Page 19 of Melody’s Little Secret

Seth held out his hand. “Please squeeze my fingers.”

The puppy in my arms licked my face, and I took a few deep breaths. Seth continued asking me questions about the fall, if anything hurt, and I sat there doing my best not to cry. Amanda returned smiling brightly. She set the ice pack on my aching wrist and handed me a gorgeous teal-sequined water bottle.

“This is so pretty!” I accepted it eagerly. “Did you make it?”

“No, but there’s this new shop in town called Kit’s Trinkets. She carries all sorts of homemade gifts. So, they have bedazzled water bottles, notebooks, every color pen and pencil you can think of and craft sets.”

“Can we go there sometime? I bet Laney would love it.”

Amanda grinned at me. “Yes! Kit is so sweet, and I love all her things. The coolest part is that the items are practical too.”

“Ow!” I jerked my arm, not realizing how small the exam table was and almost lost my balance. I might have fallen completely off if Bosco hadn’t wrapped an arm around my shoulders. I completely stopped paying attention to the fun store that Amanda was babbling about.

“I’m sorry for causing you pain, Melody. Let me try something else.” Seth patted my foot.

“I apologize for being such a baby.”

“You’re not a baby, sweetie. I’m just used to examining four-legged friends.” He winked before walking back to the counter.

I took a few deep breaths, relaxing against Bosco while the puppy curled into my arms and fell asleep. Amanda offered her hand, and I took it.

“My Daddy is really good with patients of all shapes and sizes. He’ll have you all fixed up in no time.” She squeezed my hand.

I was so happy that she was helping me, even though I was embarrassed. “Can you please hold the puppy for a while?”

“Sure thing.” Amanda carefully lifted the puppy from my arms without waking him. “Do you want to come over this weekend? Kels and I are having a princess movie marathon.”

“Can I bring Laney?”

“Yes, of course! The more the merrier.”

“I can bring those cupcakes.” Her eyes widened, and I gulped worried that I’d let her secret out. “Uh, since I’m on a mission to make everyone fall in love with my treats. You’ll eat one and then bam! The whole box will be gone.”

“I think that’s a terrible idea,dulcita,” Boz said, chuckling. “Feeding your baked goods to your friends in bulk will likely result in a sugar rush.”

“Heh,” Amanda forced a small laugh. “We wouldn’t want that, but how else are we going to get to taste them?”

“Panda.” Seth cocked an eyebrow.

“Kels and I are all about supporting local businesses, Daddy,” she chirped, and her voice took on a bossy tone. “Didn’t you tell us to get more involved in the community?”

“Amanda Lynn.” Seth gave her a look that made both of us squirm. “We will have a talk about it when we get home.”

“Buying a few dozen of Melody’s treats and handing them out at the office as a marketing technique is very smart, Daddy,” Amanda continued.

“Daddy has some very smart techniques of his own that he’ll be more than happy to show you. Later.”

“No, thank you.” She smiled sweetly at Seth. “Mel, please put the larger order on hold,” Manda nodded to me. “But you should still bring one for Kelsey and maybe one for me since I brought her to your store.”

“Do we need to go to my office after I take a few x-rays?” Seth asked with a hint of authority, and it was clear the topic should be dropped. “It’s going to take a little while for the machine to show the images, so we will have a few minutes.”

“No, Sir.” She gulped.

“We can totally talk about it another time,” I offered sincerely.

“Thanks, Mel. We’ll order pizza and garlic knots instead.” Her eyes darted behind me, likely looking at Bosco. “We could eat at your restaurant like every day.”

“I’ll cover the cost of dinner,gioia, since you and Seth came out late to help Melody. How does that sound?” Boz rubbed my shoulders, helping ease away the tension that had been building.

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