CHAPTER THIRTEEN - MELODY
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
MELODY
The music was loud and the conversation around them was even louder. Melody thought Liz’s smile looked a little too nervous and uncomfortable, and for a moment, Melody wondered if this was a good idea after all.
A waitress stepped up to their table and Melody ordered a Lemon Lime Margarita.
“And for you?” the waitress asked, turning to Liz.
Liz’s eyes were wide behind her glasses. Was she going to have a panic attack here at the tavern? Her skin looked splotchy and red. “The same,” Liz finally said, her voice a higher octave than normal.
“Hey?” Melody tapped a hand on the table’s surface to gain her attention. “Are you okay? Do you want to leave?”
Liz shook her head quickly. “No. It’s just, crowds make me a little anxious. And being out after dark makes me jittery too.” She looked around, seeming to assess the crowd. “I’ll calm down. Promise.” She took a deep breath and exhaled as she returned her gaze to Melody’s.
“Here.” Melody pulled off the charm bracelet and slid it across the table. “Put this on.”
Liz hesitated. “It’s not magic, Melody.”
“Well, it found its way back to us after all these years. It’s something in the way of magic. Put it on.”
Liz dutifully reached for the bracelet and slid it over her wrist, looking down at it for a long moment. Melody looked at it too, admiring the way the charms sparkled under the tavern’s ambient lighting. Then the waitress brought them their drinks.
Melody pulled hers to her. “Okay, here’s the plan. Drink every last drop. I’ll do the same. Then we’re going to dance. If you’re not relaxed after one spin on the dance floor, we’ll leave. A girls’ night can be had anywhere.”
Liz looked surprised and also a bit relieved. “I like that plan.” She pulled her drink to her, pursing her lips around the straw that protruded out of the pale-green liquid, and started slurping. An hour later, she’d finished off several drinks and was swaying on the dance floor and laughing hysterically at something Melody had said.
Melody was going to have to carry Liz home if she wasn’t careful. Liz was petite, but Melody had already had two drinks herself and was feeling a little tipsy as well. The bartender was heavy on the liquor and light on the mix tonight. “We need a new plan for how we’re going to get home,” Melody told Liz, leaning in as they danced. “I don’t think I can drive after that last margarita. It was stronger than I expected.”
Melody expected that Liz would look worried. Instead, she laughed. That’s how Melody knew for certain they were both plastered.
“We’ll call Rose,” Liz suggested.
“Now I know you’re wasted,” Melody said, making Liz laugh even harder. What was in those drinks?
Liz headed off the dance floor and Melody followed, feeling like her body was one step behind her brain. She didn’t drink hard liquor very often. Maybe that was it. “We need fresh air,” Liz called behind her. She held up her cell phone. “And I’ll call Rose.”
They stepped outside and the cool air hit Melody’s warm cheeks. Melody watched as Liz tapped her phone’s screen and held it to her ear.
It rang until Melody was certain that Rose wasn’t going to answer. Then Melody heard the faint sound of Rose’s voice on the other line.
“Rose,” Liz slurred. “I need your h-help,” she hiccupped.
Melody watched, imagining Rose’s protests on the other line.
“Melody and I are stranded on our girls’ night. Can you come get us at the tavern? We’re in the parking lot.” Liz listened for a beat and then she shook her head. “We’re too flimsy to walk.”
Melody grinned. “You mean tipsy. She told us to walk?”
Liz ignored Melody and continued to talk to Rose. “Okay. Yes. We’ll be in the parking lot waiting for you. Bye.” Liz disconnected the call and shoved her phone back in her purse. “She’s coming to get us.”
“That’s very nice of her,” Melody said sarcastically. She looked around for somewhere to sit, gathering that it might be a long wait. She didn’t expect that Rose was going to rush out of whatever she was doing. She sighed and sat on a cement parking block.
Liz blew out a breath as she sat beside her. She moved slowly and seemed to be off-kilter.
“You okay?” Melody asked, glancing over.
Liz nodded. “Yeah. I’m fine. Better than fine.”
There was a slight tremble to her words though that had Melody taking a closer look. Liz’s mouth was moving from one side to the other as if she was bottling in thoughts or emotions. She’d been giggly inside the tavern, but maybe the cool air had sobered her.
“What are you thinking about?” Melody asked.
Liz shrugged and looked down at the pavement. “Tonight was fun. Today was fun. It’s nice to have you back.”
“And that makes you sad?”
“No.” Liz looked over, her eyes shining behind her glasses. “That makes me happy. Really happy.” She lifted her glasses and wiped at a tear below her eye. “I should have warned you. I’m a bit of an emotional drinker.” She laughed softly at herself. “I giggle a lot, but I can also start crying in my wineglass.”
Melody bumped her shoulder against Liz’s. “Now you tell me. This’ll be good to know for the next time we go out.”
Liz’s expression became serious. “Right.”
Melody could see the question in her friend’s eyes. It wouldn’t help for Melody to tell her yet again that she would be back after she left. That she wouldn’t stay away so long this time. Certainly not for nine years. Melody would have to prove it. She’d have to prove herself. That was fair.
She tipped her face back and looked up at the sky, wondering why she didn’t go outside and look at the stars more often. “So, do you think fireworks did the trick? Do you think Jo’s up there among the stars, looking down on us?”
Liz tipped her head back as well and nearly fell off the cement parking block they were sitting on.
Melody caught her. “Geesh. You are a true lightweight.”
Liz started giggling again even though there was evidence of tears in her eyes. She lifted her face again and they both looked at the sky. “Yeah. I think Jo’s up there among the stars. Alyssa too. Because that’s where they belong. I have to think that eventually we always get to that place where we belong.”
Now Melody felt the burn of tears in her eyes too. She blinked and one slipped free. She tried to wipe it away before Liz saw her, but Liz smiled with knowing eyes.
“Looks like the drinks got to you as well.”
“Looks like.” Melody blew out a breath and then looked down, her eye catching on something shiny in a scattering of dust and dirt on the pavement. She reached for it and picked it up, holding it in her palm to show Liz. “Look.”
Liz leaned over and blinked heavily. “Is that a charm?”
“In the shape of a star,” Melody confirmed. She looked up at the sky and back at her palm, chills running over her. “There’s no way Jo dropped one of those stars in the sky down in this parking lot for us. That would be crazy.”
Liz giggled, but this wasn’t one of her tipsy giggles from earlier. It was more of the kind of nervous noise someone made when they couldn’t figure out what was going on. “Of course not. It’s just a strange coincidence.” Liz leaned in to take a closer look and nearly fell in Melody’s lap.
Melody steadied her friend, letting Liz prop against her shoulder while they both admired the simple sterling silver charm. What would the message be if Jo had sent it? Which she hadn’t. That would be absurd. But if Jo had, maybe she was simply saying hi. Or giving them a wink because she was happy that she’d somehow brought the friends back together. Melody pinched the charm between her fingers. “We should add it to the bracelet. To commemorate our girls’ night.”
Liz nodded quickly. “The first of many more to come.”
Melody attached the charm and inspected the bracelet. A car, a house, a muffin, tiny camera, fireworks, a book, a star. In her drunken state, it all made sense. Or maybe it was just the alcohol talking and once she was sober, the charms would return to being seemingly random.
“There’s a story here, in this charm bracelet,” Melody said, looking at Liz. “It’s our story.”
Liz grinned. Then they both looked up as headlights spilled into the parking lot, stopping a few feet short of where they were sitting. Liz nearly tumbled backward again and then groaned when she realized it was Rose.
“You nearly ran us over,” Liz said, as she stood on shaky legs.
Rose ignored her. “You’re welcome.” She flicked her gaze to Melody. “So you’re the lady from the other week who ran us off the road?”
Melody froze as she approached the car, which still had scrapes down the side. “Yeah. That was me.”
“You’re also the one who ditched my sister for like ten years?”
Melody was beginning to wonder if she might be walking home after all. “Nine.”
Rose turned to Liz. “You complain about my friends, but look at yours. Seriously.” She climbed back behind the steering wheel, calling after them. “Get in the car!”
Liz cast Melody an apologetic look. Melody didn’t think it was necessary though. Rose was right. She’d been a lousy friend with nothing but flimsy promises to offer so far since she’d been back. Yes, she’d cut off ties because remembering hurt. Liz and Melody’s father and everyone else had pain too though, and they hadn’t run away like cowards.
Melody climbed into the back seat, wishing Jo was actually here to offer some words of wisdom. What would Jo say? What would Jo do?
Melody somehow thought she knew part of the answer, and the rest was beginning to come into focus. She couldn’t leave on Sunday like she’d planned because she hadn’t done what she’d come home to do. Only what she’d thought she’d returned for.
She’d thought she’d come home for Jo’s thrift store, but the real treasure hidden within Jo’s inheritance were the people on Trove Isle that Melody had forgotten when she’d driven as fast as her car would take her over the bridge and far away from her hometown. Her father. Liz. Bri . . . Jo. It even felt like Alyssa was still here in some ways.
If she left on Sunday, she probably wouldn’t keep in touch like she’d promised. Two weeks wasn’t enough to regrow the shriveled roots to her past. She needed to stay longer. She needed the entire summer.
To: Melody Palmer
From: Bri Johnson
Subject: Countdown to Freedom
Mel,
Remember the time you ran away from home when we were kids? I mean, I’m guessing there was only one time, but for all I know, there were more. I’m talking about when I went to find you and bring you back. I was grounded for two weeks after that because my mom thought I had packed my bags and gone with you.
As soon as I heard you were missing, I knew exactly where you were. We were eleven, right? Your mom had just died and you were struggling. I remembered that you told me about this hunter stand in the woods that you’d found. You said it would be a great place to disappear. I knew that’s where you’d be. So I rode my bike as fast as I could pedal until I reached your street. Then I dropped my bike in the woods as I ran inside to find that hunter’s stand. At some point, I thought maybe searching for you without telling anyone where I had gone wasn’t such a great idea. But you know me. I used to wear those bad ideas of mine like badges of honor.
I also considered going to get you after you moved to Charlotte. But you were eighteen, and I was hurting too. I guess I needed someone to pull me out of my own tree stand in the woods. We all did. Liz’s family was there for me and her. They tried at least. Your Great-aunt Jo tried to help us in her own way too. She always said you’d come home. She never lost faith, Mel. Never.
Anyway, it’s almost time for me to return to the isle. I don’t feel like my bad choices are badges of honor anymore. Now I wish I could hide them. The thing about hometowns is that everyone knows your past. Part of me wants to run away for real when I get out. But I’ve never been that person. I know it won’t be easy, and I wish that Jo was still around to offer her support and Jo-isms. I’m glad I have you, whether it’s face-to-face or by email. It doesn’t really matter. As long as I know where to find you when I need you.
B