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My voice trailed off, and I had to look away to keep from crying. I watched a wave of guilt wash over his face, and I got the sense he understood something about grief and loss. It was impossible to know that about someone you just met, of course. But I knew losing someone you loved carved out a hole in you, and once you had it, you’d swear you could spot it in other people who carried that same hole in their hearts.
“There’s a big event on the town square on the first Friday night of every month,” he blurted. “Since this is your first time here and you don’t really know anyone, why don’t you come there with me this weekend?”
I stammered and stared at him in an incredulous daze. I hadn’t seen that coming.
“Oh. Really?” I blushed. “I mean, sure. If you…if you don’t mind.”
“It’d be my pleasure to show you around.” That perfect gentlemanly southern smile of his spread across his face, crinkling around his bright eyes. He took the last bite of his sandwich and put his hat back on. “I better get back to work. Thanks for lunch. I may not tell the other guys about all this good food you’ve been offering to us just so I can keep it all to myself.”
I couldn’t even gather a response before he vanished off into the back-end of the house where he had been working all morning. I was still in shock over what had just happened. That Friday night, I’d be attending some event on the square with the town hunk. Maybe there was more fun to be had in Silver Point than I originally gave it credit for. Too bad he thought I was engaged, or maybe it was best that he thought I was off-limits.
13
DEREK
Melody watched me from the kitchen island as I walked to the back of the house to finish measuring the wood for the front steps. The moment I rounded the corner and was out of her sight, I took off my hat and raked my hands through my hair, kicking myself for inviting her to the Friday night event on the square.
I don’t know what I was thinking. I replayed the conversation in my mind. It happened so fast. One second I could see the grief in her eyes and felt horribly guilty for the things I implied about her. The next, I was blurting out the invitation.
I was learning she had a way of doing that to me. Throwing me off-kilter so I ended up saying and doing things that surprised even me. The last thing I needed was to spend even more time with a woman who had that kind of effect on me.
But it was too late. I had invited her, and it would be rude to try and take it back. Plus, I didn’t trust my ability to lie in front of her if I wanted to make something up to get out of it. I could see myself attempting to make an excuse and then floundering under one bat of her long lashes.
I stared at the wood panels still needing to be trimmed and tried to focus on my work. It wouldn’t be so bad, I told myself. She was engaged anyway, so it’s not like it meant anything. It wasn’t a date. It was my good deed for the week. The poor woman was in a strange small town where she didn’t know anyone, states away from that fiancé of hers, whoever he was, and she had just lost her mother. I would be kind enough to keep her company for an evening and show her around town, maybe introduce her to a few folks so she would feel more at home while she was here.
I repeated those facts to myself over and over again until around four o’clock, when it was time to start cleaning up. I checked on the other guys and what they were working on, then sent them home. When my own things were packed up, I looked around the house for Melody, but she was nowhere to be found. I checked on the back deck and finally heard her voice, but I still couldn’t see her.
From the edge of the railing, I spotted her out in the yard under a big tree near the edge of the lake. She had put on a big floppy sun hat and was talking to a flock of ducks as she tossed out breadcrumbs on the ground for them to eat.
My lips parted to call out to her, but then I paused. I caught myself smiling at the way she talked to the ducks, tilting my head to the side to watch her for a moment. After a few moments, I snapped out of it, remembering that I had to get home. Keith had picked Em up from school for me, and I was going to have him over for dinner that night. I couldn’t just stand there all afternoon and watch her attempt to converse with the birds, though it did make me feel even better about inviting her to the square with me. If the ducks were her only friends, she needed to get out more.
“I don’t think you’re supposed to feed them that,” I commented, startling her.
“What?” Her face scrunched up under the rim of the floppy hat. “Breadcrumbs? Of course, they can eat these. We feed crumbs to the pigeons back home in the city all the time.”
I laughed and shook my head. “Yeah, I don’t think pigeons are supposed to eat breadcrumbs either.”
She straightened with a hand on her hip. “What are you talking about?”
“I heard once that it’s bad for their digestive track or something.”
Her face melted into concern as she looked back over to the ducks. “Huh. Sorry, little guys. I’ll figure out what you can eat and bring that next time.”
“Anyway, I came to tell you we’re done for the day. You can have your house back for the evening.”
She looked up to the windows of the big empty lake house and almost seemed a little afraid of it. Or maybe it wasn’t so much the house she was scared of as she was dreading being alone again, surrounded by all of her mother’s things. But I wasn’t going to let myself make the same mistake I had earlier by throwing out random invitations or offers just because I felt sorry for her. After all, she seemed to be getting along just fine with the ducks, and she had her fiancé she could call. Why hadn’t her fiancé come with her anyway? Of course, it was inappropriate for me to ask her such a thing, but the question stuck out in my mind.
“I’ll see you tomorrow then,” she replied.
I grinned wider than I meant to in response. “See you tomorrow.”
I tipped my hat to her and picked up my tools to carry back to the truck. Before heading home, I stopped at the store for groceries to make my famous spaghetti which I had promised to make for Keith and Em.
On the drive, my mind drifted back to this Friday night on the square deal I had gotten myself into. Maybe I could bring Em with us as a sort of buffer, I thought. But I quickly shirked the idea away. It seemed messed up to use my own daughter like that. It wasn’t fair to drag her into this, and besides, I really didn’t want her meeting Melody. She might get the wrong idea. Then again, her teachers did say she needed more female role models in her life.
Keith and Em were already at the house by the time I pulled up. Em was sitting with Hank on the front porch, and Keith was doing some work in the yard, picking up some fallen branches from the last storm that rolled through, a chore I had been neglecting.
“Daddy!” Em came rushing up with Hank barking and waddling along behind her. She ran over and threw her arms around my neck.
