Chapter 7

Melody

 

Melody had to figure out how to avoid her empty house since leaving the diner job a few days before.

Staying inside wasn’t an option when the days were so warm. Plus, Melody’s dad’s depression seemed to permeate the walls. Years of sadness spurred alcoholism were hard to escape just because he was dead. Plus, everywhere she looked bills seemed to taunt her. She needed a break from the mistake of leaving her job and the lack of money and food she had.

Melody gripped the rope of the tire swing, pumping her legs to move back and forth over the creek from the bent angle of the large willow tree. The tree had been there longer than she could remember and her daddy had put in the swing when she was about six years old. She’d swung on it ever since.

From the raised knoll above the creek, she could sit on the swing and see for miles around. In one direction, the old Flint home sat with an abandoned air that… wait a minute.

Melody stretched her leg down to stop the swing from gently swaying and she narrowed her eyes in the direction of the home in the afternoon light.

Over the years, she’d grown accustomed to staring at the home, taking in the details of abandonment. When Stryder’s parents had died, someone had come to board up the windows and that had made the home look like a painting in the distance with no real depth. Shadows on the wraparound porch gave it angles and a three-dimensional feel, but the windows boarded up had left it feeling soulless.

But now, the glass was back, reflecting the brilliant blue sky and the dark shadows of the porch. Had Stryder come back to sell his place?

Dust rose from the dirt drive as semi-trucks lumbered up the to the house. From that distance, the men moving in and out could have been ants or they could have been figments of Melody’s imagination.

She hoped it was the latter. The former meant someone was moving in and Melody didn’t want to dwell on who it would be. She shook her head. No, Stryder wasn’t moving back. He’d been at the diner in his business suit, Montana wouldn’t offer anything for who he had become.

She’d spent the last couple of days hoping he was just passing through, maybe selling his place, or something else less about her and more about moving on with his life.

In all honesty, Stryder hadn’t come to her place and that had hurt more than she wanted to admit.

Busying herself with looking through the two or three want-ads that had nothing to do with jobs and everything to do with people looking for work, Melody hadn’t even found a seller for the stuff she had to sell. She had branched out, using online selling sites and posted some things, but still hadn’t heard anything.

She needed money now. Immediately.

There were no jobs in Two Rides. Not that she could get. She could probably get a job at the granary, but that meant more exposure to Brock and the rest of the Stidwell family. If she was going to do that, she would have to admit that her pride was worthless and why not just marry into the controlling family? She had nothing else to lose at that point.

What was she going to do? The notices had stopped coming to the house in the mail. She’d disconnected the landline and her cell phone wasn’t attached to any of the accounts they owed on. If she wasn’t getting bills, where were they going? Had the bank done something about her mail? That scared Melody more than collectors showing up on her doorstep.

When they stopped contacting her was when they were going to court or going to a harder acting collections agency. She didn’t need a meaner company telling her she owed money. She knew she was in debt. What she needed was a break. Maybe a really great paying job that paid her far more than she was worth. She could do with that.

Sun reflecting off the gurgling water of the creek caught her attention and brought her back to the moment. The creek, with its grassy shores and brightly colored river rocks had been a place of so many moments growing up, moments she’d mostly shared with Stryder. Instead of making her feel centered, a memory flooded her senses.

 

A rock plopped into the water and Melody looked up from the reflection of the clouds in the happy creek. The ripples hadn’t lasted with the fast moving water, but it had ruined the image enough to catch her attention.

A boy probably two years older than her stood on the opposite side of the creek. He had brown eyes like hers but darker brown hair. Blue jeans and a t-shirt didn’t make him seem any different from the other boys at school and Melody watched him.

His voice and the way he spoke to her made him stand out. “I’m Stryder Flint. I live over there.” He pointed down the slight incline toward the beautiful estate that hadn’t been able to stay in anyone’s family for long over the years. Melody’s mama said it was haunted but Melody knew the home just needed love.

Happy to have a new friend living in the home, Melody smiled and waved. “I’m Melody Steel. I live over there.” She pointed toward her house, another couple hundred yards in the opposite direction past golden fields and splotches of green where the water had been recently. She looked back at the boy, chewing on her lower lip. Would he want to play with her?

Stryder’s eyes lit up. “Hey! Flint and Steel. Did you know you can use those two things to start a fire?” He started talking, explaining the process. And as if it were natural, he’d crossed a fallen tree to the other side of the water and approached Melody, still talking about flint and steel.

He reached her, his smile easy and his eyes bright. He gave her a push on the swing, talking about whatever and Melody had listened, loving the feel of his hands on her back and the wind in her hair.

From then on they’d met there almost every day, especially when they were upset or they’d had good news or just wanted to see each other. Climbing trees, splashing in the water, and swinging had been only a few of the things they’d done together over the years.

As they’d gotten older, Stryder had held Melody on the grassy shores and told her over and over how much he loved her. He’d filled her entire world with the things they could do together – build a family, travel the world. He’d promised her forever and left without looking back.

 

Melody clenched her jaw at the memory. Her heart couldn’t take any more disappointment. She couldn’t handle how much he’d ruined her place of contentment and happiness. She couldn’t go to the creek without feeling and remembering the way he’d made her feel.

Even as those memories made her sad, they also reminded her of what it was like to be loved and she couldn’t stop going to the creek. The feelings were addicting and she went there more because she needed it than because she wanted it.

Since she’d seen him at the diner, she couldn’t stop thinking about him – had she ever really stopped? No, he was always there in the back of her mind. When would he come back? Would he come back to her? And then finally, she didn’t want him to come back. She’d been hurt too much and she wasn’t sure she could ever recover from being abandoned by him, especially after he knew she’d been left by her mom. He knew what he would do to her by leaving and not coming back without an explanation. He knew… and still he’d done it.

Why was Stryder back? Had he finally come to Two Rides to do his magic investing and turn the town around?

She’d left her phone at the house so she couldn’t call Jesse right then to tell her that someone had bought the old Flint estate. Even as she thought it, though, she wasn’t stupid. No one had bought that place. She wanted Jesse to tell her someone had bought it because the only other alternative was too much for Melody to handle.

Stryder was back.

Melody wasn’t sure it was a good thing. Not for her heart and not for her home.