Page 32 of A Family Affair: The Ring
Long pause and “Take as much time as you need.I’ll be here.”
There was no sense denying the disappointment in his voice or the hope, because both pulsed through the line.“Thank you.It was great talking to you.”
“Anything for you, Melanie.”
Who would’ve thoughtthe man who’d been avoiding her would be the one to rescue her from her grandmother’s basement?When Melanie was a little girl, Grandma Esther would take her to the basement where they washed clothes, picked out canned vegetables from the fruit cellar, and sorted through the freezer chest for banana or zucchini breads, chicken, berries, even strawberry preserves.Melanie’s father once told herYou’ll never see her freezer empty.Doesn’t matter if she’s the only person in the house, your grandmother is going to make sure she’s never hungry again.She’d also taken it upon herself to make sure no one else ever went hungry either.There were perpetual deliveries of zucchini bread, chocolate chip cookies, chicken soup, spaghetti sauce, and the occasional tray of lasagna.It was the darned craving for zucchini bread that landed Melanie locked in the basement on a Saturday morning.
She’d been thinking about raking leaves but wanted to pull out a bread so it could thaw for an afternoon snack.If she hadn’t been distracted, she might have stuck her cell phone in the pocket of her sweat pants, or left the basement door open, or at least slipped into sandals.But no, she’d already been on to the next three tasks for the day and that’s why she forgot the cell phone, closed the basement door, and remained barefoot.
Melanie padded down the dimly lit steps to the freezer, rifled around the various compartments until she located four zucchini breads, wrapped in foil and labeled with Grandma Esther’s precise handwriting.She grabbed one of the breads, made her way to the top of the stairs, and turned the knob.Nothing.One more turn.No luck.Melanie grabbed the knob and jiggled it several times.Oh, for goodness sake!She was locked in the basement!
How could she have forgotten to unlock the basement door this morning?Too many years in the city had made locking doors and windows second nature.Since she’d returned to Magdalena, she’d checked the locks every night to make sure they were secure—especially the basement door.Grandma Esther had a storm door in the basement that led outside and while there was a lock on it, Melanie had never trusted it.Her grandma had an old “scary” basement, nothing like the modern ones in today’s homes.This one smelled musty and damp, and it was dark, even with the lights on.
Now what?If she yelled, no one would hear her.The windows were closed, and Cash and Tess were heading to a pumpkin festival today and wouldn’t be home until after dinner.No one else would be looking for her and it could be hours, maybe even a day before anyone realized she was in trouble.The T-shirt and sweatpants wouldn’t keep her warm once the temperatures fell, and the bare feet?Such a bad idea.Were there any blankets or jackets in this basement?Anythingto keep her warm?Melanie refused to think about spending the night in the creepy basement that had always made her jittery.Therehadto be a way out and shewasgoing to find it.
She made her way to the bottom of the steps, spotted five bins stacked on a metal shelf.Thank goodness her grandmother believed in organization because each bin was labeled.Dishes, glasses, and platters.No blankets or jackets, no clothing of any kind.But then why would there be when there was enough closet room in the bedrooms to handle the storage?She hadn’t been in the basement much aside from doing laundry, but she thought she’d seen a toolbox of sorts in the fruit cellar.If she could find a screwdriver, maybe she could take the doorknob apart, and if she found a hammer, she’d try to break down the door.That last notion sounded ridiculous and impossible, but so did the thought of remaining in the basement until tomorrow or the next day.
Melanie grabbed the flashlight resting on a shelf and padded to the fruit cellar, the cement cold beneath her feet.The fruit cellar was the size of Grandma Esther’s hall closet, but she’d certainly stocked the shelves!Years ago, there had been jars of tomatoes, green beans, and peaches from her canning days, but they’d long been replaced with store-bought cans of tomato products, beans, fruit, condiments, cleaning and paper products.There were three mayonnaise jars, four bottles of ketchup, and six boxes of pasta.Grandma Esther had always loved to bargain shop and use her coupons!
Melanie spotted a red bucket with a hammer poking out of it.There were also two different type screwdrivers, a measuring tape, and a box of nails.At least she had a few tools to try and get the door open, and if she got stuck for the night?There was zucchini bread and hadn’t she seen a tray of lasagna in the freezer?Plus, there was a jar of pickles and a few other twist-off jars on the shelves.
She wasn’t going to starve, but what if she had to go to the bathroom?Ugh, she would not think about that right now because once that possibility kicked in, she would obsess over it.The basement had the old-school pull chains instead of light switches because her grandmother had never felt it was necessary to “modernize,” as she called it.Melanie took small steps, aiming the flashlight in the dark corners where the overhead lights didn’t reach.Please do not let there be mice down here.Please do not let me see any sort of bug.And please...Melanie stopped, listened to the faint rustling.Oh, no.Oh, no.
A mouse!There was at least one down here and everybody knew there wasneverjust one.A whole family of mice could live in this place.Hadn’t her father once said mice can make themselves so small they can slip through a crack?Melanie swung the flashlight toward the rafters, bounced the light to the floor, homed in on the cobwebs.Where there were cobwebs there were spiders.
If she sat on the basement steps near the door, she could listen for outside noises and maybe...Who was she kidding?This house was not in the center of town, near traffic and the everyday business of people coming and going.Cash and Tess were her only hope and that meant she had several hours to wait.Once they got home, there would be baths and putting the children to bed and they’d be tired.Melanie might be stuck right here with the cobwebs and the spiders and the mice she couldn’t see, and the cold and the night, and...
She reached inside the red bucket and removed two screwdrivers, then shone the flashlight on the doorknob.She’d need a Phillips head screwdriver for this job, and hopefully, it would work.And it might have if she’d had the right size screwdriver.She tossed the screwdriver in the bucket, reached for the hammer.Whack!Whack, whack, whack!The wood splintered, caved in, leaving razor-sharp edges where the door had imploded.Encouraged by her efforts, Melanie continued pounding on the section of door where she’d created a small hole.If she pushed her hand through the weakened section of the door, she might be able to reach the knob and unlock the door.But there was no way she could do it without injuring herself.Still, maybe she could minimize the injury...
Melanie yanked off her T-shirt, wrapped her hand and wrist in the shirt, and pushed through the splintered door.A shard of wood tore through the material and pierced her index and middle finger.“Ouch!”Melanie inched her hand toward the lock, but she needed more room to access it, and pushed harder, fighting the pain of fresh wounds.And then her arm got stuck and she couldn’t move it.If she could make the hole a little larger, maybe a few more whacks with the hammer would do it.She grabbed for it, missed and sent the hammer tumbling end over end down the basement steps.
Slivers of panic shot through her as the need to get “unstuck” smothered logic and blocked out years of emergency room training.Melanie made one more attempt to move her hand toward the knob, but a jolt of pain stopped her.She couldn’t sit down on the top step, and she couldn’t reach the doorknob.There was no way out until someone found her.Tears would serve no purpose, and they were foolish and nothing but a distraction, but that didn’t stop them from coming, or pouring out stronger as she realized she was all alone.
20
Will had avoided Melanie for two days.That’s how long it took him to come up with a plausible excuse to see her again, one that did not include therealreason for his visit.He wanted to hear more about what her life had been like these last eight years.After she shared, he’d head home, pour a scotch and compare their lives because no matter how much he denied it, he bet they hadn’t been that different.In fact, they were too much alike.
Andthatwas a problem.
Maybe she did have a point.There was too much unfinished business between them that they needed to discuss.It would have to be a businesslike approach, emotion aside, nowhat-ifs, no, I wish.No, if onlys.Timelines would work, failed relationships, avoidance tactics.All of these could prove helpful.And then, he supposed they would have to talk about their lives in the early days after the breakup.How had she handled it?Through denial?A big pretend?He would have to admit what he’d done as well.Would he really have to tell her he’d avoided everything and everyone who reminded him of her and what they’d shared?He didnotwant to do that.She still had that inquisitive nature about her, and she wouldn’t let it go with a simpleOh, so that’s what you didorIsn’t that interesting?No, she’d want to dig around, rip off the bandageandthe scab and hunt for answers.Hell,hedidn’t even want to find the answers, but she would.Melanie wasn’t going to let it go until she had them all lined up and organized for assessment and commentary.
Isn’t this interesting that you haven’t had a dark chocolate-covered strawberry in eight years?
No chocolate chip cookies either?
Now why is that?But you do like chocolate?
How about the women you’ve dated?Do any of them have dark hair and hazel eyes, 5 foot 9?
No comment.
If he tossed out the “no comment,” it was as good as sayingGuilty.You’ve got me.
But maybe there would be some sort of revelation on her part, and she’d share similar stories.She was certainly eating chocolate chip cookies because he’d listened to the sighs and moans and watched those lips as she savored each bite.
Had she been teasing him?
Tormenting him?
