Read Online Doing It Over (A Most Likely to Novel Book 1) by Catherine Bybee - Free Book Online Page B

her squeeze had just vacated. A boy, not more than six, attempted to climb up onto the counter.
    “Is it our turn?”
    “Samuel . . . get down.” The young mother removed her son from Miss Gina’s desk with an arm around his waist. “Sorry.”
    “It’s okay . . . been there.”
    “He’s been in the car for hours.” The man Melanie assumed was Dad removed a wallet from his back pocket as he spoke.
    “My daughter’s the same way after a long car ride.” Melanie took his credit card and checked his name. “Wait.” She snapped her eyes back to the man. “Mitchel Giesler? Holy cow . . .” The man was no longer the boy. He had an extra thirty pounds and a beard.
    “Melanie Bartlett,” she said, pointing at herself.
    “Oh, hey . . . how are you?”
    “Good. Not bad.” She looked down at the boy again. “Is this your son?”
    “Yeah, and my wife, Letty.”
    Melanie glanced between the three of them. “Wow, how much we’ve all changed. Last time I saw you was at graduation . . . you were really . . . celebrating.”
    “Yes,” he said with a knowing smile. “I certainly was.”
    Samuel was pulling out of his mother’s arms with enough energy to power the house.
    “Settle down.”
    “I wanna go outside,” the child whined.
    Melanie glanced at her old classmate and lifted her voice to the back of the house. “Hope, honey?”
    “Yeah?” her daughter answered.
    “C’mere, sweetie.”
    Hope ran from where she was perched in Miss Gina’s kitchen. Her hair in a ponytail, the smile she’d worn since they’d arrived in River Bend painted on her lips.
    She moved alongside Melanie’s leg and glanced at the guests.
    “Hope, this is Samuel.”
    Her daughter gave a little wave and Samuel smiled.
    “Why don’t you take Samuel out back and show him Miss Gina’s garden.”
    Samuel wrinkled his nose. “Flowers? Yuck.”
    Hope shook her head. “No, silly . . . dirt and worms.”
    Samuel’s eyes grew wide.
    “If it’s okay with you?” Melanie glanced at Mitchel.
    Mitchel placed a hand on Samuel’s back and shoved. “Go, buddy.”
    That was all the encouragement the kids needed before they were running out the back door. The sound of the screen slamming had both parents releasing long-suffering breaths.
    “Kids and cars don’t mix. Now, where were we?”

CHAPTER SIX
    The guests were checked in, the rooms were all clean, and Melanie sat on the back porch watching Hope and Samuel do their best to ruin their clothes with dirt.
    “There you are,” Zoe’s voice rang from inside the inn. She pushed through the back door and let it slap shut.
    Melanie swatted her palm against the double swing she was perched on in invitation. “I thought you were going to spend the day with your mom and sister.”
    “I did, too, but she didn’t bother asking for time off work while I’m here and Zanya’s pregnancy is kicking her butt. Guess I’ll just squeeze in a few hours when I can.” Zoe stretched her long legs out and dropped her purse on the deck. The long expanse of the lawn held a large maple tree with a lone wooden swing. The forest bordered the grass without a single fence blocking the view. A pathetic attempt at a vegetable garden sported mostly weeds and a pile of dirt. The beginnings of a tomato plant, one probably volunteering its efforts from the previous year, sprang from the earth. The only thing that had changed from her childhood was the size of the tree. “It’s so quiet here. Was it always this quiet?”
    “We were too busy yakking to notice. But yeah, I think it was. It’s not quiet in Bakersfield.”
    “Not in Dallas either.”
    The two of them watched the kids playing for a few minutes. “She’s just like you.”
    “I don’t know about that. I didn’t play in the dirt a lot.”
    “You grew out of it,” Zoe corrected. “Decided cheer squad and lip gloss were better pastimes.”
    Melanie closed her eyes and shook her head. “Don’t remind me. Guess who is staying