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Chapter Twenty-Three
“Hey, Michael!” Melody said, forcing a smile and trying to pretend like she hadn’t almost wiped out.
As usual, he flung himself around her legs, and Melody found herself losing her balance again.
“Are you okay?” Reid asked, coming up behind his son.
“Yeah. Old truck. No running boards,” she muttered.
“It’s nice. What is it? A ’63 Chevy?”
Michael released her as Delaney came around the front of the truck behind Melody. “It’s a ’64,” she said. And then extending her hand, she added, “Hi, I’m Delaney.”
“Reid, nice to meet you,” he said, reaching past Melody to shake her hand. “It’s a classic,” he added, obviously talking about the truck.
“Thanks. It’s my dad’s pride and joy. I’m surprised he
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A Christmas Melody Chapter Twenty-Four
Michael was eagerly offering a particularly unimpressed reindeer a handful of hay he’d somehow managed to free from the bale in the corner of the enclosure, and Melody couldn’t help but admire his tenacity. “Thank you for helping Delaney out,” Melody said, walking alongside Reid at a leisurely pace. As long as they could see Michael, there was really no need to rush.“I’m kind of surprised she didn’t have that worked out already,” he replied, his hands deep in his coat pockets. “She really didn’t know what she was going to say if she couldn’t find him?”“Well, in her defense,” Melody offered, “sometimes it’s a lot harder to actually carry out those types of plans once you’re in the situation. I mean… sometimes even the best planning doesn’t quite go as as expected.”“Yeah?” he asked. &ldq
A Christmas Melody Chapter Twenty-Five
Reid followed, and just before she reached the bench, he hurried around her and wiped the thin layer of snow from the seat.“Thank you,” Melody said with a smile, taking a seat. He found a spot next to her, and Melody was glad to see he chose to sit only a couple of inches from her instead of completely on the other end of the bench, which was also an option.“So no tree for you today?” Reid asked, folding his hands in his lap and leaning forward, his eyes following Michael across the snow.“No,” Melody said, trying to keep her voice cheerful. The song playing now, “Jingle Bells” had no true significance, which made it easier. “My dad always said, ‘Only Murphy’s pick out the Murphy Christmas tree.’ So Mom and I will go in a day or two, I guess.”“Why haven’t you gone already?” he asked, glancing at her for
A Christmas Melody Chapter Twenty-Six
The phone rang twice before her mother answered with a cheery but distracted, “Hello?”“Hey, Mom. How are you?”“Hi, Melody. I’m good. Just getting some baking done. Are you at the tree farm?”“Yes,” Melody replied. “I just had a quick question.”“Is it snowing there?” her mother continued, as if she hadn’t heard Melody’s last remark.“Flurries, nothing too heavy.”“Oh, it must be so pretty. And did Delaney find her farmer?”Images of Delaney standing next to an older gentleman with a pitchfork next to a pigsty filled her mind, and Melody stifled a giggle. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Delaney still talking to the man who must be Josh. “She did. She’s talking to him now.”“Wonderful. And
A Christmas Melody Chapter Twenty-Seven
“You almost hit that old lady!” Michael shouted, and though the woman never even turned to see what was going on, Melody could just imagine what might have happened if the wayward projectile had knocked her over.“I think that’s enough snowballs for now,” Reid said, walking over to them, cautiously, as Michael still held a snowball in each hand. “But,” he said putting his hand on Melody’s shoulder, “I owe you. And I never forget a debt.”Melody broke into a sheepish smile. “It was his idea,” she said, gesturing at Michael with her head.“Oh, I know. And he will pay, too,” he confirmed, eyeing his son in a playful, but menacing way.“You’re silly, Dad,” Michael said, clearly not frightened by the threat.“Why don’t you drop that snowball, tell your friends goodbye, and let
A Christmas Melody Chapter Twenty-Eight
Reid borrowed one of the many saws the Taylors had on hand for their customers to use to cut down their trees and was given two tree tags, one for Melody and one for himself. Then, he set out to find his son and their new friend. It didn’t take him long to spy them only a few rows away from where he and Melody had been sitting watching Michael play. He knew his son well enough to anticipate a lengthy selection process.He made his way through the snow, which was now deep enough to cover his boots, thinking about his conversation with Melody. She had been more forthcoming with information than he had expected, though he still wasn’t exactly sure what it was about Christmas music that made her so upset. It sounded like her father really loved this time of year, and being a musician, he must have had a great fondness for the holiday classics. Maybe that was one of the reasons why Melody was struggling today. The holiday season must hold a lot of
A Christmas Melody Chapter Twenty-Nine
Reid looked at Michael for just a moment, making sure he wasn’t about to change his mind about which tree he wanted and demand they keep looking, and when Melody put her hands on his shoulders and said, “You are going to have the best Christmas tree Santa has ever seen,” Michael beamed, and Reid dropped down to the frozen ground to saw through the thick trunk.“Is there anything we can do to help?” Melody asked.“Just make sure it doesn’t fall on you—or me,” he replied. He cut through most of the trunk, leaving just enough to keep it from tumbling over and then crawled out from underneath the branches. “Mikey, you want to finish it off?”With a proud smile, Michael scurried under the tree, and Reid climbed under next to him, guiding his hand as the saw cut through the last little bit, sending the tree crashing to the ground.“Timb
A Christmas Melody Chapter Thirty
Once he was out of earshot, Reid turned to Melody and said, “I’m sorry about that. He asks so many questions. We are working on appropriate questions versus inappropriate questions, but he doesn’t really get that yet.”“It’s fine,” she replied, and her smile looked more genuine this time. “I just wasn’t sure what to say. I’m guessing his reason for asking doesn’t have as much to do with what I want for Christmas as it does with what he wants.”Reid’s forehead crinkled. “What do you mean?” he asked, not sure what she was getting at.Melody cleared her throat. “Nothing. I mean, I might be way off base….”“Melody, what are you trying to say?” he asked, though he was beginning to understand what she was getting at.“I just wonder if all of this—wanting to s
A Christmas Melody Chapter Thirty-One
Once the trees were paid for and loaded up, and they’d spent about an hour looking through the shops and sipping hot chocolate—which wasn’t nearly as good as Delaney’s—Reid opened the passenger side door for Melody, and she climbed into the cab of his truck, thankful for the running board.He closed the door and went around to make sure Michael was buckled in. While she hated using her credit card, she’d had no choice since she hadn’t planned on purchasing a tree that day, and she was thankful she’d slipped it into her back pocket, along with her ID before she left home, just in case of an emergency.Reid shut Michael’s door and checked the trees one more time before he slipped in beside her. The truck was already running, and she could feel some life coming back into her toes and fingers as he put on his seatbelt and asked if they were ready to go. Melody nodded and glanced over at
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