Page 7 of Grit
Abby shot her mom a brilliant smile and shouted, “I’m officially double digits! Can we go out now?” That was her girl. Inside was for sleeping; outside was for living.
Melissa grinned. “After the cake. Did you girls bring helmets?”
“Yes, Ms. Rhodes.”
“Uh-huh.”
“I brought mine!”
Horse riding would happen, but only with helmets.
“Okay,” Melissa said. “Cake first, then horses.”
The girls squealed in that particularly earsplitting way that ten-year-old girls squealed. Melissa tried not to grimace. After all, her ears would survive, and she loved watching Abby with her friends.
One more birthday you missed, babe.Melissa sent a thought up to Calvin.You watching?
It had been nearly six years since Calvin died. Six birthdays. Six Christmases. Six empty Father’s Days. Abby was ten now. Calvin had missed more of her birthdays than he’d witnessed.
The first few years, Melissa had felt Calvin more clearly at those milestones. She felt like he was close. That he was there somehow. But the past few birthdays, his presence had faded. She felt more distant from him on those days, not closer.
“Okay, birthday girl first!” Melissa’s mom, a permanent ray of sunshine, handed Abby a generous slice of the carrot cake she’d baked that morning. It was Abby’s favorite.
“Just like Calvin.” Beverly sidled close to Melissa, who was standing at the back wall of the dining room. “He loved carrot cake.”
Melissa smiled. “He did.”
“She looks more like him every day.”
Melissa kept her eyes trained on her daughter. The chubby cheeks and ponytails of childhood were fading away. Abby was stretching up, her eyes hinting at secrets and inside jokes with her friends. She whispered on the phone about girlhood dramas, horses, and boys in bands.
“She looks like herself,” Melissa murmured. “But yeah, there’s a lot of her daddy there.”
Cary caught her eye from across the room. He was standing next to Ox, but he was keeping his eyes on Melissa and Beverly. Melissa gave him an almost imperceptible shake of the head. Cary and Calvin had been friends. He knew better than most how much tension lived between Melissa and her in-laws.
And how much tension was between Cary and Melissa.
She was pointedly ignoring any and all memory of their kiss outside the hospital months before. It had been a moment of madness. A reaction to stress. It was… a relief kiss. A “super glad you’re not dead!” kiss. She and Cary were friends. Good friends. That was all.
Melissa Rhodes, you are a big fat liar.
Beverly broke into her mental accusations. “Have you thought any more about our offer?”
Melissa forced a polite smile. “Bev, it’s so generous, but you know this is my family home. Calvin wanted to settle here, and so do I. Abby and I are very happy.”
“She’ll be going to middle school soon,” Beverly said. “The schools on the coast are better than the schools here. We’d pay the full tuition for her to attend Saint Anne’s.”
The offer sounded kind on the surface, but this wasn’t about generosity. It never was with Calvin’s parents. It was about control.
“This is our home.” Melissa maintained the polite smile. “But thank you so much.”
“We built the house for you and Abby. I wish you’d reconsider.”
You built the house for me and Calvin, as soon as he told you we’d be living here. He didn’t want it, and you know exactly why.
Melissa put her arm around Beverly’s shoulders and gave her a one-armed hug even as her mother-in-law stiffened up. “If we ever need it, we know it’s there. But Abby is happy here. She goes to a good school and has wonderful friends. And she has the run of the entire ranch. I know that’s what Calvin wanted for her.”
Melissa knew she had to frame things exactly right, or her mother-in-law would leave in a huff. “You know, that was probably the thing Calvin talked about most often, riding his horse around the ranch growing up. Watching the men work, watching Greg work. Exploring with the dogs.” She felt Beverly soften at the memory of Calvin’s childhood. “Abby has that here, Bev. And I promise we’ll try to visit more. You know you’re always welcome here. Anytime.”
