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“Fuck,” I mutter.
She nods again and swallows, shrugging out of her coat.“I couldn’t believe it at first, but there it was.A f-finger bone.Just an inch down.It’s totally feasible an animal could have found it.”
I sigh.“So, we say he was digging around yesterday, it bothered us all night, and you went to check it out this morning?”
“Yeah,” she says, rubbing her hands together.“I’ll say I listen to too much true crime while I’m cooking, and it warped my brain.Which is true.”
“Okay.Do you want me to call 911?”
She shakes her head.“No, I’ll do it.”She pulls in a bracing breath, her brow furrowing as she crosses the room.“But if you want to stand close and rub my back while I do it, that would be great.I don’t know why, but I’m not my usual tough girl self, right now.”
“You just dug up a body.”I draw close, rubbing what I hope is a soothing palm between her shoulders.“A child’s body.”
Her tongue slips out to dampen her lips.“Yeah, but she’s been gone a long time.Probably over a hundred years.I’m not the best with historical clothing, but her dress looked like it was from the late 1800s.Maybe 1910 at the latest.”
“It doesn’t matter.A kid is a kid.And a murder is a murder.But maybe this is a good thing.Maybe she can finally be at peace now that her body’s been found.”
Mel leans against me.“I hope so.And I hope they can get enough evidence from her skeleton to prove her stepfather did it.That fucker needs to pay.”
“Agreed.”I stay close as she calls the Bad Dog PD and quickly explains the situation.
I’m sure the stepfather is dead by now, too, but he deserves to have whatever legacy he left behind destroyed for what he did.If I’m lucky enough to be a stepfather someday, if the woman I love trusts me with her child, I would go above and beyond to make sure that kid felt loved and safe.The fact that this monster poisoned a little girl because he didn’t want to raise another man’s child, or whatever his issue was, makes me physically ill.
But not so ill that the sausage, onions, and peppers Mel puts on to sauté after hanging up with the police don’t make my stomach growl…
“Damn, those smell good,” I say, taking another sip of my coffee.
She smiles.“A man after my own heart.Stress makes me hungry, too.And grief.You should see me eat my feelings after a funeral.”
“I’d rather not,” I say.“No funerals.No sad things.No more bad news.Once this is sorted out, it’s going to be smooth sailing from now on.”She doesn’t answer, her focus remaining fixed on the pan in front of her.“Right, Freckles?”
“I was going to end it.Us.Whatever we’re doing,” she whispers.“When I went to sleep last night, I had it all worked out.”
“But then we had the same creepy dream and you realized this is destiny?”I ask, the joke falling flat when Mel turns to face me, tears in her eyes.I go to her, cupping her cheek.“I’m sorry.I didn’t mean to make light of this.Any of it.”
Her throat works as she pulls in a bracing breath.“No, it wasn’t the dream.It was because I came out and saw you sleeping and I…” She swallows.“I couldn’t imaginenotseeing you sleep again.Not hearing your voice.Not knowing what you think and feel about…everything.I have feelings for you, too, Aaron.Big feelings.But I don’t know how this works.You and me.Not in the real world.”
“That’s okay,” I say, torn between joy and fear that this still won’t be enough.Love can be mutual and real and still logistically impossible.But I’m not ready to give up on us yet, not by a long shot.“We’ll talk it through.Get creative.Be willing to make compromises.If we want to make this work badly enough, we’ll find a way.We’re both smart people.Especially you.”
She huffs out a soft laugh.“Yeah?I don’t feel very smart lately.I feel like I’m running on empty, and the brain fog is real.”
“Then we’ll have a lazy day.”I hug her closer, my heart aching with happiness when she lets me.“Hell, a lazy weekend.We’ll just watch movies and eat and play in the snow with Chase and get rested up for the road ahead.”
She winces.“He won’t be able to sled now that the sledding hill is a crime scene.”
“There are other hills, better ones.I have a secret sledding spot not far from Gram’s house.Nora and I would go there all the time when we were kids.We could take Chase there to sled instead.”
“I want to go there, Mama,” a sleepy voice says from the door to the bedroom.“And I want to sled with Awin.”
I turn to smile at him.“Aw, I would love to, bud.But I’ll have to take a rain check.Guys with messed up shoulders can’t sled.But I can cheer you on and stick carrot noses in all the snowmen.We should make at least four or five.”I glance toward Mel before adding in a stage whisper, “The more carrots we use up, the fewer we have to eat.”
Chase toddles across the room, his stuffed rabbit under one arm.“I wike cawwots, but not as much as sausage.”
Mel returns to the stove.“Then good news for you—the sausage is almost done.How about toast?Do you want one piece or two?”
Chase pulls in a breath, but he’s interrupted by a knock at the door.His eyes widen.“Who’s that, Mama?”
“That’s the police,” she says with a smile as she guides the skillet to a cool burner.“They need to check something out in the backyard.But it’s nothing to worry about.Have some strawberries with Aaron, and I’ll be right back to finish up breakfast.”
