Debbie Macomber - The Knitting Diaries - The Twenty-First Wish / Coming Unravelled / Return to Summer Island

“We had that for lunch,” Ellen called back.

Well, the freezer was her next option. She was about to check it when her cell phone buzzed. Sorting through the packages of frozen food, she answered it.

“Hello.”

“What are you two doing for dinner?” Mel asked.

“I don’t know yet. Why?”

“I thought I’d stop by and take you and Ellen out to eat.”

“Thanks, but I don’t think that’ll work. Ellen invited her new friend over.”

“She has a new friend already?”

“She does. April lives down the street. She found Baxter on Saturday, which is when we met her.”

“Why don’t I bring dinner?”

This was an offer too good to refuse. “Sounds great. What do you have in mind?”

Mel chuckled. “How about if I pick up one of those roasted chickens with all the fixings?”

“Thanks!” Mel was so thoughtful—and he’d just solved the problem of tonight’s dinner.

“I figured you must be exhausted after last weekend.”

“I am.” The move had taken more out of Anne Marie than she’d realized. That, and what she’d learned about Tim’s feelings toward her.

As soon as she’d closed her cell, she walked down the hall to Ellen’s room, where the girls were playing with Baxter and Iris. “Mel’s coming by with dinner. He’s bringing chicken. Would you two set the table?”

Ellen and April exchanged a glance. “Who’s Mel?” April asked.

“He’s my mother’s boyfriend,” Ellen replied.

“I thought Tim was your mother’s boyfriend,” April said, cocking her head.

“He used to be but he isn’t anymore. It’s … complicated.”

“Yeah, grown-ups can get that way,” April said sagely.

Smiling, Anne Marie returned to the kitchen.

By the time Mel arrived with dinner, the table was set. They all sat down together with Baxter and Iris settled underneath, content after their own meals.

“Anyone miss me on Blossom Street?” Ellen asked Anne Marie. She reached for a chicken leg; April took the second one.

“Lydia sends her love. Oh, and Bethanne was in the yarn store on Saturday and guess what? Andrew and Courtney got engaged.”

Ellen’s eyes brightened and she waved the chicken leg. “Can I be in their wedding? I want to be the flower girl!”

“That’s not something you ask,” Anne Marie explained. “You wait to be invited. But Courtney has several nieces and nephews your age.”

Ellen put the chicken leg back on her plate and sighed with disappointment. “I love weddings.”

“I know you do.”

“I was in a wedding once,” April said. “But I was only three and I don’t remember it. My mom has pictures, though. I was supposed to sprinkle rose petals down the church aisle but I ate them instead.”

Anne Marie and Mel laughed.

“Let’s play weddings after dinner!” April said excitedly. “We can be wedding planners like on TV.”

“Okay!”

Conversation flowed smoothly during the rest of the meal. They talked about television shows and upcoming movies, and Anne Marie appreciated Mel’s lack of condescension, his good-humored patience with the girls. Afterward, they asked to be excused and tore back into Ellen’s bedroom, while Mel and Anne Marie lingered over coffee.

“Thank you for bringing dinner,” Anne Marie said.

“I wasn’t here to help with the move like I’d planned. It’s the least I could do.”

“Mel, I understood. You had a business meeting.”

“I know, but I felt bad about letting you down and then there was all that angst over Baxter. I should’ve been here instead of—”

He didn’t need to complete the sentence; she knew he meant Tim. Rather than pursue the subject she let it drop. Her conversation with Lydia had stayed in her mind all afternoon. Anne Marie didn’t want to have feelings for Tim. Mel was good with Ellen, so considerate and caring, and she needed to concentrate on her relationship with him.

He helped her clear the table and was about to kiss her when Ellen dashed into the kitchen. “Hurry!” she cried.

“Hurry?” Anne Marie repeated, noting the disappointed look in Mel’s eyes. “Why?”

“Come and see,” Ellen said urgently.

“See what?”

“The wedding. Come on!” She wore a white sundress and a lace-trimmed pillowcase as her veil.

Anne Marie dried her hands on the dish towel and followed her daughter down the hall. Mel came, too. Standing in the doorway of Ellen’s bedroom, she leaned against the door frame, Mel beside her.

“These are the church pews,” April said, gesturing at the books laid across the carpet in two even rows, with a center aisle wide enough for Ellen to walk down.

“Who’s the groom?” Anne Marie asked

“We haven’t decided yet,” Ellen said. “Baxter’s going to be the best man, though.” The girls had affixed a black ribbon to the dog’s neck to resemble a bow tie. However, he didn’t look pleased with his role.

“What part does Iris play?” Anne Marie asked April.

“She’s the maid of honor.”

“Of course. I should’ve guessed.”

“We need someone who can sing the wedding march,” Ellen said. “We’re wedding planners so we have to arrange it. April and I don’t know the words. All we know is ‘Here comes the bride.’”

Anne Marie was about to tell them she couldn’t sing it, either, when the doorbell rang.

“That must be April’s mom,” Anne Marie said. But even before she opened the front door she knew it wasn’t. Her intuition told her it was Tim.

The way Mel felt about him would make this awkward. Mel, nothing! Her own feelings were as tangled as any yarn she’d ever snarled. She didn’t want to face him, not yet. She hadn’t had time to absorb what she’d learned or the hurt he’d caused her. Still, her heart seemed to speed up as soon as she saw him and she was instantly annoyed with herself.

“Hello again,” she said without any warmth, standing on the other side of the screen door, which she kept closed, aware of how rude she was acting, yet unable to stop.

“Hi.” He held the handlebars of Ellen’s bike. “I brought this back. It had a flat tire.”

Anne Marie continued to leave the screen door shut. “I didn’t know you’d taken it.”

“I promised to repair it for Ellen.”

Mel came up behind her, placing a possessive hand on her shoulder.

Ellen joined them, wearing her white dress but having discarded her “veil.” “My bike’s fixed already?” she squealed. “Thank you, Daddy!”

“I did it this afternoon,” he said, smiling at his daughter. “Where would you like me to put it?”

“In the garage,” Anne Marie told him.

“Come and see the wedding,” Ellen said. “April and I are wedding planners. Baxter’s the best man but he keeps running off. We couldn’t decide who should be the groom.

Will you, Daddy?”’

“Ah, sure,” he said, but Anne Marie sensed his hesitation.

She opened the screen door, walked down the steps and over to the garage, which was located behind the house. Mel went with her; she could feel his disapproval every step of the way. No one spoke, which made this all the more disconcerting.

“Will you tell Ellen I’ll play groom some other time?” Tim asked once he’d finished securing Ellen’s bicycle.

Anne Marie crossed her arms against the evening chill. Thankfully, Tim realized she didn’t want him there.

“That would probably be best,” she murmured.

“I agree,” Mel added.

Anne Marie could have done without his comment but didn’t bother to object. At least he wasn’t contradicting her opinion or her request.

Tim had started to leave when the back door flew open and Ellen came out. “We’re ready,” she shouted. “April and I are going to hum the song ‘cause we don’t know the words.” She dashed toward Tim and grabbed his hand.