6. Chapter Six
Chapter six
M elody smiled at Bea when she set down their plates.
Fox stared from his plate to hers, then grinned at Melody.
Bea gave them a knowing look. “I couldn’t wait to see your faces when you figured out you both have the same usual .”
Grilled cheese, fries (extra crispy), mixed fruit, and a chocolate shake. Yum . Melody had been getting that at the diner forever. She worked hard, was on her feet for hours every night at the bar, and could afford to indulge in the extra calories for her favorite comfort foods.
Fox held up his shake, a big, silly grin on his face, and a look in his eyes that said this little thing meant something to him. “It’s like we’re back in the school cafeteria, but with shakes instead of chocolate milk.”
She clinked her glass to his, put the straw in her mouth, and sucked up some of the thick, decadent shake. “My sisters always tell me I eat like a toddler.”
“You like what you like.” He took a huge bite of his grilled cheese and hummed with satisfaction. “I have a chef working at the center. She teaches cooking classes, because that’s not something a lot of foster kids learn, and when they’re out on their own their diets aren’t that nutritious. Health and well-being aren’t always a priority for foster families. Once on their own, they eat a lot of cheap, prepackaged junk. I want the people who come to us to learn the things that will keep them healthy and safe and allow them to rise above whatever circumstance they’re in.”
“You’re not just giving them career skills, but life skills.”
He turned and stared her right in the eye. “Because that’s what your father did for me. When he called, he focused on things that would make my life better. School was the priority. Every job I took as a kid and teen and now, he told me to learn every skill I could, then use that skill to apply it to better jobs that paid more money.”
“I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that he stayed in touch with you.”
“He was the dad I never had in a lot of ways. I owe him so much. At first, I didn’t really listen to him. But then, he started making a lot of sense. Especially after one particular incident.”
“What happened?”
“The lady I was living with locked up the food. We could only eat when she said, and the meals were small, basic stuff like sandwiches and canned soup. The free school lunch was better than what she gave us. I was ten. Your dad called to check in. He asked a lot of questions. Most of the time I told him everything was fine. I figured if something wasn’t bleeding or broken, everything was better than what I’d had back home.”
She put her hand on his arm and squeezed. “Fox. That’s just not true and not good enough.”
“Your father felt the same way. He didn’t let me get away with a ‘fine.’ He asked specific questions about school, the place I was staying, if I felt safe, and what they were feeding me.”
Melody adored her dad. He didn’t ever take things at face value. He looked deeper. She swore she could arrive home from school and in two minutes he knew what kind of day she’d had.
“So you confessed that you hated the food.”
“I told him I was starving and the ache in my belly wouldn’t stop.” He took a long pull on the chocolate shake. “At that point, I was so tired of feeling like crap all the time.”
“What did my dad do?”
“He contacted my case worker and told her what was happening. Me and the others staying there were moved to new foster families. And when I arrived at mine, there was a lawn mower waiting for me with a note from your dad.”
“Let me guess, it said something about you using that mower to earn your own money so you would never be hungry.”
“Yes. With detailed instructions on how to approach the neighbors and get clients. How to work the lawn mower, get gas for it, and to save some money for emergencies. That foster family was actually pretty cool. The guy worked a lot, but the woman, she went over your dad’s instructions, then helped me step by step to turn it on, mow the grass, empty it. She even took me to the gas station and taught me how to fill up the little can, and then fill the lawn mower tank. She made me go to each house on the block and ask about doing their lawn. At first, only one family said yes. I did that lawn every week. I guess I did a good enough job, a couple of the neighbors asked if I’d do their lawns, too. I didn’t need the money for food at that place. But I only got to stay there for six months before I went somewhere else. I took my lawn mower with me and started my business back up again.”
“Wow, that was really nice of your case worker to make sure you got to take the mower.”
“She didn’t. The lady at that house asked her husband to drive it over for me in his truck. He smacked me on the back and said, ‘Good luck. Keep up the good work.’”
She raised a brow. “Why didn’t they keep you?”
“Because she found out she was pregnant right after I arrived. When she was about to deliver their second child, they decided they needed the space and five kids was too much. They already had two fosters that had been with them a long time. A sister and brother. They wanted to be sure they could keep those two kids together. She wanted to focus on her baby for a while.”
“I’m sorry. They sound like they were a nice family.”
“They were. They helped me for as long as they were able.”
She read something in his face. “You wanted to stay there.”
“They were a close family, the five of them, going on six. I didn’t fit in.”
Her heart ached for him. “You do with me. Always.”
He kissed her on the side of the head. “Enough of the bad stuff. Let me tell you about all the kickass stuff that happened to me, because I don’t want you to see me as some poor, left-behind kid. Your dad was right. School was my ticket to success.”
She grinned and listened as he told her about the science competitions he won in high school and college. The scholarships and grants he’d received because her dad pushed him to get a degree. He graduated top of his class with a bunch of job offers but decided to take his business and expand it.
She’d never really thought about self-made people. The term sounded like they’d worked hard, took risks and opportunities, and believed in themselves. But of course they didn’t do it on their own. They had family, friends, colleagues, and mentors along the way.
Yes, Fox had help, but he’d been the driving force to get from nothing to a business with nearly a hundred employees that was profitable and thriving. So much so that Fox had been able to open the center there in Blackrock Falls.
“Why did you open it here and not in Boston?”
“There is one in Boston. It seemed fitting to open one here in Wyoming for kids who won’t find the opportunity I’m offering them anywhere here. I work with social services to identify those in need. There are a lot of them here. Everywhere.”
“Is that what you hope to do? Open one in every state?”
“Wouldn’t that be amazing? There are other foundations that do what we do in some way. There are career counseling centers, and stuff like that. But we train people to do specific jobs that will get them working fast and earn them a good salary, so they can provide for themselves, and then hopefully take those skills and build on them.”
“It’s amazing and necessary.” And she felt like she wasn’t doing enough for her community. Sure, they fed those who couldn’t afford a meal. But that was mostly Lyric’s endeavor.
“Tell me about you. It must be a lot of work to run the bar.”
“What do you mean?” Most people believed she was just a waitress. Though everyone knew she and her sisters and brother owned the bar together. They just thought Aria and Jax ran the bar while Lyric ran the kitchen and catering. Melody was just there.
“You manage all the waitstaff. You’re in charge of setup and cleanup at the bar. You take care of most of the bar’s marketing and social media. Not to mention your side gig.”
Her eyes went wide. “How do you know about that?”
“Your dad. You only talked about waitressing at the bar in our online chats, but you do so much more than just sling drinks.”
“I don’t like that you and he have this whole relationship that I never knew about.”
“I asked him not to tell you. I didn’t want you to worry about me. I didn’t have a lot of good stuff to tell you over the years.” He clenched his hand into a fist. “Every time your dad called, I thought maybe it would be the last time anyway. He didn’t have to do what he did for me. I thought…eventually he’d stop calling and checking up on me.”
“You thought he’d stop caring. You thought I did.”
“I pushed you away. But I knew one day I’d find you again and explain. Until then, you had everything I wanted and I knew you’d be okay.”
She squeezed his arm again. “Except I didn’t have you and that was not okay.”
“Your dad is so proud of the business you started. Why do you hide it?”
“I don’t. No one really cares about anything I do. They think I’m just a waitress.”
“You are so much more. The job doesn’t matter. Who you are does. And you have a lot to offer. I’d love it if you came to the center and taught a class on how to set up an Etsy shop and how you run it. I know you could give the students some valuable insight into owning, operating, and marketing a business.”
“What?” She couldn’t believe he wanted her help.
“What?” he asked back, confused.
“Why would you want me? You’ve done all those things with your business.”
“My business is very specific. Yours is creative and caters to a specific clientele, but can be applied to any sort of creative product.” He turned his body toward hers. “How did you get into making custom bridles?”
“My grandfather taught me. I liked hanging out with him in his shop. He’d give me a piece of leather, some tools and stamps, and let me make whatever I wanted. But I liked making the bridles and imagining them on the pretty horses I adored.”
“And now you sell them for top dollar.” He looked so impressed with her.
“I know my dad didn’t tell you about my other side gig, because he doesn’t know about it. Did you find out about it some other way?”
“What kind of computer guy would I be if I didn’t do some online digging to find everything I could about you?”
Annoyance pinched her full lips tight. “The kind who should have simply asked me what he wanted to know?”
He chuckled. “You’re not going to let me off the hook anytime soon, are you?”
“I understand why you wanted to get to know me again without the past getting in the way. I just wish—well, I can’t have what I wish. But you’re here now, and that makes me happy.”
His gaze narrowed. “What do you wish?”
She leaned in and brushed her lips to his. “That there had never been a reason that you had to leave me in the first place.”
He brushed his fingertips down the side of her face. “What if I promise to never leave you again?”
The words melted her heart. She leaned into his touch. “I hope you keep that promise.”
“I will as long as you let me.” He kissed her this time. It was slow and thorough and toe curling, making her body lean in closer to his and her mind start daydreaming about what it would be like to be alone and naked with him. He ended the sultry kiss with a hum as he pulled away, then said, “You’re not getting out of admitting you also run a thriving jewelry shop.”
Busted. She made custom leather bracelets for men and women. “I design everything myself and stamp it all by hand. I’ve even created some of my own stamps. I have a guy who makes them for me.”
“I want you to make me something. I’ll pay whatever it costs. I just want it to be something you made just for me.”
She’d already thought about making him a gift. “Okay. But I want to spend more time with you, so I can come up with something that matches who you are now.”
His phone alarm went off. He swore, then checked the time. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know we’d been here so long. You do that to me. I think about you, I’m with you, and I lose track of time.”
She pulled a fifty-dollar bill out of her bag and placed it on the table.
He snatched it up and tried to hand it back to her. “I’ll pay for lunch.”
She grabbed the bill and set it on the table again. “I told you it was on me. Just like last night when I told you the beers and food were on me, too. But you left me that tip, so I’m paying it forward. It’s more than enough to cover our lunch and give Bea a big tip. So you kind of are paying for lunch.”
He obviously made more money than her as a computer programmer, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t hold up her end when she invited him to lunch.
He shook his head, cupped her face, and kissed her again. “You surprise me.”
“I don’t know how. It seems like you know a hell of a lot more about me than I do about you.”
“And that annoys you.” An apology lit his eyes.
“I just want to know you the way you know me.” She didn’t like the sad look on his face. “And that’s what we’re doing, right? Spending time together so we know each other again.”
“There are so many things I want to know about you. How you take your coffee in the afternoon when you wake up. What you sleep in. Hopefully, that’s in my bed very soon. How you taste.”
Since he’d kissed her many times now, she quickly realized he had a whole other place on her he’d like to taste, and the heat level in the diner went up a million degrees, it seemed.
“Fox?”
“Yeah?”
She put her hand on his chest, right over his thumping heart. “You and I think a lot alike.”
He leaned in to take her mouth again, but froze when a second phone alarm went off. “Shit. I have to go.”
“Where’s the fire?”
He probably had some big important meeting.
“I visit my mom every afternoon and make sure she’s got everything she needs and is taking her meds. I have a night nurse who watches her, but she’s alone during the day, so…”
He wanted to check on her. Such a good son. Too bad his mother didn’t deserve it.
“Why do you do it?” She wanted to understand.
“When the social worker contacted me about her health, I thought, ‘Good. She deserves it.’ She never did a damn thing for me my whole life. Why should I do anything to help her now? And then I thought this was my chance to tell her how I feel and what my life has been like because of her.
“But if she cared, she’d have reached out. She never did. Not a birthday card, a Christmas gift, not even an attaboy for graduating top of my class. I realized the only person I was trying to make proud was myself. And your dad,” he tacked on. “Because he was the only one who believed in me.”
“That’s not true. I thought about you all the time. I wondered what you were doing, and what you’d be like in every grade I started. As I grew up and changed, I wondered how tall you’d be now, if your face had changed, if the shadows in your eyes were gone, if you were lanky, pudgy, or built. Did you still have this soft, silky hair?” She brushed her fingers through the side of it like she used to do when they were kids and she wanted to soothe him the way her mom had done for her when she was sick.
His gaze sharpened. “How’d I turn out in your eyes?”
“Smart and gorgeous. I think that’s really hot.”
“You’re creative and stunning, with a whole lot of curves you didn’t have last I saw you.” Wicked delight lit his eyes now.
“You’re not the same boy. I’m not a girl anymore.”
He leaned in. “No, you’re the woman I want. Desperately.”
She grinned. “That’s a mutual thing.” She pumped the brakes. “But we’re still doing the catch-up thing.”
He nodded. Letting her know they’d go at her pace. “About Tanya…I couldn’t live with myself if I let her die alone and didn’t at least attempt to understand her, what happened, why, and whether any of that meant I could find a way to forgive her.”
“What she did to you…it’s a lot to carry.”
“It’s hard to forget. At least the nightmares are gone. Or were.”
She understood exactly what he meant. “Until you came back here.”
“Everything I’d locked down so I could survive got stirred up. That’s partially why I wanted to see you so badly. You always made me feel better. You still do. I thought you’d be different now in some way, but deep down you’re still my Melody. The girl who loved me is still you.” He seemed to catch himself and what he said. “I didn’t mean—”
She pressed her fingertips to his lips. “I know what you meant.” And it was true. She did love that boy. Her tiny heart had ached for him. She’d missed him desperately.
The man had her full attention and her heart. But was what she was feeling the kind of love that Lyric and Mason and Jax and Layla shared? She wanted a bond like her sister and brother had with their partners. It was palpable. When they looked at the ones they loved, you could see it in their eyes and feel it surrounding them.
Right now, she was feeling a whole lot of attraction and gratitude to have Fox back in her life. But was it the forever kind of love her sister and brother had found?
Maybe not yet. But she wanted it to be.
He winced. “I really have to go.”
“I’ll come with you.”
He went still. “Why?”
“Because I want to see if the woman I’ve seen and interacted with around town is who she’s showing you, or if she’s trying to manipulate you.”
He narrowed his gaze. “What do you mean? Has she said something to you?”
She gave him the cold, hard truth. “Only every time we meet. And it’s not pretty. She blames me for them taking you away from her.”
Anger filled his eyes. “That’s not true. It’s her fault. She could have taken me away from him. She could have been a hell of a lot better of a mother than she was. She could have tried to get me back. She refused to do any of the counseling or parenting classes she was ordered to take to get visitation.”
She put her hand on his cheek. “And you were better off for it, because she doesn’t know how to love. Not even her own son.”
“I couldn’t tell.”
“What?” she asked, not understanding his meaning.
“Whether she’s still the same or different. I’m bigger now. She can’t push me around. And she needs my help. So is she careful about what she says and does around me now? She doesn’t want to talk about the past. She says it’s done.”
“Maybe for her. Not for you, because you still have questions.”
“I’m probably better off not knowing the truth.”
“That’s up to you. But I get that turning your back on her, the way she did to you, just isn’t who you are. So let’s go visit dear ol’ Tanya.”
He frowned. “You really don’t like her.”
She didn’t hide it. “She hurt you. I will never forgive her for that.”
Fox kissed her softly, then touched his forehead to hers. “So fierce.”
“Always. Especially when it comes to you.”
“How did I fucking get so lucky?” He hugged her close and so hard it almost hurt, but then he rubbed his big hand over her back and eased up. “Sorry. I still can’t quite believe this is real. You’re here. With me. After all this time. Finally.”
She smiled up at him. “It’s real. And just the beginning. Right?”
“Absolutely. Do you want to have dinner with me?”
She laughed under her breath at his earnest request. “I’m working tonight. Another time.”
He slid out of the booth and held his hand out to her. She slipped across the seat and took it. His fingers locked with hers. Perfect. Strong. Warm. A little rough. That crackling charge that always happened when they touched shot up her arm.
He looked down at her, need in his eyes.
“I feel it, too,” she answered his unspoken question.
“When are we going to do something about it?”
The guy who thought he wasn’t good at talking to people could sure say what he wanted to her.
“When the time is right.” Because right now wasn’t it. They were just getting to know each other again.
She didn’t want to go too fast and mess things up. This was too important. He was too important to her.
Now, if they could just get through this visit with Tanyar without Melody going ballistic on the abusive bitch.