The Rancher's Second Chance (13 page)

Kira smiled. “And you’re putting flowers inside?”

Melanie nodded vigorously, placing the pot back in the bag. “I just need to pick up the boxes and then each one will be wrapped with a pink satin ribbon and a card indicating the significance of the flower and the donation that will be made on the guest’s behalf.”

“I think that’s such a wonderful gesture,” Kira said, watching her a little too closely. Melanie averted her eyes. She was already giving herself away.

Piper frowned. “Wait, what’s this gesture?”

Melanie took a sip of coffee. Do this without crying. “Corrina’s sister-in-law died of cancer five years ago. Her favorite flowers were hydrangeas. We’re going to place white hydrangea plants in each pot and then tie a small note saying a donation to the American Cancer Society was made in each guest’s name. They were really close, and Cori thought it would be a nice tribute.” She looked into her coffee cup and cleared her throat of the emotion that had clogged there.

Piper sniffled. “Oh that’s so sweet. And so sad.” She took a sip of her coffee, and the three of them sat in silence longer than they had ever sat quiet together before. “So this was Cole’s wife, right?”

Melanie stared into her cup. She knew both of them were watching her closely. They should have had this little get-together at The Loft where drinks might have lessened their curiosity and the dim lighting hidden her expressions.

“Um, yup,” she said. “You know, enough about this wedding. How are you two doing? You both survived that blizzard?” She narrowed her eyes as both her friends shiftily looked in opposite directions.

“We’re fine. Well, what about you, Mel?”

“Me? I was stranded in some backwoods, mountain-man cabin with Cole. He’s about to sign some contract connecting him to the father I no longer speak to.”

“Oh, sweetheart,” Piper said. Melanie held up her hand.

“Sympathy not needed. Appreciated, but not needed,” she said, forcing a casual smile on her face that neither of them was buying judging by the pity still entrenched on their pretty faces.

“We should go for drinks,” Kira announced, standing.

Melanie smiled. “Agreed.”

The door chime sounded, and Melanie darted her head in the direction of the front of the store. She could have sworn all her meetings were done for the day.

“Melly?”

Melanie frowned at the sound of that voice. She stared at Piper and Kira, blinking repeatedly, trying to process.

Hesitant footsteps approached and Melanie slowly rose, her heart throbbing with a steady ache. And there she was. In her store. In real life.

Meredith, her sister.

Melanie stared at her sister. Her long brown hair, shiny and straight, fell to her shoulders. Her brown eyes, the delicate bone structure, the perfectly applied makeup. She gave Melanie a small smile as she walked forward, poised and elegant in her designer coat and matching bag.

“It’s really you, Merry?”

Her sister looked over at her friends, and Melanie remembered they were still here. “Kira, Piper, this is my sister, Meredith,” she said, her voice sounding shaky to her own ears. Both her friends knew of her severed relationship, and they offered up cheerful greetings for a few awkward minutes.

Kira cleared her throat and pointed at the door. “So, um, we’re going to leave now.”

Piper nodded. “Yes, leaving,” she said, hastily grabbing their coats before they both backed out of the room. Once they were out of Meredith’s sight line they motioned to Melanie to call them. She gave them a smile and then turned to look at her sister.

Melanie didn’t know what to do. Could she hug her? Was Meredith mad at her still? But she couldn’t. She couldn’t stand here, across from the sister she’d grown up with and not reach out to her. Melanie took a step forward, and Meredith met her halfway. Melanie felt the years, the distance, dissolve as her sister clung to her. How she’d missed her. How she’d longed for their nights of whispering and plotting and daydreaming.

“I’ve missed you so much,” her sister whispered, her voice hoarse with tears.

“Me, too.” Melanie didn’t want to let her go; she just wanted to stay and imagine that they were still the best of friends, united against their father.

Finally, Melanie pulled away. She looked at her sister’s tear-streaked face and passed her a tissue, grabbing one for herself as well.

“I’m so sorry I haven’t been in touch, Mel, but there hasn’t been a day that’s gone by that I haven’t thought of you or wished we still lived together.”

Melanie wanted to cry all over again. “Really?”

Meredith nodded, smiling. “I thought you hated me, or were disappointed.”

Melanie shook her head, unwilling to tell her sister she’d been upset. For a long time, she’d felt as though her mother and sister abandoned her, but she wasn’t going to blow her second chance. The entire family had seen her as the child who didn’t know when to keep her mouth shut. Well now she would. She’d do anything to have a relationship with Meredith again.

“We all made our choices, and my choice couldn’t have been easy for either of you, I know. I’ve felt so much guilt for leaving,” she said, her voice cracking.

“Forget it. We can’t do this, not now, or we’ll never have a nice visit.”

Melanie’s mouth dropped open. Her sister was staying? “How long are you here?”

“I can only stay an hour,” she said softly.

Melanie’s smile vanished. An hour.

Meredith looked over her shoulder at the store window. “Dad is in town.”

“I know. Does…does he know I live here?”

Meredith nodded slowly. “He knows you live in Passion Creek.”

“Does he know about my business?”

She nodded again, but didn’t elaborate. It shouldn’t bother her. She shouldn’t care that her father was in the same town as her and couldn’t even be bothered to see her. Or see what she’d accomplished. Or that her mother hadn’t used the opportunity to come and visit. “Does he know you’re here, with me?”

“No. Right now he’s with my fiancée, Ron.”

Melanie dropped into a chair and forced a smile on her face. “Fiancée?”

Meredith nodded. “He’s in town on business, and Ron is one of the VPs, so we’re all here for a few nights.”

“I can’t believe you’re getting married. Congratulations.” She tried to sound happy. Her sister was getting married and she knew nothing about her future husband. She wouldn’t be invited to the wedding. They would have kids…and she would be…nothing.

Meredith nodded and smiled tightly. “Thank you, I’m very excited.”

Melanie knew that smile. It wasn’t the smile of pure, unadulterated joy. It was the smile of a woman holding on to secrets and pain.

“Come, sit.” Melanie gestured to the two white upholstered chairs in front of her desk. “Actually, why don’t we go out for dinner?” she asked, excited by the possibility of catching up with her sister.

Meredith was already shaking her head and sat down in one of the chairs. “That’s okay, let’s just stay here, it’s so lovely.” She didn’t look at Melanie as she untied the belt on her coat, taking it off and carefully draping it on the armrest. Her black wrap dress hung on her painfully thin body, and Melanie was torn again by whether or not she should say something. Her sister had never been so thin, her cheekbones noticeably high, the hollows beneath them pronounced.

Shut up, Mel. Mind your own business. Don’t ruin this.
Melanie forced herself to look natural. “Sure, we can stay here. How about I make us a coffee? Cappuccino?”

“Coffee would be great. Black, please,” she said, smoothing her already perfect dress.

As she waited for the single serve coffee to brew she wondered about Ron. What kind of man was he? If he knew their father that well, then surely he must have some inkling of what he was really like. And if he did, what would that say about the kind of man he was?

She placed a floral china mug under the drip and waited for her coffee. After she added the right amount of milk to her coffee she picked up the two mugs and walked back to the chairs. She handed Meredith her cup and settled into the seat beside her. “I’m so happy you came to visit me.”

Her sister smiled at her, taking a sip of the coffee. Melanie glanced at her sister’s hand, the massive diamond ring on her thin finger commanding notice. “What a gorgeous ring.”

Meredith touched the ring absently, her voice devoid of any excitement. There was no waving of her hand, no arms flailing. Just a muted, “Thank you.”

“So, come on. Fill me in. How are you? Mom? And this man you’re about to marry? Is he the hero we both dreamed up way back when? I believe your hero had blond hair and blue eyes, right?”

“Wow, how do you remember all that stuff? You always were the one with the vivid imagination. I just went along with everything you said and did. But I guess he’s my version of the perfect hero,” she said, breaking Melanie’s stare.

Melanie ignored the sting of her sister’s flippant dismissal of one of their childhood memories. She tightened her grip on the mug, wanting the warmth from the coffee to seep inside and ease the sudden chill. Her mother and her sister chose to stay behind and continue living a life where submission was the only game. She didn’t want to lecture her sister; she didn’t want to beg her to leave again. She would keep her mouth shut in order to spend this time with her.

“So tell me about him; what’s he like?”

Meredith crossed one long leg over the other and furrowed her perfect brows as she picked at some imaginary lint on her pristine dress. “He’s very smart. He comes from a very good family, long line of successful people. Old money.”

“Oh, Merry,” she said, unable to keep her big mouth shut. “Why are you doing this? Do you love him?”

“Of course I do. Don’t start judging me. You made your choice, and I made mine.”

“Hey, we’re on the same side. I’ve got your back.”

“My back? How can you have my back if you walked out?”

“That’s not true. I had to leave and you could have come with me.”

“You turned your back on us.”

“No,” Melanie said, standing. She couldn’t believe Meredith still thought this way. Finally her sister had reached out to her and this is what she had to say? So nothing had changed. “No. I turned my back on our father. I defended you and Mom. I asked, no I begged, you to come with me. And you both refused. Dad is the one who cut me off and wouldn’t allow me back. I would have come to visit. I was alone.”

“Stop it. I know more than you’ll ever know what went on there.
I
was there with mom when you left. And
I
took care of her when he unleashed all his anger on her after you walked out.
I’m
the one who watched her cry when he removed all your pictures from the house and forbid us from speaking about you.”

Melanie stared at her sister, her words destroying the defenses she’d carefully constructed. It shouldn’t hurt. Her father’s actions should have no effect on her. He took down all the pictures of her, like she didn’t exist. And their mother had let him? She drew a long, shaky breath, forcing herself to speak instead of cry.

“You’re a coward,” Melanie whispered, hating that she said that aloud. “At least I have something for myself. I’m not an object, a pawn for Dad to use when he needs to project what a great family man he is.”

“We are more than that to him,” her sister said, looking down into her lap.

Melanie crossed her arms. “Really? So are you working at the company?” Anderson Food Group was first started by their grandfather. Ever since Melanie could remember, it had been her father’s obsession. Making more money, proving to his father that he could do better than even him. Anderson Food Group was a name she could never hear without feeling ill, just as it had the other night when it fell off Cole’s gorgeous lips.

Her sister looked up at her, jaw set. “No.”

“Oh, so what are you doing then?” Melanie felt cruel to do this to her, but she was trying to help, trying to point out everything that was wrong, how far his manipulations went.

Meredith’s face paled. “I’ve been busy wedding planning. Not all of us want to live and die alone, Mel. Principles don’t keep you warm at night or pay the bills. If you could tell me that you finally trusted someone enough to let them in, then maybe I’d take some of what you’re saying seriously. But you can’t. You can’t trust anyone enough to save you.”

Melanie bit her lower lip and darted her eyes away from Meredith’s accusing ones. The image of Cole at the cabin, pouring his heart out about Sarah danced in front of her. Or her running out of his house last night.

“I’m not the one who needs saving, Merry.”

Meredith shook her head. “We could have helped each other, if you had only stayed.”

“We did. For years. I wasn’t going to sit there and exchange my dignity for an allowance. I walked out on that without a dime to my name.”

Her sister put her coffee down and got up. “It was good to see you again, Melanie. I’m very pleased you’re successful and have a nice life here in Passion Creek.”

“No, wait. Please, Mer, let’s visit. We’ll talk about whatever you want to talk about.” She followed her sister to the front of the boutique. She couldn’t let her go, not yet. She just wanted a sentence, a look, a smile from the girl she once was.

“I really should go. I don’t want to keep Ron and Dad waiting.”

“Don’t be mad at me.”

Her sister smiled, a vacant, hollow smile that resembled nothing of her real sister’s smile, and everything of their mother’s. “Of course I’m not mad. You were always passionate in your beliefs. I’m glad we saw each other.” She leaned forward and gave her a hug. Melanie clung to her sister’s thin body, the supple cashmere coat the only softness in the hug.

“Wait,” Mel called out as her sister began walking away. “If you’re still in town, Cori is getting married this weekend. I’m planning the wedding for her. I know she’d be so happy to see you again. It’s at the ranch. I’ll be there. You’re more than welcome to come.”

Her sister gave a slight nod and then turned to open the door.

“Meredith.” Melanie approached her, frantic to keep her here, to get through to her.