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Brushing tears off her cheeks, Melody kicked her snow boots aside and jammed her feet into her running shoes, then burrowed into her warmest parka.
Silver Lake City was under a blizzard warning. And she was going running.
Chapter Five
TJ was three chapters from the end. He needed to finish this line edit tonight. In fact, he’d stayed late to do just that. The darkness in cubicle-land told him he was one of the last remaining employees at Reliant Tidings Publishing. But deadlines didn’t wait, and dinner did.
Sometimes being salaried was the pits.
His phone vibrated, and he ignored it.
Must. Finish.
What if it’s Melody?
It was the only thought with the power to encroach on his focus. Reluctantly he reached for the device. Sure enough, a red “1” showed beside the dating app icon. He would read it, finish editing, and respond later.
Hi Jeremy, sorry to bother you, I’m just feeling really overwhelmed. My lead male actor quit today and the play can’t happen without him. The director is breathing down my throat and I think she’ll fire me if this play doesn’t happen. It’s my fault because I taught this guy for two years and somehow didn’t teach him how to act or maybe I pushed him too hard. Anyway this is all a mess. I mess everything up. I don’t know what to do and I felt like telling you because you always make me feel better.
She hadn’t signed off like she typically did when they weren’t both online.
TJ closed his eyes. Rolando had quit? Thatwasbad. But why did she insist everything that went wrong was her fault?
He read it again. She sounded more upset than he remembered ever hearing her before. To him, she appeared calm and collected at all times, ever even-keeled and unfeathered.
This, he sensed, was the true Melody. The one who blamed herself for every wrong around her. Why did she do that?
He glanced at the computer. He needed to finish…
Tired of being Jeremy when all he wanted to be for Melody was TJ, he closed the dating app and opened his text messaging.
TJ: How was your day?
He tried to edit a few more pages but kept looking at his phone. After five minutes, he sent another text.
TJ: Mel? You okay?
Two minutes later, he sent another, playing off their earlier tension as an excuse to be checking on her so insistently.
TJ: You said we were good. Why are you ignoring me?
He finished a chapter, but he wasn’t concentrating. He would have to redo it anyway tomorrow. With a sigh, he put on his coat and switched off his light. Standing, he sent another text before the cold walk to his car.
TJ: Okay, now I’m worried.
When she hadn’t answered by the time he fought his way through raging winds and blinding snow to the interior of his car, he sent one more message, worry tightening his gut.
TJ: I’m coming over…
The drive to her place halfway across town wasn’t easy. The blizzard they were expecting was no joke, and TJ had to creep along at a snail’s pace to see more than a foot in front of him. At last, he pulled up behind Melody’s snow-covered car. It stung that she was ignoring him, but at least he knew she was safe inside. He wouldn’t leave it at that, though. Not this time. She needed him, whether she knew it or not.
“Mel?” He pounded on her door. No answer. “Come on, it’s freezing out here!”
Still she didn’t come or say anything, and at length, he resorted to the key on his ring he’d never actually used. The spare Melody had given him five years ago in case of emergency. He fit it to the lock and turned the knob. Her place was dark. “Mel? You here?” It didn’t take much prowling to discern that she wasn’t inside. Had someone else taken her out?
Then he spied her snow boots in a scattered pile beside her shoe rack—which was missing her running shoes.
“No. Please, no.” She wouldn’t go running in this weather, would she? Dread sank to the pit of his stomach. “God, help her.” He slammed the door behind him, plunging back into the swirling whiteness. He hated driving in snowstorms. But he’d do anything for Melody. Anything.
