Mail Order Stepbrother (3 page)

She was still reading through Nash’s short, but informative profile when a little icon at the bottom of the screen informed her that he had responded to her email.

Melanie—

No, I’m not married. Never got further than an engagement ring and the requisite picture-in-the-paper stage. And, no, I don’t think there’s anything in my profile that will surprise you. I was as detailed as I felt was necessary, but not so detailed that there wouldn’t be any room for us to get to know each other through emails. To that end, your profile suggests that you like to read but haven’t had time for it recently. Is that because of your work? Do you do other things in your free time? Do you like to hike? Or do you prefer indoor activities?

Nash

Melanie’s eyebrows rose at the mention of an engagement. She wondered who she was and what happened. Did they break up because they were young? Or was there something else? Was he unfaithful?

She really didn’t want to get involved with someone who had been unfaithful in the past. In her experience, that almost always led to unfaithfulness in the future. She had worked in a hospital setting long enough to see what long hours and professional stress could do to a marriage. If she was with a man who cheated under less provocation than that…

That wasn’t something she wanted.

It crossed her mind to just end the whole thing, but she liked some of things she saw on his profile. And she liked the no-nonsense tone of his emails. What would it hurt to just talk a little?

Nash—

I have a very busy career, so I don’t have a lot of free time…but, when I do, I like to watch TV or read a good book. Occasionally, I like to go hiking, especially in the company of good friends. In high school and college, there was a group of us who liked to go camping from time to time, but that was before I moved to Texas. I haven’t done much of that since then, though I think it would be nice to get back into it. My life recently has been centered on my career…I guess, maybe, I’m ready to step back and see what else life has to offer.

Melanie

He must have been waiting by his computer, because Nash’s next email came within minutes:

How long have you lived in Texas? Where did you live before that?

I like to camp, especially down in the hill country. My current favorite place to go is a place not far from Bandera. Unfortunately, the drought has had a detrimental impact on the area, but it’s still great for hiking and other pursuits.

Would you consider hiking a good first date?

Melanie smiled as she read that last line. He certainly was different from other men she’d dated the past five years or so. She liked that he asked questions, that he didn’t seem focused solely on himself. And he seemed interested in what she might like to do on a date. When was the last time a guy asked her where she wanted to go, or what she wanted to do?

She couldn’t remember.

I’ve lived in Texas for five years. Before that, I lived in California, starting in San Diego, a few years in Los Angeles, and then Palo Alto. What about you? Are you from Texas originally, or a transplant like me?

I haven’t had a chance to visit the hill country, but I’ve heard Austin is a beautiful place to visit. I’ve also heard there’s good camping down around San Antonio, but haven’t had a chance to go there, either. Goodness, I guess I haven’t had a chance to go much of anywhere!

I think a hiking trip would be an ideal first date…you’d be too busy to do much more than talk, and that is all a first date should be about.

Melanie hesitated before she pushed the send button on her comments. She was afraid of scaring the guy off by telling him too much about herself and her opinions, but then she couldn’t see the point of hiding anything. He would learn about her one way or the other eventually. Maybe if she laid it all out there to start with, neither of them would waste their time on something that wasn’t going to go anywhere.

He surprised her by coming right back with a response.

You’re really missing out, not visiting the Austin area. It’s gorgeous down there. And if you like music, the SXSW festival is worth every moment.

No, I’m not from Texas, either. I was born back east, but spent most of my childhood on the west coast. You lived in Palo Alto? Is it safe to assume you’re a Stanford alumni?

I think a hiking first date is perfect, in part for the same reasons you mentioned. And because I love nature, so if it doesn’t go well, I’m still doing something I love.

So…it’s getting late. If I haven’t scared you off, what do you think about having a conversation on the messenger service on the dating website? Maybe around eight tomorrow evening? If you show, great. If not…it was nice to meet you.

Melanie smiled as she read that last message. She liked his confidence, his enthusiasm, his intelligence. Amazing how much you could tell about a person from just a few words written on a computer screen! She felt like she knew more about this stranger than she knew about most of the people she worked with on a daily basis…Jack most especially.

Maybe dating websites weren’t all that bad.

She closed her computer and prepared for bed, excited about her romantic future for the first time in a long time.

Chapter 3

Melanie was still at the hospital the next day when eight o’clock rolled around. She had a patient who was having some issues that might require surgical intervention, so she couldn’t go home until the patient was stable. So, as much as she hated to, she settled down at the nurse’s station and turned on her personal laptop.

Nash’s personal icon appeared almost immediately at the bottom edge of the screen. She clicked on it and a messenger box opened.

“Good evening,” his message said.

Melanie smiled, thinking how old fashioned it was to say something like that. It was quirky, but a quirk she liked.

“How are you?” she responded.

“Still at the office. What about you?”

“Same.”

A smiley face emoticon appeared on the screen followed by, “I guess now we know why we’re both on this website.”

“I would say that’s a pretty good guess.”

Tanya walked up behind Melanie and reached over her to grab a pen.

“You okay, sweetie?” she asked.

“Yeah. Just talking to a friend.”

Tanya nodded, a soft smile on her lips. “Not Jack, I hope.”

Melanie’s cheeks immediately began to burn. No one had said anything to her all day about Willis’ party the night before. She had hoped that everyone was so busy with their own fun that they hadn’t noticed. Now she knew that wasn’t completely true.

“Not Jack.”

“I saw the two of you leave together—“

“We didn’t, actually. It turns out that Jack’s married.”

“No way!” Another nurse, who just happened to be passing the desk at that moment, cried out. “He is so hot! And I heard he made out with one of the doctors last night.”

Tanya pointed to Melanie, causing her to duck away, snatching up her computer as she did.

“Think I’ll go to the on-call room.”

“It’s okay, honey,” Tanya called after her. “Everyone’s wanted to do what you did last night…”

Melanie just kept walking.

It took her a moment to find an available space. The first on-call room she came to was occupied by five sleeping interns who were so exhausted that they didn’t notice they were sleeping practically on top of one another. Melanie could remember what those nights had been like, and was grateful they were in her past. She found another room, a small break room along the furthest corridor of the pediatric wing, not far from the NICU, and locked herself inside.

There were two messages from Nash. The first read, “What do you do for a living?” The second asked, “Did I lose you?”

“Still here,” she quickly typed as she got herself settled. “A little interruption. Sorry.”

“No problem. I was just answering a phone call myself.”

“Good. I mean, good that you had something…” She moved the cursor back and erased that message. It sounded pretty lame. “So, what do we talk about?” she asked instead.

“I don’t know. I suppose if this was a face to face date, I’d ask you things like, ‘Where did you go to school?’ ‘Are you close to your family?’ ‘What kinds of movies do you watch?’”

“You already know. Sort of. And…it depends on who’s in it.”

Another smiling emoticon filled the screen. “Very efficient….which actors send you running to the local theater?”

“Robert Downey Jr., Julianne Moore, and especially lately Shailene Woodward.”

“Yeah? You’re in to those teen, dystopian type movies?”

“Some of them. I have a—“

“Patient” is what she was about to write, but she suddenly realized she didn’t want to tell him that she was a doctor. After some of her past experiences, she thought that it might be better to wait on that disclosure. Instead, she wrote:

“—friend who loves the books and she made me go see the movies.”

“They aren’t that bad.”

“You’ve seen them?”

“Yes. I could make up an excuse as to why, but the truth is…I have a niece who is a huge fan.”

“That’s a good excuse.”

“Tell my poker buddies.”

Melanie laughed. She could almost picture him, even though she had no idea what he looked like, a cigar hanging from his lips as he tried to explain to a roomful of beer-swilling, poker-playing guys why he went to see a teen movie.

What a scene!

“You’re laughing at me,” he said before she had a chance to type in a response. “I can feel it.”

Melanie laughed again even as she wrote a denial.

He was so easy to talk to. She quickly found herself debating who would most like win in a one-on-one fight, Iron Man with his lack of supernatural powers, or Thor and his magic hammer. Nash was quite knowledgeable about a great many things, from pop culture to classical music to literature, keeping her on her toes with every topic they covered in their hour’s long conversation. She didn’t even realize how much time had passed until her computer flashed a warning about her quickly diminishing battery power.

“My computer is about to die,” she told him regretfully.

“Is it really that late? I guess I should go home and get an hour or two of sleep before it all starts again in the morning.”

“Sorry to keep you up so late.”

“Didn’t even notice the passing time.”

Melanie smiled, glad he felt the same way she did. “Should we meet again tomorrow night? Maybe I’ll even remember to pack my power cord.”

“I’d like that. Same time?”

“Same time, same place.”

“I’ll see you then. Have a good night, Melanie.”

She closed her computer, unable to wipe away the smile that was glued to her lips. What were the chances of finding a perfect match the first time out? She wouldn’t have believed it if it had happened to someone else. And maybe she shouldn’t believe it for herself.

But she desperately wanted to.

***

“How was the honeymoon?”

“Oh, darling, it was everything a girl could have asked for,” Melanie’s mother crooned in her ear. “We stayed in all these beautiful places, and the yacht? Just sublime! I never could have imagined anything better.”

“Yeah, the pictures were pretty amazing.”

“They were, weren’t they?”

No humility. No embarrassment. Who was this woman and what had she done with Melanie’s mother? Funny how a little money could change a person.

“I should go, Mom. I’m on call today.”

“But you’re at home. You can talk for a little while, can’t you?”

There was a touch of disappointment in her mother’s voice. Melanie could never stand to disappoint her mother.

“Yes, of course.”

“Good.” Clearly relieved now. “So, Burton’s birthday is in a few months. I want you and Burt and Alyssa and her family to all make an appearance.”

“Burt? Have you even met him yet?”

“No. But Burton assures me that his stubborn son will show up for the party, even if he has to make certain threats against him to get him there.”

“Sounds like a tightknit family.”

“Yes, well, Burt blames his father for a few things that went wrong in the past. But, I’m hoping that if we can get the family together in one room, we can convince him that his father is not the monster he thinks he is.”

Melanie remembered what Alyssa had said about her brother—how he blames his father for their mother’s death—and how it worried her a little about her mother. If Burton drove his first wife to drink—at least, in the opinion of his youngest child—what might he do to Melanie’s mother?

“Do you know what he accuses his father of?”

“Yes. And I realize why he feels that way, but Burton did the best he could by his wife. He put her in rehab fourteen times…did you know that?”

“No, I didn’t.”

“It was a bad situation, Melanie. And Burton handled it the best way he knew how at the time.”

Melanie sat on the edge of the couch, her eyes falling to her open laptop where it sat on the coffee table. She had been up most of the night talking to Nash. It was the second time in a week they talked all night, the ninth time they’d talked since the first exchange of emails nearly two weeks ago. She found herself wondering what he would think if she told him about her new, dysfunctional family. So far they had managed to keep their conversations away from parents and siblings…She wondered how much longer that would last.

“I’m sure Burton’s a saint.”

“Don’t be sarcastic.”

“I’m not.” Melanie stood up again, turning to her galley kitchen and a cold glass of orange juice she had poured just as her phone rang. “If you love him, he can’t be all that bad.”

“Thank you.” Her mother sighed. “I really want everyone to get along, Melanie. You and Burton, you and Alyssa and Burt…I want to be a proper family.”

“You’re a psychologist. You should know there is no such thing as a proper family.”

“True,” her mother said, laughing softly. But then she grew a little more somber. “I never imagined I would get married. After your father died, I was so wrapped up in surviving that by the time I lifted my head, I thought that part of my life—the part where I had a chance to find love and settle down with a good man—had passed me by. Now…I just want this to work.”