loved most and it hurt really badly. She didn’t know what to do. Finally, Melissa got up to go, but her mother stood up too, and grabbed her by the hand.
“Mels please. We didn’t want you to worry. Your father didn’t want to say anything until we were sure what it was. We wanted to give you the chance to focus on your work and your career. Please calm down.”
Melissa just pulled away. “You didn’t think I could handle this?”
“Of course that’s not the reason, we just didn’t want to alarm you when there was nothing you could do,” her mother said imploringly.
“Whatever mom, I don’t really care about your intentions. I had a right to know that my father was getting sick. What I might do with that information was my choice and you took that away. Good day mother.”
And with that, she stormed off to her room. She took her wallet and phone and ran back down. Malcolm was at the foot of the stairs holding up the keys to his car.
“Drive safe sis, and…” he stopped her with a hand on her shoulder, “I’m sorry about what we did. Dad made me swear not to tell you.” Melissa didn’t even look at him and Malcolm let her through.
She ran up to his pickup and drove away.
“I told you we should have called her.”
“I just don’t know how she’d going to take the next bit of news. Oh Mal, I don’t know how to tell her!”
“How can I help you miss?”
Melissa drove into town with trembling hands. Her face had become a splotchy red color, as it does when she gets agitated over something. She didn’t know where to go so she stopped at a new looking restaurant that hadn’t been here six years ago when she first went to college. She went inside and sat down; aware of the curious glances everyone in the restaurant threw her way.
“How can I help you miss?” asked a waitress.
Melissa ordered a coffee and a bagel. She didn’t want to drink so early and she needed to sort through her feelings, and to do that she needed to be sober.
Before the coffee and the bagel arrived, someone tapped her on the shoulder.
“I take it lunch didn’t go very well?” It was Jordan again, looking sympathetically at her, gardening gloves clutched on his hand.
“No, it didn’t go well at all. What are you doing here?” Melissa asked, eager to get the spotlight away from her.
“I’m on my lunch break. We’re doing some landscaping now that the building’s done. This is a George and James production actually.” He meant the building. Their company had probably made the building and he was now occupied with the landscaping out front.
“Really, Malcolm designed this building? I’m impressed.” It was a rustic little place, and it had an eye-catching woodwork design. “You’re on your lunch break, right? I’m just having coffee but you can have lunch with me if you like,” Melissa broached almost shyly.
Jordan’s face broke out in a wide smile as he pulled up a chair. After Jordan ordered ‘his regular’ and Melissa’s coffee and bagel came, they both sat in comfortable silence for a while.
“What do you do in London?”
“Oh I’m junior VP in interior design for our hotel chain. I got the promotion just 4 months ago,” there was a tinge of hurt in her voice when she said this, realizing that her father was already sick when she got the promotion, and it was probably because of the promotion that they had refrained from telling her.
“What’s wrong Mels?”
“Nothing… no actually, everything’s wrong. My father is sicker than anyone said, and for longer than I was lead to believe, and my brother will be getting married to a woman who’s a complete stranger to me. It’s like my family went on ahead without me,” said Melissa, her knuckles white from holding her hands in tight fists.
“You live in London Mels, it’s what you’ve wanted since you were twelve and watched My Fair Lady on VHS. It was your dream. When you got that job and lived in a posh apartment in London, your parents didn’t want to come between you and your dreams. I think that’s why your dad didn’t want you to know. And you can still get to know Sally right?”
“But don’t I have a right to know? I could have spent more time with them, with dad, rather than me coming just now. Right?”
“Well, don’t you think your parents would have wanted you here? That they didn’t miss you every minute you were away? Of course they did, but maybe you don’t remember how excited you were when you got your working passport and that London internship. Mels, it was as if you could fly to the moon on your dreams alone. That’s what your parents didn’t want to disturb, you following your dreams.”
Tears started falling in earnest again. The waitress, who came to bring Jordan’s food, glanced awkwardly at the weeping woman and shuffled away. Jordan let her cry, biting slowly into his burger and waiting for the waves of sadness to dissipate.
After a good 5 minutes, after she was all cried out, Melissa wiped her eyes and looked shyly at Jordan, who was eating his burger quietly.
“I don’t know why Jordie, but it was always so easy to talk to you. Thanks.”
“No problem. We’ll be doing some gardening and I know it’s not fancy hotel decorating, but maybe it can get your mind off things.”
“You mean help out with your landscaping?” she asked, unsure.
“Yeah, I know you’ll do a great job.”
Jordan brought Melissa to the back of the restaurant that was still closed off to the public. The lawn was being placed and there were cement paths there, but there was still an assortment of flowers and crotons in planters. Melissa and Jordan spent the rest of the day digging and arranging the various florae, laughing and teasing each other. It seemed as if the last six years didn’t exist at all, it was as if they were never apart. She was always close with Malcolm, but there was effortlessness in her interactions with Jordan that made her more open to him and she found herself telling him all about London, homesickness, and the emptiness of living for the job.
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy and I love my job, but it kind of makes you ask yourself if that’s all there is. I go to church, but it’s not the same when you go alone, then go home to an empty apartment. I never told mom and dad, I didn’t want to disappoint them.”
“Why would that disappoint them? It’s natural that you’d feel that way since you’re in an different country. And I have a feeling this was a choice. I’m sure you didn’t want for suitors.”
“There were some guys, but when I told them about my faith and about abstinence they didn’t really stick around for long. If they can’t wait and respect my decision then they probably aren’t for me. I wonder if there are still any Godly men who would be willing to wait till marriage.”
“I’m sure there are, you just have to look closer,” said Jordan quietly. A slight breeze chilled Melissa, and something in Jordan’s voice made her heart race.
“I think we did pretty well… for a first time partnership,” Jordan said happily, as he looked over their work.
“I’ll say. Thanks for letting me help. It was fun, and sort of therapeutic,” Melissa replied, looking over to Jordan, and then their eyes met for what seemed like an eternity.
“Jordan, I got you and your guys some drinks.” And just like that, the spell was broken. The men who worked for Jordan came over and all picked up a glass of cool lemonade.
Jordan got two glasses and handed one to Melissa, then he led her to wooden swing that was newly installed by one of the men.
“This is the perfect place to watch a sunset. I saw it the minute I surveyed the area. I convinced the owners to have this swing installed.”
Melissa smiled and sat down, but she gasped when she saw the scenery that lay before her. The sunset took her breath away.
Melissa hadn’t realized that the restaurant was at the edge of town and that they actually looked over the valley and the great lake. The sun was setting and was nestled against the snow-capped mountains. The sky was colored red-orange and had flecks of pink and purple; the
light reflected off the water of the lake and left the scenery with speckles of gold.
“Oh Jordan, I never thought this place could look so beautiful.”
“I think that a lot of people often go to other places looking for beauty, never really knowing the beauty they have at their feet.”
“You’re a wise man Jordan James, wiser than me surely. I feel like I went around in circles but I still don’t know where I am.”
“You’re home now.”
And slowly, tentatively, Jordan’s hand reached out to Melissa, and before they knew it, their fingers were intertwined. Melissa could feel Jordan pulse and it comforted her. With a soft sigh, she leaned her head against his shoulder, feeling his warmth against her, comforted by the rise and fall of his chest.
Catching a glimpse...
It was late when Malcolm’s car finally pulled up at the front door and Melissa and Jordan got out. They had eaten dinner at Jordan’s cabin, and Jordan had offered to drive her home, as Melissa was clearly tired from the travel and emotional turmoil. She fell asleep the moment the car started to pull away and Jordan had let her sleep, only waking her when they were already home. Jordan could sleep in the guesthouse at the back like he usually did. The Georges were like his second family anyway.
When Melissa opened the door, she found her brother sitting in the sofa watching TV, while Sally had her head on his lap, reading a book.
She came in and cleared her throat. Sally got up abruptly;