“Everything go okay?” Melanie asked.
Something about her tone rose my hackles. It was almost as if she was nervous. “Yep. Found everything I needed. I was gone longer than I thought, though, so I won’t be working today,” I said.
“In that case, I think I’ll go on home,” she said.
“Mew leaving?” Liam asked.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart, but I gotta go see my dad,” she said.
“You know you can stay for dinner if you’d like. Or come back for it,” I said.
“Not tonight, thanks,” she said.
She seemed distant and it was beginning to worry me.
“Were the kids okay while I was gone?” I asked.
“They were angels, as always,” she said, as she pulled on her coat.
“Did something happen?” I asked.
She threw a glance my way and held my gaze, but the look on her face was hesitant. The brightness in her eyes had faded and in its place was something that bordered on accusatory.
What the hell had happened while I was gone?
“Melanie. Are you sure you’re all right?” I asked.
“Of course,” she said.
I wanted to believe her, but my mind was screaming at me not to. But before I could get a word in edgewise, she was out the door and headed to her car. She didn’t kiss the kids on the head like she normally did and a sinking feeling overtook me.
I had to figure out what had happened while I was in town.
Liam pressed his face against the glass, whimpering as he watched Melanie’s car back down the driveway. Hadley’s eyes were watering and I went to scoop her out of her playpen, but my mind was focused elsewhere. I gave her a few minutes to get down the mountain before I went into my room to get my cell phone. I was going to call her to see if she would talk to me that way, but I noticed the ringer on my phone had been silenced.
I never put my phone on silent because I’d never hear my alarm go off in the morning.
Scrolling through the text messages I had, I came upon one that Mike had sent. My eyes flickered across it quickly before I sighed, and that was when it hit me. If my phone had been ringing off the hook and bothering her, she probably came back here to silence it. Which meant she probably saw Mike’s text.
Which busted me in the lie I’d been telling her about the kids.
“Shit,” I mumbled.
I called her cell phone but got no answer which didn’t shock me one bit. I left her alone and tried a few minutes later, at least hoping she’d let me know she got back home okay. But she didn’t answer and I was getting frustrated, so, I sent her a text message.
“Dinner’s at six if you want to come back for it. Maybe when we sit down, we can talk?”
I was shocked when I got a response a few minutes later.
“Needed to get home. I’m just a babysitter, not a live-in nanny.”
Hadley was cuddling into my neck as I gripped my phone, trying my best to keep my emotions at bay. I needed to tell her what was really going on, but I didn’t want to do that over the phone.
Whether she came back to dinner or not, it was time for me to get cooking. I sat Hadley in her high chair and gave her a few toys before I sat Liam in front of a movie. I pulled out marinated chicken to grill up in a pan before I started mashing up potatoes, and just as I was done making the fresh green beans there was a knock at the door.
Liam’s head turned on a dime from the television, his eyes lit up.
“Mew?” he asked.
“I’m not sure, buddy. Hold on.”
Wiping my hands off, I set everything to simmer to keep it warm. The chicken was still baking and I hadn’t set the table yet, though it was close to six o’clock. I opened the door and was surprised to find Melanie standing there.
I was profoundly relieved she had come back.
“We need to talk,” she said to me as she stepped over the threshold.
“We will, I promise,” I said to her as she brushed past me.
Liam attacked her as soon as she was in the room, wrapping his arms around her legs and holding on. She picked the boy up in her arms and carried him back into the house. She set him down at his spot at the table before she shed her coat and hung it up. Her bag was dropped off to the side as she started setting the table, and I could tell how weary she was. Her shoulders were slouched and her posture was hunched a bit.
I wanted to take some of that weight off her any way I could.