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That evening, just after they had put Sally to bed, Jake and Melody were surprised by the knocking at the door.
“Who could that be?” Melody asked, glancing at Jake, a look of apprehension in her eyes. She twirled the new ring on her finger as if it were already offering some comfort.
“I’ll go and see,” Jake said, pecking her on the cheek before he pushed up from the couch where they had just slumped down to rest after another action-packed day of caring for a relentless six-year-old.
The knocking came again as he reached the door, and he gritted his teeth, a part of him concerned that maybe things weren’t over after all. Had Miranda and Kai ignored their banishment?
It was a stupid thought to have, yet it did cross his mind even as he pulled open the door.
His eyes widened with surprise when he found the blonde-haired, blue-eyed Tara standing on the other side.
“Well, aren’t you going to invite me in?” Tara said with a raised eyebrow. “I did come to babysit, after all.”
“Excuse me?” Jake raised a brow, confused.
“Tara, is that you?” Melody called, appearing at the door. “What are you doing here? I thought you said earlier you were having a quiet night in while Max was out with Dash?”
“I was,” Tara shrugged her shoulders and stepped into the house, brushing past Jake with a smirk on her face. “But when you told me your news, I thought you might like a little time alone to celebrate.”
Jake looked to Melody. He had heard her just over an hour ago on the phone with her friend, telling her all about his proposal. He hadn’t expected her to turn up at the door.
“Oh, don’t look so surprised,” Tara said, rolling her eyes. “I can do nice things from time to time.”
Jake and Melody chuckled at that.
“It’s not that,” Melody said, shaking her head. “We just weren’t expecting anyone.”
“Well, I’m here now, and you’ve got the rest of the evening to do whatever the hell you’d like,” Tara said, waggling her eyebrows suggestively.
Jake’s stomach filled with butterflies at the possibilities. He looked at Melody and admitted, “I could definitely use a run.”
“A run,” Tara laughed, running her fingers through her hair. “Is that what they call it nowadays?”
Jake bit back his own laughter and looked to Melody. The way she bit her lip told him that she was thinking more along the lines of what Tara was thinking, too. And he was more than happy to oblige.
“You’re sure you’re okay with Sally?” Melody asked, looking pointedly at Tara.
The second’s wife scowled back at her friend and wrapped her arms over her chest. “Do you doubt my skills in making warm milk and cookies if she has a nightmare?”
“Warm milk is fine, but no cookies!” Jake protested.
“She’ll be bouncing off the walls if she has sugar,” Melody chuckled.
“Right, no cookies, got it,” Tara said, offering a salute. “Now would the two of you go and celebrate, please?”
And with that, she practically shoved the two of them out of the door before either of them could even get their shoes on.
Glancing down at her feet, Melody chuckled and said, “Looks like a run it is.”
Jake was gobsmacked when she lifted the hem of her t-shirt and began to pull it up over her head.
“Melody, what are you doing?” Jake demanded, glancing this way and that down the street.
“Oh, come on, you’d think nobody in Silverdale had ever seen a werewolf preparing to shift before,” Melody grumbled at him, and gripped hold of his belt buckle, pulling him close. She kissed him passionately before she yanked his belt right out of its loops and dropped it onto the porch at her feet.
“Last one to the park is a mange-ridden wolf,” she declared, and with that, she hurried to remove the rest of her clothes.
