Brunch at Bittersweet Café

by Carla Laureano

  Justin managed to beat Melody two of the next three runs, citing his heavier weight as the deciding factor, then convinced her to ride the rest of the time with him. Really it was just an excuse to have her nestled against him, her back against his chest with his arms wrapped around her. The sweetest kind of torture. But within the hour, the wind had picked up in a way that was starting to make him nervous.

  He didn’t let on. If they took off with this wind, she’d be nervous enough; no need to put the potential dangers into her head now. “Let’s go back. Believe it or not, I’m getting hungry.”

  “I’m pretty happy where we are right now.” She didn’t move from the tube, instead twisting around to kiss him.

  He groaned. “You’re killing me, Melody. Seriously, Reggie is expecting us back, and I’m not going to make Eloise hold our dinner for us.”

  “Okay, okay.” She levered herself up with his help, and he reluctantly followed. Then they collected their tubes and dragged them back to the Jeep. When he turned on the ignition and turned around on the road, the wind threw a crackle of hard snow up into the windshield.

  “Just in time,” Melody said. “It’s really getting windy.”

  “Mountains.” Justin kept his tone bland, but he was starting to get a bad feeling about this.

  By the time they reached the lodge, he couldn’t ignore the truth. The report had been wrong about the afternoon conditions, and he’d been too distracted by his gorgeous companion to do as he ought and check the forecast a second time when they arrived. The wind sock on the edge of the airstrip stuck straight out.

  Reggie met them at the door with a bright smile. “Did you two have fun?”

  Melody beamed. “It’s been ages since I’ve been tubing. I can’t remember the last time I had so much fun.” She cast a look at Justin, and he swore he saw a tinge of pink on her cheeks that had nothing to do with the cold. Reggie lifted her eyebrows at him and he sent her a warning glare.

  “Why don’t you come inside and thaw out. I’ve opened a couple of rooms on the second floor. You can shower and get warmed up before dinner. You’re still a little early.”

  “Go ahead,” Justin said to Melody. “I’ll meet you back here when you’re done. I need to file our return flight plan.”

  “Okay.” Melody smiled, unaware of the thoughts rattling around his head. She accepted Reggie’s directions to room eight and climbed the wide stairs to the second floor, giving him a little wave before she disappeared down the hallway. He watched her go, smiling at the upper hall long after she left.

  “Wow, you’ve got it bad. I’ve never seen you like this over a woman.”

  “She’s different,” he said without thinking, then cringed. “Reg—”

  “How long have we been friends, Justin? I assure you, as tempting a specimen of manhood as you are, I’m not secretly pining over you. If I recall, you made a pretty terrible boyfriend.”

  He grimaced. “I’m sorry. You know—”

  “But you make a pretty good friend.” Reg socked him in the arm, surprisingly strong considering her willowy frame. “I’m happy for you. But I also know that was a blatant excuse to get her out of the room. What gives?”

  “I need an internet-connected computer if you don’t mind. My phone doesn’t get any data up here, and I need to check the weather.”

  “I was wondering if that was going to be a problem. You can use the one in my office.”

  He followed her to the small space off the outfitting room, dark-paneled and filled with heavy log furniture. Her desk was covered with paperwork. He sat down at the computer, trying not to notice the big red Past Due stamp on the bill sitting by the mouse.

  “Is that wind sock outside fifteen or twenty miles per hour?”

  “Fifteen, I think,” Reggie said. “Why?”

  “We might need to cut dinner short if there’s a break in the wind. Technically, I can still take off, but . . .”

  “I wouldn’t blame you for not risking it.”

  He pulled up the weather radar for the area, saw nothing out of the ordinary. Then he looked up the Aviation Weather Center to check the wind aloft reports and swore beneath his breath.

  “Bad news?”

  “Not good.” He drummed his fingertips on the desk. “I’m going to file my flight plan, but if the winds don’t calm by six, we’re stuck here for the night.”

  “You’re always welcome here. Or you could try driving down and come back for the plane tomorrow.”

  “No, it’s bumper-to-bumper on I-70 the whole way because of road construction. We wouldn’t get back until midnight the way things have been lately. You might say some prayers for good weather if you wouldn’t mind.”

  “You’ve got it. But really, what’s the harm? You can fly out at dawn, have her back in time for work or whatever. Melody doesn’t strike me as the high-maintenance sort.”

  That was true. And really, a night at a romantic mountain lodge wasn’t the worst date scenario, as long as he was careful not to let it get too romantic. The last thing he wanted her to think was that this was all a setup, especially after what she’d told him about her ex.

  “You’re right. I’ll be finished in just a minute. Don’t say anything to Melody yet, though.”

  “My lips are sealed. I’m going to check on dinner and see if we can’t speed things up. If you catch a break, you’ll want to go immediately.”

  Justin nodded, but he knew that it was wishful thinking. The wind aloft reports showed speeds that were far too high for such a light plane, not to mention the potential for dangerous downdrafts over valleys and passes. He wasn’t going to risk their lives and his aircraft to get home on time in dangerous conditions.

  He wanted to kick himself for not being more conscientious. He knew better. Had he checked the forecast, he would have turned them straight around and gone back to Denver while the getting was good, even if it meant missing this afternoon with Melody.

  He filled out the flight plan with a new departure time, which gave him a two-hour window before it had to be refiled. By then, it would be too dark to fly under VFR rules anyway.

  He went upstairs to room seven, a large bedroom decorated with the same combination of leather, fabric, and hand-woven rugs as the great room, and stripped off his wet snow clothes. The sweater beneath his jacket was slightly damp, thanks to Melody’s sneak attack, but at least he had jeans to change into. He showered in water as hot as he could stand to chase the chill from his bones and then dressed again. He was just emerging from his room when Melody exited the one next door.

  Her face was scrubbed clean of makeup—though it had been so subtle, until now he hadn’t realized she’d been wearing any—with her hair braided in a long plait down her back. Her sweater and jeans hugged every generous curve, making his throat instantly go dry.

  “I left my coat in the bathroom to drip dry. I hope that’s okay.”

  “I’m sure it is.” He glanced around to make sure they were alone and then tugged her to him for a kiss.

  “What was that for?”

  He dipped his head and murmured in her ear, “I just can’t seem to help myself.”

  Footsteps below told him that Reggie or Eloise was back, so he released her reluctantly and took her hand instead. “Dinner awaits.”

  Reggie had had their meal set up in a small dining room off the great hall, near the window overlooking the airstrip. For such an out-of-the-way place, the arrangement was elegant: white tablecloth, gold-rimmed tableware, graceful wine and water glasses. He pulled out Melody’s chair for her and then settled into the one opposite. He was wondering how to broach the subject of their possibly changing plans when Melody glanced out the window and said, “Wow, I thought it was supposed to be clear and calm today.”

  “So did I,” Justin said darkly.

  Her eyebrows rose and then understanding dawned in her expression. “It’s too windy to leave.”

  “Possibly,” he said, even though he’d all but given up on t
he winds calming. The last thing he wanted to do was leave in a lull and end up buffeted by high winds above the ridges. “I can take off in anything up to twenty, but it gets sketchy at higher altitudes. Do you have anything planned for tomorrow?”

  “Not since I became officially unemployed.”

  Eloise appeared then with two plates in hand. She looked like everyone’s grandmother, gray hair twisted up in a bun, her plump form draped in slacks and a button-down shirt, with a plain apron over her clothes. She set the plates down in front of them and said professionally, “Butter-basted brook trout over barley, apple, and lima beans. I’ll be back out with the bread.” She winked at Justin.

  “Oh, no you don’t. Come give me a hug.” He stood and held his arms out. The woman laughed and pulled him into a tight embrace. “Don’t think you’re going to get away from me.”

  “I was just trying not to compete with your young lady,” Eloise said with a sassy smile. “This young man is my favorite. Just don’t tell my sons. They’d disown me.”

  “My lips are sealed.” Melody’s lips quivered against laughter. When Eloise left, Melody looked at Justin. “Competition?”

  “If I were forty years older, maybe. When I was doing the charter flights for Reggie, Eloise would insist on feeding me and then sending enough back with me for two days. For a bachelor who hates to cook, it was something of a godsend.”

  “Everyone needs a bossy grandmother.” Melody’s smile faded, sadness creeping into her expression.

  He reached across the table and captured her hand, sending her an understanding smile. “You miss her.”

  “All the time. Most of the time it’s just a dull ache, but occasionally—”

  “I understand.” He squeezed her hand. “I never met your grandma, but somehow I have a feeling she’d be incredibly proud of you right now.”

  “I think she would too. She’d probably say, ‘Melody Anne, it’s about darn time.’” She smiled, then picked up her fork and tasted a piece of fish. “This is wonderful. I can’t believe the lodge wouldn’t stay open based on the food alone!”

  “Hard to come here for dinner when you can’t get to it. Plus, most people living in the area aren’t looking for fine dining. A shame, too, because Eloise is amazing. She used to cook in San Francisco before she married a Colorado man and came out here.”

  “That must have been before there were many women working in kitchens,” Melody said. “I’m impressed.”

  They worked their way through a dinner that was indeed very impressive, followed by a blueberry crumble that more than met Melody’s standards.

  Justin cast a regretful look out the window, where the winds had only increased. “I’m calling it. We’re going to have to stay here tonight.”

  Melody sent him a small smile that did dangerous things to his insides. “I’m not exactly complaining. It’s beautiful up here.”

  Easy there, he told himself at the leap of anticipation in his gut. He wasn’t going to take advantage of the situation, no matter how much he might want to. He’d determined long ago that he wouldn’t be that sort of man, regardless of the shaky state of his faith. He was pretty sure God wouldn’t strike him down for sleeping with Melody, but it would most certainly break the trust they enjoyed. He wasn’t going to be another guy in her life who only wanted to use her.

  He found Reggie to let her know they would be staying the night, and then returned to the dining room, where the table had been cleared. He found Melody sitting in one of the huge leather chairs in front of a roaring fire, staring pensively into the flames. He plopped in the chair beside her. “Scrabble.”

  She glanced at him. “What?”

  “I just passed a stack of games in the other room and saw Scrabble. I don’t suppose you’d like to play.”

  She straightened, that competitive gleam coming to her eyes. “I don’t know. I have to warn you that I’m pretty good at it. Did you notice my extensive collection of Victorian novels?”

  “Contrary to what you might think, I am no slouch myself.” He grinned. “What do you say?”

  “Up to you. I play Scrabble like I snowball fight.”

  He lowered his voice and gave her a significant look. “I like the way you snowball fight.”

  She blushed again, then rose from her seat. “You’re on. Just remember, I warned you.”

  Justin had been telling the truth—he was no slouch at Scrabble. But he quickly found how difficult it was to match a girl with thousands of books. She came up with rare words like aumbry and cumbrous, sending him to the dictionary more than once to challenge her plays. He had plenty of lesser-known aviation terms, dihedral and yaw among them, but it was longeron that she challenged. He smiled smugly when she found it in the dictionary. “See, you’re not the only one with a vocabulary.”

  “Good-looking, capable, and intelligent,” she teased. “You’re the whole package.”

  And teasing or not, he rather liked the pronouncement.

  They moved on to rummy, which she played like she did everything else: on the edge of vicious competition. But she looked so adorable he couldn’t feel bad about losing to her over and over. To be honest, his mind wasn’t completely on the games anyway. The planner in him, the problem solver, wanted to talk about their situation and break it down until they came to a solution that wouldn’t end with either or both of them miserable. But every time, he pulled the words back. It was always possible they’d find no solution, and that was something he wasn’t ready to accept.

  The clock’s hands crawled past ten, but Melody seemed to be as reluctant as he felt to end the night. Eloise had left them a vacuum carafe of hot chocolate before she retired for the night, so they poured another cup each and collapsed on the deep leather sofa nearest to the waning fire.

  Melody didn’t hesitate to scoot up against him, legs tucked beneath her, and he draped his arm around her shoulders.

  “I’m sorry I messed up today’s plans.”

  Melody peered up at him. “I’m not. It’s been ages since I’ve had so much fun with a guy.”

  “Honestly, me too.”

  “It’s been ages since you’ve had this much fun with a guy?”

  He huffed out a laugh. “Be quiet. You know what I mean.”

  “I do.” Melody’s smile faded. “So what’s the story with Reggie?”

  He shifted so he could look at her better. “Are you jealous? I meant it when I said we were just friends.”

  “I’m not jealous. I’m . . . curious. I know you said you used to date, but it seems like there’s a lot more than that.”

  Justin drew in a breath and then exhaled it slowly. He should have known Melody was perceptive, that she’d pick up on the fact he and Reggie weren’t merely old friends. She just waited, her expression patient, while Justin wrestled with how much to tell her.

  “Reggie and I became friends our freshman year of college. She was a math major, and I was business. She, her roommate Allyson, and I became inseparable.” He threw her a grin. “It helped that we were in most of the same courses, because I was working my way through school and I usually had to choose between my flight students and going to class. Reggie and Allyson took notes and brought me up to speed on what I’d missed.”

  “Hence the calculus tutoring.”

  “Right. Our junior year, Allyson started seeing this man she’d met at her barista job. He’d come in and see her practically every day on his way home from work. Reggie was worried that the relationship was getting too serious, but I told her she was overreacting. Ally seemed happy. She was in love. She said they were talking about getting married as soon as she graduated.

  “And then one night, Ally called Reggie. She was helping me study for a test in the library, so she let it go to voice mail. We didn’t check the message until we left a few hours later. Ally was in hysterics. Turns out the guy was married and his wife caught them together. Reg and I rushed back to the dorms, but she wasn’t there. We waited up all night for her and she nev
er showed.

  “We didn’t know what to do. She wasn’t answering her phone. None of her friends had seen her. In the morning, Reggie insisted on calling the police. But we were too late.”

  He swallowed hard at the recollection. “Sometime after Ally called us, she’d lost control of her car and wrapped it around a tree. They think she died instantly.”

  “Alcohol?” Melody asked softly.

  “It was in her bloodstream, but she wasn’t even close to drunk. The cops ruled it an accident, but we’ve always wondered . . . There were no skid marks, you know?”

  Melody took his hand, interlacing their fingers and shaking him out of his memories.

  “After that, Reg and I kind of turned to each other. No one else understood what it was like for us, the guilt we felt for not answering the call. Even today, I wonder if things would have turned out differently if we’d talked to her.”

  “You can’t do that to yourself. You don’t even know what really happened. It might have been just as they said. An accident.”

  “I know.” Justin dragged his eyes away from the fire and back to Melody’s face. “Anyway, it didn’t take long for us to realize that we were together for the wrong reasons. We were better as friends than anything else, and that’s how we’ve stayed for the last twelve years.”

  Melody stretched up and kissed the corner of his mouth. “I’m so sorry. It’s terrible to lose someone you care about that way. I can understand why you don’t get serious about anyone.”

  Justin’s brow furrowed. “That’s not why. My job—”

  “—is no more difficult on relationships than mine, even if that’s not saying much. You never wanted to be the kind of guy to lead a woman on.”

  He stared at her, momentarily at a loss for words. She was absolutely right. He’d never thought about it in those terms. “I saw how my parents’ marriage ended and never wanted to experience that. And if I’m not going to get married and settle down and have kids . . .”