Despite my best efforts, I was falling for him.
But I wasn’t going to let that ruin my friend-date with Melanie. So I headed into town and found parking outside the Steaming Mug.
Tilikum’s coffee shop had a great vibe, with the scent of coffee in the air and soft music in the background. I didn’t see Melanie, so I found an open table and took a seat.
I only had to wait a few minutes before she came in. She greeted me with a warm hug, and we went to the front counter to order. I decided on a matcha latte, and she ordered a decaf mocha. Once our drinks came out, we took them back to the table and sat.
“Sorry if I made you wait,” Melanie said. “I lost track of time.”
“I was only here for a few minutes.”
“Good. How are you? What’s new? What’s going on in your life?”
I’m sleeping with your soon-to-be brother-in-law and probably can’t handle it.
Thankfully, I didn’t say that.
“Well, the fire alarm malfunctioned at school, so I had to wrangle a bunch of squirrelly high schoolers who decided one interruption was enough to throw off an entire day.”
“Oof. That’s not great. I’m telling you, teachers are saints. I don’t know how you do it.”
“It has its challenges, but I really love it.”
“Why? I’m not asking because I don’t believe that you love it. I just mean, what it is about teaching that you love?”
I adjusted my glasses. “There are a lot of things. It’s so satisfying when I can help bring out their creativity, whether they have innate talent or not. But mostly I love being able to show them that beauty exists in the world, and hopefullyimpress on them why it’s important. There’s so much ugliness out there, I feel like beauty—in art or anywhere—gives us hope.”
“Well, that’s amazing.” She smiled. “I love that.”
“What about you? What’s going on in your life?”
She tapped her chin. “Let’s see. I started recording the new season ofEnchanted Hollow.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s a cartoon. I’m a voice actor and I play the evil queen on the show.”
“Do you really? What a cool job.”
“I’m not going to lie, it really is. That’s keeping me busy. Plus, despite my insistence I’d never get married again, I’m planning a wedding. Leave it to Luke Haven to prove me wrong.” She rolled her eyes.
A wedding. I tried not to let the topic weigh on me, but I couldn’t help feeling a dip of sadness. I wanted to be married. To have a partner. Someone to share my life with.
To be my best friend and so much more.
“Do you have a date set and everything?” I asked, trying very hard to keep my tangled emotions out of my voice.
“We’re working on an exact date, but it’ll be next spring. We’ll have it at Salishan Cellars, the winery down in Echo Creek.”
“That’s a beautiful location.”
“It really is. Luke’s brothers and his sister got married there, so at this point it’s basically tradition. And it’s where he took me for our second first date, so that makes it even more special.”
“That’s so sweet.”
“Thanks. Amazingly enough, I’m excited. I don’t mean to sound cynical, but I made the mistake of marrying an idiot the first time around. I’m still getting used to the idea that I got it right this time.”
“No judgment here. I got all too close to marrying an idiot.”
