She found Lucy waiting in line for the upstairs bathroom. Shifting from foot to foot, Lucy looked anything but happy as she scowled at the bathroom door.
“Kyle is going to walk me home,” Melanie told her.
Lucy’s eyebrows shot up, and her eyes darted from her to where Kyle stood ten feet away. A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth, but she managed to suppress it. However, her amusement remained evident.
“Do you want to come with us?” Melanie asked.
“I’m not getting out of this line. I’ve been here for twenty minutes already,” Lucy said.
“We’ll wait for you.”
“No, go ahead. I’ll be fine… as long as my bladder doesn’t burst. Do you want me to come with you? Is he a freak or something?”
“No, he’s perfectly normal. Are you going to be okay walking home alone?”
“You know me; I can kick someone’s ass if it becomes necessary.”
Someone in line chuckled at this bold statement, but Melanie didn’t. She was tiny, but Melanie had seen Lucy take down guys who were a hundred pounds heavier than her. She had no doubt Lucy could take care of herself. Besides, like her, Lucy was armed and ready to take on anyone who tried to attack her.
“Okay, I’ll see you at home then,” Melanie said.
Lucy hugged her, but when the bathroom door opened, she all but shoved Melanie away to rush inside. Melanie tried not to laugh as the door slammed shut.
She turned away and walked over to where Kyle waited by the staircase. They made their way downstairs and out the front door. Free of the clamor of the house, Melanie inhaled a deep breath of fresh air. It was a beautiful summer night with a clear sky full of twinkling stars.
It was the kind of night that made her feel almost normal, as did the man walking by her side. She had to resist the urge to laugh while skipping down the street. It was the kind of night that promised endless possibilities.
However, she managed to avoid turning herself into a skipping spectacle that probably would have sent Kyle scurrying for safety. Instead, excitement flowed through her veins as they strolled toward her apartment.
Occasionally, their arms would brush each other, and each time they did, she experienced a small rush like she got when she spun in circles as a child. That was about the extent of her excitement as a kid.
She didn’t go to fairs or amusement parks, and Santa only came to visit a couple of times before her father forgot he existed. At first, she was heartbroken. She’d always strove to be so good when Christmas approached. Santa was the one bright spot in her year. Her father always forgot her birthday, but in those early years, Santa still came.
Then, one year, he didn’t. She never suspected it wasn’t because Santa couldn’t make it into the facility. He’d already done that, and if he could squeeze down chimneys, he could work an elevator.
She spent that entire week sobbing and uncertain what she did wrong. Her father never noticed. Lucy told her the jolly old man was a hack and not worth her tears, but she couldn’t stop them. She simply couldn’t understand why Santa had forsaken her too.
It wasn’t until she was twelve and saw on some TV show Santa wasn’t real that she realized he hadn’t abandoned her. For some reason, it didn’t make things better. Santa didn’t abandon her, but her father did.
Trying to take some of her attention away from her memories, Melanie studied the houses lining the street and the trees spaced out along the sidewalk. When they turned the corner, light spilled from the windows of restaurants and bars. People strolled the sidewalk and stood outside the doorways smoking cigarettes and laughing. Cars traveled the road and idled at red lights.
The noise of the city made her smile. “I love it here.”
“Are you from Boston?”
Melanie kicked herself for saying anything, but the idle thought had popped out before she could squash it. If she were a normal girl, who was enjoying a normal night with an extremely good-looking guy, such a comment would have been common, as would his follow-up question.
However, she was anything but normal, and she was constantly reminded of it. There was no way she could tell him she was from a place as different from the city as the sun from the moon.
“No,” she said.
Kyle didn’t miss the abrupt tone of her voice or the way the smile she’d worn since leaving the party vanished. She skirted a group of girls who were walking down the sidewalk arm in arm.
He tried to think of something that would get her to open up to him. He wanted to learn more about her, but he couldn’t risk pushing her away. And that was exactly what his questions did.
Kyle shoved his hands in his pockets and tried to hide his growing frustration. He’d waited this long to get close to her; he would continue to be patient. Eventually, she would open up to him; he just had to take it slow.
He had no idea what had made her so closed off and distrustful, but he would earn her trust and get her to open up to him. Until then, he would follow her lead and not push her.
They turned another corner and walked halfway down the street before she stopped in front of a three-story row house and turned to face him.
“This is where I live,” she said.
He glanced at the faded yellow building with its black shutters. Flowers overflowed the window boxes on the first floor, and perennials spilled across the brick walkway leading to a small, gray porch. The lights on the first floor were on, but the top two floors were dark.
“I should go in,” she said.
“I’d like to see you again,” he said.
Melanie hesitated as she considered her reply. Almost every part of her was screaming yes, yes, yes! But that ever-reasonable, almost always apprehensive part was shouting a big old NO!
She was excited to see him again, but getting involved with anyone was such a bad idea.
Seeing him again doesn’t mean you’re getting involved with him! It’s just seeing him again; it’s not marriage.
Though she told herself this, if she saw him again, she’d want to keep seeing him. She bit her bottom lip as her attention shifted to the house with its petunias overflowing the window planters and the solid wood front door.
She’d lived here for years, and in all that time, she’d done nothing more than say hi to her neighbors, and most of the time, they all ignored each other. After three years in the city, if she decided to leave tomorrow, no one would ever remember her with any kind of fondness.
Actually, they probably wouldn’t remember her at all, which was fine. There was a very good reason she’d chosen to live her life that way, and it was what she preferred… until now.
Whatever this was between them could never develop into anything, but there was no reason she couldn’t see him again.
Who said it was going to develop into anything? He might decide tomorrow he doesn’t want to see you again. But for once, take a chance on something before all you have is regrets.
“I’d like that,” she finally said.
She’d figure out a way to keep the conversation away from her past, her family, and her life. It should be easy. She mentally rolled her eyes, but she would figure out a way to do it.
Trying not to appear too eager, Kyle managed to keep himself from grinning at her like an idiot. She had doubts about this, and standing there, looking like the Cheshire Cat, was not the way to put those doubts at ease.
“How about tomorrow?” he asked. “I’m working tomorrow night, but we could go to lunch.”
“Sure. There’s a pizza place down the street that is fantastic.”
“Pizza sounds good.”
The last time he ate human food was in high school, and he’d done it so he didn’t draw any attention to himself, but he could force down a slice of pizza.
“I’ll come by at twelve,” he said.
“I’m on the third floor. Apartment six.”
“I’ll see you then.”
Unable to stop himself, he leaned over and kissed her forehead. The refreshing, spring scent of her filled his nose, and he closed his eyes as he relished the aroma. When she didn’t pull away, he went to draw her into his arms, but the blaring of a horn caused her to step back.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Melanie said.
He watched as she walked away, climbed the three steps to the front door, unlocked it, and slipped inside. Once she was safely inside, he shoved his hands back into his pockets and turned away.
He couldn’t stop smiling as he sauntered down the street toward the busier area they’d walked through. Once there, he waved down a cab.