Need You Now (Love in Unknown) (5 page)

The day her dad told him she never wanted to see him again still counted as the worst day of his life. Worse even than his almost-wedding day.

Seeing her again had thrown him off his game. If she’d been any other woman, he’d be over there starting up a conversation, convincing her to come home with him, but this was Mel. She always sent him a little off kilter. Back in college, he’d stolen a few of the romance novels she kept by her bed, just to get a better idea of what she might like. Maybe that’s what he needed to do now. Step back, look for the signs of what might fix things for them. They didn’t know each other anymore. Ten years was a long time. She needed to see that he wasn’t the idiot he’d been ten years ago.

He was beginning to see that she wasn’t the quiet, nerdy young girl she’d been back then either. It was there, in the confident set of her smooth shoulders, the ease of her smile. Men didn’t scare her anymore. He remembered how small and lost she’d seemed the day he helped Ethan and Micah move her into her dorm at Brown. He’d promised to look out for her that day, to protect her from guys who would hurt her. At that Valentine’s party, she’d been so shy. It took him half an hour and a beer to coax her into conversation with him.

It would take a hell of a lot more than a beer and a smile to get her to talk to him now. He didn’t know what exactly went wrong with them ten years ago, but he knew that it was bad enough to cost him the only family he really cared about. He had a lot to make up to her, but he didn’t intend to give up.

Chapter 4

One morning, a few days after her date with Ian, Mel woke at six. She couldn’t sleep. Not an unusual occurrence for her. Medical school had pretty much ended any normal sleeping patterns she might have had. Downstairs, she heard her brother moving around in the bakery, getting ready to open for the day. Groaning, she got up and went through the motions of getting ready for the day.

Rather than heading straight to the office, as no sane person would show up there for at least another three hours, she let herself through the back door of the bakery. Her brother stood at one of the counters, kneading a big batch of bread dough. Comforting smells of yeast and sugar and flour, with an underlying aroma of chocolate, filled her senses, taking her back to childhood.

“Somebody’s up early,” Micah said, flashing her a grin. He’d always been more of a morning person than she was. He’d bounce out of bed and be ready for school long before Mel managed to tug on whatever t-shirt and jeans she touched first. Her dad always teased that it was because Micah wanted to get to the food before anyone else.

Mel leaned against the metal counter. “Not by choice. I’m a bit of an insomniac these days.”

They stood in comfortable silence for a few minutes, the only noise the gentle suction of the bread dough as her brother worked it over and over.

“I walk in here and I expect to see Dad coming through the door, a smudge of flour on the side of his nose,” Mel said softly, Lord, but she missed him. During the summer when she was little, she used to wake up early just to come and sit on this counter to watch her daddy work his magic. The man could make anything taste delicious, but the things he could do with flour, sugar, and a piece of chocolate were amazing.

Micah grimaced. “Me, too. When I’m here alone, I keep waiting for him to grumble that I’m not using enough chocolate chips in the cookies or I didn’t put enough sugar in the fruit for the pastries.”

The terror she’d felt when she got the call that their dad had lung cancer haunted Mel’s dreams. As a doctor, she knew every procedure that would be done, every method that could be tried. As a daughter, she felt completely useless. She’d been alone when she got the call that her dad, the larger than life hero she’d worshipped, died of a heart attack on the operating table. That had been the first time in nine years she’d wished Caine were with her, to hold her. Andrew, her boyfriend at the time, had been very clinical about the whole thing, spouting medical statistics and telling her it was better that her father died before he ran up a huge medical bill trying to fight the cancer.

“It’s finally real. That he’s gone, I mean. Coming home, him not being here. It’s finally made it real.”

Micah, careful not to touch her with his floured hands, pulled her into a quick hug. As much as he looked like their dad, Micah even smelled like him now. A little salt, flour, sugar, and vanilla. Even a hint of chocolate. Warm and solid as the ovens he worked with all day.

Micah pulled back and changed the subject. “How’d your date go? Mom said the guy was a ‘very nice, young man’.”

“He was.” Ian
was
a sweet man. While he couldn’t be accused of being a deep thinker, he was amusing and interesting enough for her to consider a second date. “I had a nice time with him. I don’t think we’ll ever have a passionate love affair, but there’s enough there that I’ll probably see him again if he asks.”

“Are you happy here, Mel? Do you wish you’d stayed in North Carolina?” Expression serious, Micah began to separate the bread into smaller loaves.

Mel nodded. Even if she hadn’t gotten the call about their mom, she wouldn’t have stayed in North Carolina much longer. Her life there had been about school and learning to be a doctor so she could come back to Unknown and fulfill that promise she’d made so long ago. “I’ve missed being home. What about you? Don’t you miss being a fancy New York pastry chef?”

“Nah.” Micah winked. “I wouldn’t trade the chance to raise my son here for anything in the world. Jax needs his family around him. So do I.”

Micah refused to tell her the whole story, but Mel knew her nephew had been abused by his mother. Micah’s job and Jax’s mother had kept him from seeing his son very often, so Micah hadn’t known. By the time he found out and managed to get  his son away, Jax had developed into a quiet, sullen little boy who only cared about video games and baseball.

“Well, I’m glad you’re here.” Mel grinned. “Especially since it means I have you just downstairs to make me all sorts of tasty treats.”

Micah kept kneading. “Go pull the chocolate chunk cookies out of the oven and you can take two to work with you. There’s a Coke in the fridge, too.”

“Breakfast of champions.” Mel hurried to complete her task before grabbing her share for breakfast and pressing a kiss to her brother’s scruffy cheek. “Love you.”

The sun, just beginning to rise, glided everything a lovely golden orange color, and Mel couldn’t resist walking the few blocks to the office. She loved Texas in springtime. Though it was brief, the entire world looked clean and fresh. In several yards, residents had mowed around large patches where bluebonnets bloomed. The early morning breeze, damp with dew, bore their scent, something akin to ylang-ylang. At this time of morning, there were few people out to disturb the small town peace that hung over her like a cozy blanket. In a short while, kids would spill out of the house rushing to school, harried moms behind them. The old men who frequented Carrs’ cakes would settle into their usual breakfast spots, ready to grumble about the weather or sports or whatever else they felt like complaining about that day. Her mother’s cronies would start bustling around town, running errands and picking up gossip like magpies with shiny new toys. But for now, it was just her and the small town she’d missed.

Climbing the wooden porch stairs of the practice, Mel sighed and said a little prayer. She’d been saying the same prayer every morning when she got to work.
Please let patients come today
. A silly little prayer, she knew. She didn’t wish for people to get sick or injured, but a few new patients in for a yearly physical wouldn’t hurt. Some of the parents brought their kids to see her, but business was still slow. She was just grateful that scholarships and grants eliminated most of her student debt and her father’s life insurance money took care of the rest. Otherwise, she’d be up a creek without a paddle right now.

It was too early for Sandra to be in yet. The oh-so-charming receptionist didn’t like to come in until exactly nine o’clock. Anna had two teenagers to get off to school, so she wouldn’t be in for another hour at least. Doc Booth was out of town for a long weekend with Clara. There were no cars in the drive. So why in the world was the front door ajar?

The wood around the doorframe looked scarred, as though someone had hacked at it or forced the door open. Instinct told her she should call Gage and wait outside until he got there. She listened to half of it.

“Gage? I know it’s early, but someone broke into the clinic last night.”

“Is anything missing?” Gage’s voice was rough with sleep, but alert.

Mel glanced in. “I don’t know. I have gone inside yet.”

“Don’t touch anything until I get there.”

Mel hung up and used her elbow to ease the door open even further. From the doorway, she could see one of the antique tables Clara Booth loved tipped over the flowers it held strewn across the floor. Stepping carefully into the house, she went first to the reception room. Glass shards littered the polished wood floors, broken out of the china hutch that held little medical knick knacks and pictures of Doc Booth with patients. She did her best to avoid the glass as she made her way to the supply closet that lay between Doc Booth’s office and the reception area. It used to be the butler’s pantry.

Rolls of gauze, packets of cotton swabs, and band-aids covered the long, narrow little room. A few bottles of alcohol and hydrogen peroxide must have been poured out, because puddles of liquid seeped into the supplies on the floor, the astringent odor stinging Mel’s eyes. The locked cabinets where they kept a small supply of prescription painkillers and antibiotics stood open, the locks obviously pounded off by a hammer or something heavy.

Doc’s office looked like a snowstorm of papers had erupted in it. Forty years of medical documents, thrown around into complete disarray. An ache of panic took root in Mel’s chest. Restoring everything would take weeks, maybe even months. At least they’d left Doc’s books alone. And his pictures. It would break his heart to lose those.

Rubbing her sternum, fighting to take slow, easy breaths, Mel climbed the stairs to check her office and the examination rooms. They’d hit her office even worse than Doc’s. Books tossed everywhere, a few looking like pages might have been torn out. Her keyboard had been thrown against the wall, her computer tower tipped over. The med school degree her mother had taken such pride in framing was knocked to the ground, glass broken and the fame cracked in half.

She bent over to look at the framed piece of paper. Maybe not knocked off the wall after all, she mused, noting that the cracks in the glass webbed out from one point of impact. A memory flashed through her head of her mother accidentally stepping on a hand mirror on the way to church one morning while wearing heels. The crack in the glass was almost identical.

“Mel? Melody! Where in the hell are you?”

Hearing Gage’s worried bellow, Mel left the disaster scene and went to the head of the stairs.

“I’m right—“ She stopped mid-sentence. Gage wasn’t alone. Caine stood behind his brother, a thunderous look on his handsome face. “—here. What are you doing here?”

Gage rolled his eyes. “I’m the police chief, genius. You called me, remember?”

She glared at him, annoyed at his attempt to lighten the atmosphere. The last thing she wanted –-or needed — to deal with right now, in the middle of this god-awful mess, was Caine Maddox. “You know I didn’t mean you, jerk face. Last time I checked, making calls to crime scenes at seven a.m. wasn’t on the mayor’s list of official duties.”

Caine gave her a dry look. “It is on the list if the crime scene happens to be at the work place of one of my oldest friends.”

And former fuck buddy.
The last part lingered in the air between the three of them, unsaid, but obvious all the same. Gage looked between them before returning his attention to the mess. “Anything of value missing?”

“No.” Mel walked slowly down the stairs, her feet heavy. “They might have gotten some low grade painkillers and antibiotics. We don’t keep anything more valuable than the computers in the clinic.”

Mouth tightening, Gage prowled through the house, making his own assessment, leaving her alone with Caine.

“You okay?” The soft words held a note of worry that Mel would have found disconcerting any other time. Now, it was just comforting. For one weak moment, she wanted to melt into him. She knew from past experience how strong and safe those muscular arms of his were. Even when she was little, he’d been the one she wanted to comfort her when she fell and scraped her knee because she was trying to play with the big boys. It would be so easy to just give up and let him take care of her like that again.

Stay strong, Carr. He’s no good for you.

Those blue eyes bored into her head, willing her to meet them, which she did. “I’m…It’s hard to see. I grew up here. Feels like someone invaded my home.”

“How bad is it upstairs?” Caine looked as though he wanted to touch her, to put his arm around her or hold her hand, but he didn’t. Smart man. If she gave into weakness now, she’d hate herself for it later.

She shook her head. “I don’t know about the exam rooms, but it looks like my office was hit the hardest. All they did in Doc’s office was toss his files everywhere. My computer was trashed. Pictures broken. Books—“ Her voice caught in her throat.
Damn it.
“They tore up my books, Caine.”

His arms did go around her then. She didn’t protest, she just let him pull her into his strong chest and hold her close. They’d disagreed on a lot of things and changed in many ways, but he’d always understood how much her books meant to her. Even if it was only for a moment, she needed to be close to him. To smell the familiar, wonderfully masculine smell of clean, cotton shirt, fresh cut grass, and a slightly musky scent that was forever labeled in her mind as “Caine.” She’d deal with regrets later.

“Can you think of anyone who would do this? Any patients who have been pissed off?” Gage’s disembodied voice echoed through the old house, the wood floors creaking as he walked. Mel jumped away from Caine, remembering where she was and who he was.