Page 20 of Unforgiven

Melonie raised an eyebrow. “I know that isn’t the reason.”

“Okay, how about this? Maybe I had a notion to see if I could still pin laundry on the clothesline.”

“Have you ever pinned up laundry in your life? I don’t recall you doing it even once.”

“I might have done it a time or two.”

“You might have. Or . . . not.” She took the shirt from his hands, shook it out again, and then deftly pinned it on the line their father had strung along the length of the basement.

He bent down, picked up a wet bath towel, grabbed two pins from the wicker basket, and then neatly pinned it on the line before grabbing another item. “It’s not too cold out. Why aren’t you hanging all this outside?”

Melonie’s brow wrinkled. She seemed torn between accepting his help and feeling honor bound to remind him that he was a guest. After visibly weighing the pros and cons, she simply grabbed another article, this time a pair of women’s underwear, and pinned it on the line. “Mamm prefers the clothes down here. She says it’s easier on her back.”

“Interesting.”

She laughed softly. “Obviously you’ve never carried an armful of wet towels and sheets up those stairs.”

“You’re right. I haven’t.” He reached for a pillowcase.

Melonie picked up a dress and smoothed the damp fabric before moving down the line. “Who does your laundry now? Do you send it out?”

“No. I do my own.”

“Truly? Where do you pin—oh, wait. You have a clothes dryer.”

He winked at her. “I do.”

“That must be nice.”

“If you ever want to, you can bring some laundry over to my house. It wouldn’t be a problem.”

She looked shocked. “Mamm would never allow that.”

“Maybe she wouldn’t need to know about it.”

“Seth, don’t tease.”

He chuckled. “Come on, Mel. It’s a load of laundry. Nothing scandalous.”

“It depends on your definition of scandalous.”

“True, that.”

They continued pinning the last of the laundry. Then he stood to one side as Melonie returned the small basket of clothespins to the proper spot and straightened the rest of the area. Only then did she ask the question that had no doubt been burning in her mind for the last fifteen minutes.

“Seth, why did you really come over today?”

“I wanted to talk to you about Lott Hostetler.”

She sighed. “Do we have to?”

“I’m not going to make you do anything you don’t want to do, but I’d appreciate it if you’d give me some of your time.”

“And listen to a lecture?”

“No.” When her eyes widened at his sharp tone, he said, “I’m not Daed, Mel. I’m not going to order you around, and even if I did, I wouldn’t expect you to do what I want. But I do care about you.”

“And you care so much that you need to talk to me about Lott.”

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