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All Chapters of A Christmas Melody: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

68 Chapters

Chapter Eleven

Michael was sprawled across from her on her father’s favorite oriental rug, studying the checkerboard with the scrutiny of a general poring over his battle plans. She’d called her mother to let her know Michael’s dad was on his way so she wouldn’t worry. Now, Melody couldn’t help but smile watching Michael stick his tongue out of the side of his mouth in concentration as if that would help him to decide which move to make next.“I think you’re stalling,” she said with a wink. It had been a long time since she’d played checkers, and while she intended to let him win, she at least wanted to make it a challenge.“I’m not stalling,” he replied, looking up at her with those big blue eyes. “I’m thinkin’.” He finally made a move, and Melody began to contemplate what she should do next to set him up for subtler success. “Do you really think San
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Chapter Twelve

Melody straightened the hem of her pink sweater and brushed her hair back over her shoulders. Upon opening the door, she could tell immediately that he was a bit frazzled, and she couldn’t blame him. Despite the fact that he had been trying to sound calm on the phone, she knew he must have been moments away from a panic attack the second he found out Michael hadn’t made it to Ms. Karen’s house. “Hi, Reid,” she said, smiling and attempting to keep her own voice cheerful. If she didn’t think it was a big deal that his son had sought her out because Michael thought she was “nice and pretty,” maybe Reid wouldn’t either.“Melody, hi,” he said, stepping through the doorway. “It’s nice to see you again, though I didn’t expect it to be under these circumstances.”He was smiling politely, and she giggled at his comment, hoping she didn’t sound like a
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Chapter Thirteen

They reached the top of the stairs, and she remembered just what a disaster she had created earlier that day. It looked even worse than it had the week before. She stopped so abruptly at the top of the stairs that he bumped into her. “Sorry,” he said, and Melody took a step forward. “It’s no problem, Melody. It’s the least I could do after how cool you’ve been about Michael just dropping by.”His hand had briefly touched her hip when he ran into her, and she knew her eyes were probably twice their regular size as she stood staring at him, inches away from her again. The scent of pine and leather filled her lungs, and it took her a moment to process what he had just said. After a lengthy pause, she said, “What are friends for?” flashed him a smile, and began to pick her way through the maze.“You’ve been busy,” he said politely, following her.&ldqu
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Chapter Fourteen

Melody pushed open the door to Delaney’s Delights and braced herself for the barrage of Christmas music. There was no avoiding it now; it was everywhere she went, and though she did her best to tune it out, there were times when particular songs came on that memories of her father flooded her senses, and she needed to step away or turn it off. Luckily, this afternoon, her entrance was greeted by a particularly poppy rendition of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” and there was nothing specifically remarkable about that song.Delaney was sliding a muffin across the counter on a bright red plate to a customer as Melody walked in. She looked up and smiled. “Hey, two days in a row! How did I get so lucky?”Laughing, Melody crossed the crowded room to the counter. “I was just dropping some boxes off at Mom’s shop and thought I’d come by and ask you a quick question.”&ldquo
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Chapter Fifteen

Reid found Mrs. Gregory in her kitchen sipping a cup of coffee with a catalogue in front of her on the island, the heavenly aroma of sugar cookies radiating out of the oven. She looked up as he walked in, and setting her cup down said, “Did you get it all patched up?”“I did,” he assured her with a smile. “I think it’s in pretty good shape, and I trimmed the tree back a bit more while I was up there so you shouldn’t have to worry about it anymore for a while.”“Oh, thank goodness,” she exclaimed with a smile. “One less thing to worry about.”“Do you mind if I use your sink?” he asked. He’d taken his work gloves off for part of the more delicate repairs and now his hands were dirty.“Not at all,” she said, hopping up to fetch him a clean towel. “You’ll sit a spell with me and have a cup of
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Chapter Sixteen

Bible study started at 5:30 and was over by 6:30 so that the choir—or this time of year, those who would be participating in the Christmas Festival—could get an hour’s worth of practice in before little ones needed to head off to bed. Melody had made several friends in her study group and knew others from high school, but she was so busy these days trying to keep the shop open, she rarely saw any of them outside of their Wednesday night meetings and Sunday service. This time of year, it was hard for her to focus because the lessons were always about how to be thankful and appreciate the ones you loved, the sort of themes that went along with the Christmas spirit, and since she spent most of the hour thinking about her father, she was seriously considering skipping from now until after the new year.A few of the girls in her group called her over to chat once the leader, Dan, dismissed them, but she made an excuse and headed out the clas
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Chapter Seventeen

As the pianist, Mrs. Agnes Watson, who couldn’t have been a day younger than ninety, began to play the opening bars of “Away in a Manger” Melody gave all of her attention to Michael. If she was looking at him, she couldn’t possibly dwell on the times her father had played that very song on the piano, and she’d sang from the bench next to him in their parlor at home. He’d join in on the harmony, and her mom would listen and applaud when they were finished.Michael was standing in the middle of the stage, beaming. He seemed to know all of the words, even though this was his first rehearsal, and as soon as the song was over, he waved at Melody, and she waved back. As Mrs. Watson began to play, “Go Tell it on the Mountain,” Melody started to wonder what Reid might be doing. It seemed strange that he wasn’t there. Why didn’t he bring Michael himself? While the voice of self-doubt in her mind worried
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Chapter Eighteen

Melody saw her mother standing in the back of the sanctuary, a questioning expression on her face, and when she reached her, she asked, “Why are you here? I thought you’d headed home an hour ago.”“I was going to,” Melody assured her, “but I ran into Michael on the way out, and he asked me to stay and listen to him sing. So I did.”Sarah said nothing more, but Melody could tell by the smile she was trying to hide that her mother wanted to read more into this situation than she should. She’d simply been humoring a child that she cared about. Nothing else. This night certainly had done nothing to change the way she felt about music—Christmas or otherwise.“I’ll see you at home in a little while,” Sarah said, waving at a friend across the room, and Melody nodded before taking off for the door again, hopeful that she could finally escape before anyone
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Chapter Nineteen

The sound of his voice sent little tingles down her spine, and she pictured him sitting in his living room on a manly-looking, plaid sofa, a fire blazing behind him, maybe a painting with hunting dogs or something else masculine in the background. “Good,” she said, still trying to sound as casual as possible. “I was just about to call you.” Why did she say that? Stick to the minimum!“Well, Michael went straight to sleep tonight, so I figured I’d give you a call before whatever magic spell he’s under breaks and he spends half the night requesting water and screaming that he needs to go to the bathroom.”He sounded a bit exhausted, as if the bedtime routine was not his favorite part of parenting, and Melody couldn’t help but chuckle. “That sounds fun,” she said sarcastically.“It’s a nightly battle of tug-of-war where he always finds
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Chapter Twenty

“Mel, I couldn’t ask you to do that,” Reid said rather quickly. "I can't ask you to pick Michael up from school."She paused at the shortening of her name. No one had called her that since her father passed, but she actually sort of liked the way it sounded when she heard it in his voice. Ignoring it for now, she said, “You didn’t ask. I volunteered. It’s really no trouble at all. I definitely won’t let him come home with me because then he might feel like he got his way, but picking him up and taking him to the sitter’s can’t be too time consuming, and it will give me a chance to see him for a few minutes.”“It’s actually more time consuming than you might think,” he explained. “School gets out at 3:00, but parents start getting in that parent pick up line at 2:00. I’m not even kidding.”“Seriously?” Melody aske
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