Is she on her way here?”
“Yes,” Mitch said, “so we need to clean up in a hurry. She’ll probably get here in fifteen minutes or so.”
“Hooray!” Aiden cheered, and Mel sighed. It really was hardest on kids when families split up, and she knew how much Aiden would have loved to spend Christmas with everybody together. On the other hand, having two parents always fighting wasn’t really a better way to spend the holidays.
“You don’t need to clean up my toys,” Mel said, “if you want to just focus on packing up whatever belongs to Aiden. You don’t have much time.”
Mitch said, “That’s nice of you, but how will you clean up when you can’t even walk?”
Mel shrugged. “I can clean it up after my knee gets better. I won’t need to come down here in the meantime. No big deal.”
The boys agreed and began to throw Aiden’s clothes haphazardly into his little duffle bag. Mel reminded them to check the bathroom for his toothbrush, and to make sure he didn’t leave behind his own stuffed bear.
They were almost finished when the doorbell rang. Aiden’s face was overjoyed as he bounded up the stairs, calling, “Mommy!” It seemed an impossibly short time later when the door opened and the sounds of Aiden’s mile-a-minute chatter could be heard all through the house.
Mitch followed closely after him, leaving Mel alone in the basement, realizing she didn’t know how to get up the stairs on a bum knee. Oops.
But after a minute of eavesdropping, Mel was pretty happy she hadn’t been ab
le to come up. She heard Ashleigh ask Aiden to wait in the car, and he asked to give Mel a hug goodbye. Ashleigh actually said no and insisted he wait in the car. He whined, but Mitch told him he’d say bye for him, and Aiden finally complied. Ouch. Mel knew by that little interchange alone that Ashleigh was absolutely not inclined to like her or give her the benefit of the doubt. Fair enough. Mel couldn’t imagine how tough it would be to have to share your child with someone your ex brought into their life—even if the ex was on good terms, which was by no means the case with Ashleigh and Mitch, apparently.
After the front door closed, Mel had no difficulty overhearing the conversation upstairs. “Are you insane?” Ashleigh was shouting. “You let our son spend the weekend staying with a perfect stranger?”
“She’s not a stranger, Ash; she’s a friend of mine. A patient. I know her from work.”
“Which is it—a patient, or a friend? Or more?”
“Definitely not more,” he said, and Mel was not proud to say her gut tightened. “She was a patient I treated that I have a lot in common with, and now we’re friends.”
“I’m sure when she saw how much money you make, and that you’re single, she was eager to be friends with a high-and-mighty doctor like you,” Ashleigh sneered, and Mel sighed. It was one thing to be called a gold digger, and another to have it done in your own home. But to be stuck where you have to listen, but can’t say anything about it? That was its own special brand of frustrating. To make matters worse, Mitch didn’t even seem to notice the insulting things she’d said about Mel, instead latching on to his own ideas and arguing about those.
“Well, whose fault is it that I’m single, Ash? Huh? You think I’d be staying here if I hadn’t been kicked out of my own house? Speaking of people taking my money…”
“How dare you?” Ashleigh shouted. “How dare you say that I am taking anything of yours for any reason but to take care of our son!”
“You broke up with me!” he shouted back. “I was happy how things were!”
Christmas Melody: a romance for the holidays Page 9
