All They Need(63)

Inexplicable tears burned the back of her eyes. She pressed her fingers to her lips to stop herself from saying any of the things that were crowding her throat.

“Mel? Are you still there?”

She closed her eyes. “Yeah. I’m still here.”

“Good. I’d like to buy your parents something for their anniversary. Any suggestions?”

Mel opened her eyes and glanced toward the house again. “My mother loves those little porcelain dogs and cats. The ones you can buy at the jewelers. Get her as many of those as you can. Half a dozen should do it.”

There was a small pause. “So she hates porcelain. Any other nonsuggestions?”

“Just buy her some flowers. She loves flowers.”

“Okay. I’ll see you on Saturday, Mel.”

“See you.” She ended the call then stood for a moment, her head bowed. Flynn was coming to her parents’ anniversary party. She was going to see him again. And he hadn’t given up on her or decided she was too hard or not worth the hassle.

After a long beat, she lifted her head and took a deep breath. “Mom!”

Her mother appeared in the door like a jack-in-the-box. “Are you okay?”

Mel marched toward the patio, the better to loom over her parent while she gave her a piece of her mind. “Why did you invite Flynn to your party without telling me?”

Her mother had the grace to look guilty. “I thought it would be a nice surprise for you.”

“Did it occur to you at some point that I might prefer not to be surprised? And that if I had wanted him to come I would have invited him myself?”

Her mother reached for the necklace at her throat, pulling the faith, hope and charity charms back and forth across the chain. A sure sign she was nervous.

“Why don’t you want him to come? You obviously like the man. And he obviously likes you. Why wouldn’t you want him there?”

“You of all people know why,” Mel said.

Her mother shut her jaw with a click and dropped her hand. After a long moment she nodded. “You’re right. I’m sorry. We just want you to be happy again, Melly Belly.”

“I know, Mom. But you can’t make me happy, especially not by pushing me into something I have no idea if I’m ready for or not.”

“I thought I was doing the right thing. I thought maybe you just needed a little nudge.”

“No.”

“Okay. I’ll cross him off the list, then,” her mother said.

Mel turned and walked back toward the garage. “He’s coming.”

“But you just said—”

Wisely, her mother didn’t complete her thought. Mel picked up the wire brush and resumed her attack on the garage wall. After a few seconds her mother reentered the house.

Mel spent the next hour trying not to feel like the world’s biggest hypocrite—because, of course, she was over the moon that she would be seeing Flynn this weekend. But her mother didn’t need to know that just yet.





CHAPTER ELEVEN



THREE DAYS LATER, Mel plugged in the final string of fairy lights and stepped back to assess the effect. She gave a nod of satisfaction.

“Not too bad, if I do say so myself.”

“Yeah, not too shabby,” her brother agreed.

They’d been working since daybreak to transform their parents’ yard for the big occasion. Thanks to their labors, fairy lights now hung from every conceivable anchor point—the eaves, the side of the freshly painted garage, along the fence—and pots full of flowering annuals had been borrowed from Mel’s garden and placed in strategic locations to cover various domestic uglies like the tap and the grease trap. Assorted outdoor chairs were placed in conversational groupings, and the caterers had set up a long trestle table beneath the covered patio. Later, guests would help themselves to a selection of salads as well as roast lamb and beef, both of which were currently being spit-roasted on a rotisserie located in front of the garage, sending delicious aromas across the backyard.

“I’m going home to get ready before Mom spots us standing around,” Harry said, already fishing in his pocket for his car keys.

“Good point.”

Officially the party didn’t start for another hour, but her mother’s sister, Lydia, was notorious for being early, and the neighbors would probably drift over sooner rather than later. Unless Mel wanted to be caught in her dirty track pants and equally dirty sweater, she needed to make a quick exit while she could.