She was still certain Carson was losing interest in her.
She was still worried about Elwood.
She was still wondering how she could stay in California without Carson’s financial help.
Still waiting for Alex to come back into her life and stay there.
She drove to the A&P contemplating that the year would soon end but without the likewise end of her banishment from Hollywood, nor of Carson’s wanting to stay in New York, nor of Alex’s continued absence.
But even so, she felt a strange calm regarding her situation—at least for the moment—because she wasn’t entirely alone.
She had Elwood and June. Sort of. And quiet Eva. She had Nicky.
Christmas wasn’t going to be a lonely affair focused on everything she’d lost.
She would celebrate the holidays with her neighbors, Eva, and her nephew. She’d invite Elwood, June, and Eva over for Christmas dinner, like she’d thought of doing the day Alex arrived. If Elwoodwouldn’t come, and he probably wouldn’t, she’d suggest they have a family-style Christmas dinner at the Blankenship house.
There was no way Melanie was going to tuck tail and run home to Omaha with Nicky as June had suggested, and to subject herself to her parents’ immense disappointment in her. Not at Christmas of all times.
Besides, she didn’t belong there.
Here was where she felt the most at home, if home couldn’t be in Hollywood.
After the quick stop at the grocery store for the bubble bath, the ketchup, the Band-Aids, and the other items on her list, Melanie made her way back to Malibu along the coastal highway, listening to Christmas music on the radio with the car window down as far as it would go.
She parked June’s car in the driveway, took out her shopping bags, and ran them over to the Gilbert house. She hid away the gifts in the master bedroom closet and put the A&P bag on the kitchen counter. Then she headed back over to June’s.
When no one answered her light knock, she opened the door slightly and said June’s name. Still no answer.
Melanie stepped into the foyer and heard a laugh from beyond the front door but not inside the house. She made her way through the living room and into the kitchen, and then saw through the window that June and Eva were sitting on a blanket in the backyard in the plentiful sunshine and Nicky was running across the grass with little toys in his hand. At least they looked like small toys.
Everyone seemed to be having an enjoyable time.
She was about to join them when it occurred to her that she’d just been given the perfect opportunity to see for herself if Elwood was truly okay.
Melanie turned from the kitchen, went back through the living room, and began to climb the staircase.
“Elwood?” she said in as gentle a voice as she could from the second step. “It’s just me. Melanie. Mind if I come up?”
No answer.
She continued up the stairs. “Elwood? May I just talk to you for a moment? Please?”
No answer.
Now she was on the top step. She could see the door to his office was ajar.
“Elwood?”
Nothing.
Melanie crept down the short hallway to the office, passing Elwood’s empty bathroom.
“Elwood?” As soon as she poked her head in the room she could see no one was in it aside from Elwood’s cat, curled up on the seat of the desk chair. Algernon raised his head to look at Melanie and yawned lazily.
She turned and retraced her steps to the top of the staircase and the closed door just to the left of them that led to Elwood’s bedroom. She knocked on it softly.
“Elwood? It’s Melanie.”
