Chapter 56
56
P ari clutched her shopping bag as if someone would snatch it from her at any moment. She’d never owned anything so fine, and though she’d thanked Melvale for the gift ten times over in the last half hour, she still felt guilty for letting him buy the bag and matching wallet for her.
They rode up the old wooden escalators to another floor, and Melvale began sorting through some of the women’s clothing. Pari watched him, realized what he was doing, and made a sound.
He looked up. “Yes, Kitten?”
“Um, why are you looking at women’s clothes?”
He smiled. “For you, of course.” He pulled a little black dress off a rack. “Hmmm…”
Her eyes widened. “Oh, um, that’s too fancy for me.”
He arched an eyebrow at her. “Is it?” Melvale studied her a moment. “Size six?”
She blushed. “Y-yes.”
“Bordering on an eight is my guess.” He looked the dress over then put it back. “Let’s try the eight.”
She tried not to laugh. “Um, I…”
He held up a hand. “Let me do the shopping here.”
Her jaw dropped. “What?”
Shona joined them, several dresses draped over one arm. “Let him dress you,” she whispered in her ear. “Trust me, he’s good at it.”
Pari’s eyes rounded to saucers. “He is?” Her last word came out a squeak.
Kitty nodded as she came alongside her. “You have no idea. He’s dressed Shona and Dallan before. And me.”
The sting of jealousy struck, and she quickly pushed it aside. “He… has?”
“For assignments,” Shona explained.
Melvale had several dresses in his hands at this point and had moved on to another rack. “But, I don’t need any clothes. I get mine from the bargain bins and…”
Shona shook her head. “Pari, let him do this. He’s not only good at it, but it makes him happy.”
Pari’s face fell. “Oh, okay.” She clutched her shopping bag to her chest and realized she had no control over the situation. Is that what was freaking her out? Hadn’t she and Dr. Merrill discussed this not a month ago? It was okay for her to buy things for others, but she freaked when they did the same for her.
She blew out a breath. “I’m so bad at this.”
Shona sighed. “I know what you mean. I had a hard time adjusting to things when Dallan and I first got together.”
“How long have you been married?” Pari asked.
“Technically, we’re still newlyweds. Sometimes it’s hard to keep track. But… a little over six months?”
Pari gave her a blank stare. “How long did you date?”
Shona laughed. “Well, our circumstances were much different. We only knew each other a… short time… before we wed.” She looked at Kitty with raised eyebrows, as if warning her not to say something.
Pari tried to ignore their silent exchange and looked for Melvale. He’d disappeared. She spotted Dallan not far off speaking with Archer, but where had Melvale gone? He couldn’t possibly be in the fitting rooms, could he?
“Oh, Pari!”
She couldn’t help but smile at his sing-song voice. He was in the fitting rooms! Pari headed that way. “What are you doing?”
He poked his head out of a room. “This one is yours. Have fun. I want to see you model everything!”
She stared at him numbly. “Um, why?”
He frowned and came out of the dressing room. “To admire you for one, but also to see what you like.”
Her heart skipped at his words. “I… just wear stuff.”
“I know,” he said ominously. “But you don’t have to just wear stuff,” he added making air quotes with his fingers. “You should discover what you look best in, create a style all your own.”
She looked at her attire. In truth, she could never afford to dress fashionably. “You’re doing too much…”
He put a hand to his heart. “On the contrary, I’m not doing enough. Now get in there and have some fun!”
Pari fought a sigh. She didn’t want to appear ungrateful, and the delighted look on his face was rather charming…
“Okay.” She handed him her shopping bag and entered the fitting room. Pari’s eyes rounded to saucers.
There were at least a dozen dresses, several tops, and a few pairs of jeans. “Is he kidding?”
“No, I’m not!” he sang from somewhere outside the rooms.
She laughed, unable to help herself. He was crazy! Well, not literally, but… he was something. How could he be such an adorable dork, but also such a fierce beast of a man? It was enough to make her head spin. And she still couldn’t figure out why he seemed to be, as Kitty put it, into her.
Pari sighed, grabbed a floral sun dress off the rack, and changed into it.
He didn’t like the way it hung on her body and said it wasn’t flattering enough; his mistake, he owed her another dress for a bad decision. She thought he was nuts!
The next dress she loved, and so did he, and it was declared a winner. This went on for each outfit, and by the time they were done, Pari was exhausted.
Kitty gawked at the piles of clothes Melvale had on the sales counter. “Wow, someone likes to spoil people.”
Melvale gave her a sly smile and a wink and paid for Pari’s new clothes.
Pari could only stare at him like an idiot. Melvale was as far from Bondrah as he could get right now. She liked it, but what happened to the other side of him?
And she wasn’t the only one wondering. She caught Dallan eying him, as was Archer, and the two men spoke in low tones, nodding now and then to each other. Pari couldn’t hear their conversation and wondered if Melvale could.
He seemed oblivious as he happily took the bags the saleswoman was handing him and turned to her. “Ready?”
She clutched her one shopping bag and almost winced. “Ready for what?”
“Shoes, silly!”
She shook her head. “No, absolutely not. I want to go home.”
“I second that,” Archer said. “I’m starving here.”
Melvale gasped. “You’re right! Kitten you must be famished!”
Pari nodded and didn’t dare tell him she thought she might fall over. She was hungry, and had no idea trying on that many clothes could wear her out.
They ate lunch in one of the store’s cafés, then headed home. But not before she had to convince Melvale she was too tired to continue shopping. Good grief, the man was a shopping maniac! The only one in the group that could keep up with him was Kitty.
When they finally made it home, Pari trudged up the stairs to her apartment, went straight to her bedroom, and fell onto her bed.
“Don’t worry about a thing,” Melvale chortled as he began to take their purchases out of the bags. He proceeded to hang them up in her closet in the next room, or neatly fold items to put into her dresser. “You still need shoes, but we can tackle that tomorrow.”
Pari moaned into her pillow. “Nooooo.”
He laughed and sat on the edge of the bed. “I had fun! Did you?”
Pari flopped onto her back and realized she had. “Yes, thank you.”
He smiled and brushed her bangs to one side. “You look lovely even when you’re exhausted.” His eyes roamed her face a moment before he bent to her and gently kissed her on the forehead. “Rest now, I’ll be nearby.”
She smiled, unable to help it. “Thank you. No one’s ever done anything like this for me.”
“I know,” he said in all seriousness. “But you deserve to be pampered and spoiled now and then. Everyone does. I’m sorry you’ve never had this before.”
Their eyes locked and deep down she knew he meant every word. “Thank you.”
Melvale smiled, gave her a nod, then left the room.
Pari lay there a few moments, trying to make sense of it all. Melvale was a dream come true, and too good to be true. Which of course meant it was only a matter of time before she either woke up from this wild dream, or he’d simply disappeared.
But what about all the talk of her going back to the palace with him and his friends? And if she did, how long would she be gone? Pari wished she could speak to Halden and Raina. They made more sense. All of this? Pari still couldn’t wrap her head around it.
She drifted into a deep sleep and dreamed she was in the park with Melvale, walking hand in hand, talking about things two people dating might talk about. It seemed so real, and when she woke up, she thought about their two dates. Yet the sad truth remained. How could she possibly call him a boyfriend when he wasn’t even human? Who dated aliens? And what would happen if they continued to date? What did that even look like?
“Don’t give your heart away,” she recited to herself. Uncle Leo and Uncle Al had said it, and after hearing about her past, Dr. Merrill said it. Heck, she’d even said it! Then she’d gone and done it anyway more than once over the years. And what did it get her? Broken hearted, abused, shunned, and then stuck with that weirdo Jeffrey. Melvale might be odd, but he was more on the eccentric side. Jeffrey was something else entirely. She hadn’t seen hide nor hair of him since the day she was kidnapped, and good riddance as far as she was concerned.
Pari sat up, yawned, and left the bed. She went to the window and looked out. The northbound shuttle train was just pulling into the station across the street, and she watched it a moment before the neighbors in one of the buildings, also across the street, started up a stereo system they’d brought out to the building’s front stoop. From the looks of it, they were having a barbecue. Tables were being brought out to the sidewalk, and something was grilling on a barbeque already. She opened her window so she could listen to the music and smell the meat cooking. These were the sounds of home, and all she wanted was a few friends to share things with.
Pari turned away from the window. Melvale was her friend, and the thought made her smile. He was safe as a friend, and until she was sure of what was going to happen next, it was best she kept him where he was.
But what about the others? Halden and Raina, they were friends. And what about Dallan, Shona, Kwaku, Zara, Kitty, and Archer? She didn’t know the latter well, but he was funny. He could also eat a lot. She saw it firsthand at lunch.
She wandered into the kitchen to find Melvale at the stove. “What are you making?”
“Chili and cornbread.” He nodded at her mother’s cookbook on the table. It was one of the few things Pari had left of her.
She smiled at him. “You cook too?”
“Of course.” He smiled back and stirred the pot.
Yep. Melvale was way too good to be true. The thought almost made her cry, and she was starting to wonder how she was going to escape this emotional death trap. Sooner or later the other shoe was not only going to drop, but land square on her head. But part of her wanted to believe that all of this was real, that she could fall in love with this crazy, dorky, yet fierce alien man. But nothing ever went that way for her. Ever. What made her think things would be any different with Melvale?