Page 3 of A Second Chance Christmas Kiss

A woman emerged from the back.

Melody.

All I could do was stare at her. Shock coursed through me, and my mouth went dry. She wore a red Christmas dress that clung tightly to her thin frame. Her blonde hair was cut in a chic A-line. A lot of years had passed since I’d last seen her, but she still looked good.

Her eyes met mine, and she paused like she was frozen to the ground.

I didn’t know how long we simply stared at each other. It was clear that she recognized me. I didn’t think I’d changed much over the years, but nineteen years was a long time.

Suddenly, she blinked and swallowed hard. She pasted on an unfamiliar smile—one that made her look different, and all grown up. “Charles,” was all she said.

I felt reanimated, like someone had pressed start in a movie. “Melody? You’re here.”

She coughed and then strode toward me, holding out her hand as if I were just a random person she’d previously met. “Hi. Are you in town visiting your grandmother?”

I was slow on the uptake, but I reached out to shake her hand. “Just back for Christmas. Yes, to see Grandmother.”

Whether it was now or nineteen years ago or when we were children, her hand still felt the same. Or maybe it just felt the same to touch her. I wasn’t sure. Attraction sizzled through me.

I dropped her hand. “I thought the store was sold.” I took a step back, feeling off kilter and completely out of sorts. Which was strange for me. I’d served in the military, and I was the president and CEO of my own company. I negotiated deals all the time and never got nervous anymore.

A crack formed in her polite mask. She took a step back as well, and I wondered if she was attracted to me, too. “I decided to keep it.” She touched the lapel on her dress and moved toward the front. “What can I do for you?” Her voice was businesslike. Cool. Grown-up. It made me smile.

“You kept it,” I repeated. “I guess that’s good. How are you?”

She walked by the counter and shuffled through some paperwork. “I’m good.” She glanced up briefly, like I was much less interesting. “What can I do for you, Charles?”

She seemed to be avoiding my eyes.

Curious, I glanced at her left hand and noticed there was no ring. A million questions went through my mind. “I was … sorry to hear about your mother.” Why hadn’t I started with that?

She paused. “Thank you.” Her face stayed somber.

I cleared my throat. “Um, how’s Peter and your son?”

She met my eyes, looking quizzical. “They … they’re fine.”

I wanted to demand a breakdown of the last nineteen years. I wanted to interrogate her like I would’ve interrogated terrorists during my time in the military, though I sensed that would be the wrong course of action.

“Charles,” she said. “Why are you here?”

I shook my head. “Uh, Grandmother bought a doll, and she asked me to pick it up.”

A questioning look washed over her face, and then she moved to the other side of the counter and pulled a folder out of a drawer. “I didn’t realize your grandmother ordered something.” She skimmed through a list and then paused. “Oh. I guess she did. I didn’t realize.” She let out a polite laugh that sounded fake. “I’ll go get it and be right back.”

She hurried toward the back, and I couldn’t help but watch her. Why wasn’t she wearing a ring? Was she divorced? I knew her mother had passed away, and I distinctly remembered my grandmother telling me the store was being sold. Of course, I hadn’t said much about it; there’d been nothing to say.

Adrenaline spiked through me, and I looked around. From the way she’d looked for my order, she was still using the antiquated system that her mother had always used. She was clearly running the store.

I tried not to focus on the fact that she looked … well, good. She had taken care of herself, and she was attractive. Granted, it didn’t take much for me to be attracted to this woman. I had always been attracted to her. She would be turning thirty-nine in January, if I remembered correctly but she looked way younger than that.

If she was divorced, why hadn’t Grandmother told me that? She would know, of course.

My mind raced, and I remembered how she’d kept telling me that I had to come to the store for this order. She’d set me up.Melody walked back up to the counter with the package in a bag. “I found it.”

All I could do was watch her, study her. Her cheeks were a little red. Was she as nervous as I was? “That’s good, because Grandmother was insistent that I come here and pick up this package. Apparently, you don’t ship.”

She looked up in the middle of typing on a computer. “We don’t. My mother never quite got to that point, and I haven’t put that process in place yet. Sorry.” She turned back to the screen. “It looks like the total is six-hundred and fifty dollars. I’ll need to take payment before you go.”

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