Chapter Five
Melody woke up slowly, which was nice. No blaring alarm clock, no stumbling exhaustion while she tried to get ready without falling asleep standing up. She savored the gentle rise to full alertness, her body still contented from the night before if not a little sore.
She rolled over, grabbing the pillow Clay had slept on, searching for his scent. It actually smelled disappointingly familiar, but she could pretend he hadn’t used her shampoo and body wash in the shower. She thought she smelled him underneath her bath products, and her eyes drifted closed once more.
She wasn’t disheartened to be alone. She knew Clay got up before the chickens to train. She wasn’t real sure why, but she was expecting it. That bouncing out of bed business was not for her. If she didn’t have to get up before noon, she wouldn’t. She didn’t have that inborn need to be productive before the sun rose, but Clay did.
How country was that?
She really wanted to go back to sleep and drift on waves of erotic dreams that were obviously an aftereffect of the mind-blowing evening with Clay, but real life started to intrude. She remembered her uniform still on the bathroom floor that needed to be washed before work. She’d have to get up now if she wanted it to be dry in time.
Her progress of getting out of bed and getting moving was leisurely, which was a nice treat all by itself. She tossed her uniform in the wash first thing, but then she stood by the kitchen counter in her bathrobe and fuzzy pink slippers sipping a cup of sludgelike instant coffee.
She was definitely asking Santa for a coffeemaker this Christmas.
Melody was still sipping her terrible instant coffee—the burn of it waking her up more than anything—when a knock sounded on the door. She set her coffee down and frowned, not expecting anyone. She was hoping it was Clay, but her past made her cautious.
“Who is it?” she called out when she got to the front door, knowing she needed a peephole.
“I have some documents for Mrs. Andrews.”
Melody stared at the door, an icy cold wash of fear swamping her system. The shock of it stole her breath. The fall from peaceful to terrified happened between one heartbeat and the next. It took her a few seconds to get acclimated. She’d gotten too comfortable with Clay, too used to feeling safe. She wasn’t accustomed to the terror anymore.
“Ma’am?”
“Sorry,” Melody said, still trying to get her bearings. She opened the door. It probably wasn’t the safest idea, but the reality was Justin wouldn’t have paid someone to grab her and then used her married name. He was craftier than that. She found a clean-cut young man bundled up against the cold, a clipboard in one hand and a thick manila envelope in the other. She pulled a face as she eyed him. “What sorta paperwork is it?”
He shrugged, looking irritated and desensitized by his job. He handed her the clipboard, and Melody signed for whatever he was delivering.
He handed her a package. “Enjoy your summons.”
“Summons.” Melody gasped, hating that roiling swell of fear still churning in her stomach. “What am I being summoned for?”
Package delivered, he obviously didn’t have to answer her question. The young man turned around and left her standing in her bathrobe and fuzzy slippers in the open front door. While he walked down her driveway, she tore into the envelope. She pulled out the paperwork, seeing it was some sort of court date for a foreclosure, which would have concerned her if she owned a house, but she didn’t. She scanned the legal jargon until she found her name and address listed right underneath Justin’s information.
Uncaring of the freezing temperatures and snow-covered driveway, Melody raced after the deliveryman. Her fuzzy slippers were soaked and ice-cold, her robe wasn’t doing a very good job of combating the morning chill, but she couldn’t feel anything except heart-wrenching terror.
“Did he get one of these?” she called out as she came up on the man crawling into his car. “Did you deliver one of these summons with my address to him?”
“Who’s him, lady?” the guy barked, his polite disposition gone now that he wasn’t trying to get her to open the door.
“My ex-husband.” Melody thrust the paperwork at him and pointed to Justin’s name above hers. “Did he get one of these? It’s really important that I know if he got one.”
“I don’t know.” He tucked his legs into the car in a silent dismissal of her. “I just do what I’m told, and they told me to drive way the hell out here and give that to you.”