Page 92 of The Charmed Friends of Trove Isle
“Whatever happened between you two, I’m certain you can repair it today,” her father said.
Melody wasn’t so sure. She rolled her lips together, wondering if she should rip off the Band-Aid and disappoint him as well. “She found out I’m selling the thrift store.”
“You’ve always been planning to sell it, though,” he said, looking up.
“I guess she thought I wouldn’t. I’m not sure.” She forked some mounds of eggs into her mouth and chewed.
“There’s a history between the two of you. Leaving town to go back to Charlotte isn’t just a casual thing to her. You left for ten years.” He set his fork down. “It’s not a casual thing for me either.”
“But I’ve told you that I’ll be back. It won’t be like the last time. Things have changed.”
“I know,” he said quietly. “At least I’m trying to know it. I suspect neither me or Liz or anyone else will know it, including you, until that actually happens. History has a way of repeating itself.”
She wasn’t very hungry anymore. She continued eating, but she could barely taste her food because she was thinking about what her dad had said. “I’m going home this coming week. That’s still the plan. But I won’t stay away this time. I promise.”
He gave her a grateful smile. “You know where to find me. I’ll always be here. This is your real home, Melody.”
* * *
“Thanks for meeting me here.” Melody fidgeted nervously with her hands as Christopher unlocked the door to the high school’s gymnasium later that morning.
He glanced over, his blue eyes twinkling under the rim of his ball cap. “It helps to know people in high places, huh?”
“High places?” She laughed at the absurdity of that statement.
“They don’t just give anyone a key, you know?” The door opened and he gestured for her to go inside.
She took a step in and then froze. “You’re sure we won’t get in trouble? I don’t want the police to show up and think we’re breaking in.” Getting tossed in the county jail would put a wrench in her plans to head back to Charlotte.
Christopher nudged her forward. “It helps to know a police officer in town too. It’s the charm of living in a small town. Yes, I’m sure we won’t get in trouble. I told Principal Blevins we were coming. He thinks we’re cleaning up after the prom, but that’s not a complete lie. We are looking to take away one item from here, right?”
“The charm bracelet.” Melody blew out a breath, hoping it would turn up somewhere this morning. She’d felt sick last night when she hadn’t been able to find it. Losing it again after all these years would be awful.
It was special. Meaningful. It was part of what had brought Melody, Liz, and Bri back together after so many years. “I lost it in the room off the side of the gym.”
“Then that’s where we’ll go.” Christopher stepped ahead of her now and led the way through the dimly lit gymnasium. He hadn’t flipped the lights, but the entire gym had windows just shy of the ceiling bringing in a good amount of natural light. Christopher opened the door to the adjoining room for Melody and waited for her to step by him. She looked around, scanning the floor. There were only so many places the bracelet could have gone. The room was full of unused school-related furniture, but the floor underneath was clear, polished to a shine that implied very few people had walked across it.
Melody felt increasingly panicked as her eyes scanned the area, making quick sweeps at first and then moving slower as if the bracelet would suddenly appear. It was magical in a way. It could happen. “It’s not here,” she said, deflating to the point that her body felt like it was folding in on itself. “Where could it have gone?” She glanced up at Christopher, some part of her hoping that he could see it even though she couldn’t.
He shook his head. “You said Liz threw it at your feet?”
Melody flinched at the memory. “Pretty much. She was standing exactly where you are now.”
His gaze moved past her to the floor. “I doubt anyone has been in this room since the prom. The school has been closed. The custodians don’t work the weekends. You and I are probably the last to leave and the first to enter this area.”
Melody sighed, turning in a full circle before looking up at him again. “Bracelets don’t just disappear into thin air.” Then again, that’s exactly what this particular bracelet had done on the night of the accident when she was eighteen. Tears burned behind her eyes, blurring Christopher’s image. “I guess this is my sign.”
His dark brows lowered. “What sign?”
Melody swallowed thickly. She really didn’t want to break down in front of Christopher right now. “That I’ve overstayed my welcome. My sign that it’s time to leave.”
“Or . . . maybe you’re just reading into this and rationalizing what you want to do anyway. Justifying it.”
Melody lifted her chin a notch, allowing herself to lean in to her knee-jerk defensiveness. Getting mad was better than crying. “I don’t need to justify anything. I have a life and a job to get back to. I’m not doing anything wrong by going home.”
He shook his head. “No, but Liz and I aren’t doing anything wrong by wishing you’d stay. Are we?”
Melody swallowed, wanting to pull her gaze from Christopher’s but she couldn’t. She lowered her voice, softening her tone. “It probably wouldn’t last between us anyway, you know. If I stayed.”
