Page 55 of An Unexpected Home

“You guys go,” Logan told them. “I will take care of her.”

“Are you also going to clean up in here?” Carly said, looking around the room.

“He will,” Melanie answered. At his glare she added, “If I have to be stuck with you the least you can do is help straighten up.”

Carly and Leah left them to argue, finding Brandon outside waiting on them.

“Are you sure it’s okay if we leave?” Carly asked.

“Totally fine.” He held the car door open for them to climb inside, Leah taking the front seat and Carly sitting in the back.

“We won’t be there much longer,” Leah said. “There is only an hour or so left and then we can come back.”

“Whatever you need,” he said when he climbed in the driver’s side.

They spent the next two hours at the studio, where everyone in town seemed to stop by because they had already heard about the break-in at their home. When the studio was finally empty, both she and Carly were ready to head back home.

“About that,” Brandon said. “I think it might be a good idea if the three of you don’t stay at the house tonight.”

Leah looked at Carly, who answered the same way she would have. “Fine by me.”

“You’re not going to fight me on this?”

“Brandon, I may be stubborn but I’m not an idiot. And staying in a house that was just ransacked, would make me an idiot.”

“You guys are welcome to stay with me,” he told them, looking right at Leah.

“What about Mel?” Carly asked. “Where is she staying?”

“Logan is trying to get her to stay at his place.”

“How ‘bout I stay there with Mel so that she doesn’t kill Logan and Leah you can stay with Brandon?”

“Are you sure?” she asked. “I can stay with you guys.”

“You are not staying at Logan’s,” Brandon said sternly.

Leah rolled her eyes and shooed him with her hand. “Seriously Carls, I don’t want you to have to take care of Melanie alone.”

“I won’t be alone and if earlier is any indication, I don’t think I am going to have to lift a finger.”

“Decision made,” Brandon said. “Let’s get out of here and go and get your stuff.”

He took them back home where they found Melanie and Logan were already gone but the house looked a little better.

They both packed a bag and Brandon drove them to Logan's, stopping first at Carly’s dad’s house to pick up her dog Max.

“I need to go back and do some work,” Brandon told her, taking her hand across the console after Carly had gotten out. “And I am not comfortable leaving you alone. What would you think about staying here for a few hours?”

She didn’t love the thought of being separated from him and that scared her more than the thought of someone trying to hurt her. But she knew he needed to do his job and that he wouldn’t be able to if she wasn’t safe.

“I can do that.” She squeezed his hand. “How long will you be gone?”

“No more than three hours,” he promised. “It’s three now,” he said looking at his watch, “so I will be back to get you by six and we can have dinner at my place.”

She was silent, her mind reeling from all the events of the day.

“Is something wrong?”

---