Back Into Your Arms

Mel was inconsolable for the rest of the day.

We made the kids dinner and she watched TV with Sarah for the rest of the evening.

“Is my aunt Mel okay?” little Aaron asked me as we sat there playing some video games.

“She’s sad”

“Why?”

“Because someone lied to her”

“You?”

“No, a friend of hers”

“Oh, her friend hurt her feelings?”

“Yeah”

He frowned and nodded.

“You like aunt Melody, don’t you?”

I couldn’t help but laugh a little.

“Can I tell you a secret?”

He nodded eagerly.

“I love your aunt Melody” I whispered over to him.
His eyes went wide and he started to smile.

“She’s great, isn’t she?” he laughed. I couldn’t help but laugh too.

“Why don’t you tell her?” he added.

“I plan to, soon. Do you like someone Aaron?”

“There’s a girl in class, her name is Sally, I don’t think she likes me”

“But you like her?”

He nodded.

“Maybe you should write her a song”

He laughed.

“A song?”

“Yeah, a song”

“I don’t know how to do that” the little boy laughed.

“I would show you but I didn’t bring my guitar”

“You play GUITAR!” he asked me amazed. I was about to explain to him the whole band situation when Mel walked in on us.

“Alright Aaron, time to go to bed, your grandma will be here tomorrow, and you have to go to school”

“Ahg, not grandma” he complained but agreed.

Mel got the kids in bed and prepared our bed.

“Comfy couch bed!” she exclaimed as we stared at the awfully small bed. It wasn’t small in width but rather in length.

She seemed to be in a better mood now, at least the tears had stopped.

“Which side?”

“I like sleeping on the left side”

“I like sleeping on the right, perfect!” I smiled as I placed my pillow on the right side.

“I’m going to go change into my pajamas”

“Please tell me you brought the watermelon slice pajamas!”
She gave me a look, but laughed.

“Actually, I brought my regular pajamas this time”

“What? I love the other ones”

“Ha, ha, ha!” she laughed sarcastically as she made her way to the bathroom to change. While she was in there, I quickly changed into my own pajamas. I usually just slept in my boxers, but for her sake I put on some shorts and a light t-shirt.

She made her way back, tying her hair up in a bun.

“I hope I can sleep tonight” she whispered as she sat on the bed.
I nodded and got into bed. My legs were way too long.

“Well then” I said wiggling my dangling feet. She started to laugh hard.

“The life of a 6-foot-tall man”

“Oh, it’s tough alright”

She made her way into bed and rested awkwardly. I turned off the light and we proceeded to shift from side to side. Trying not to get in each other’s way, yet trying to get comfortable at the same time. It just wasn’t happening.

“Ahh, I’m done” she sighed frustrated and got closer to me. She even dared to put her leg on top of mine.

“In that case” I replied as I lightly kicked off one of the blankets and extended one arm above her head.

I was finally able to stretch and lie down the way I wanted.
We both couldn’t help but laugh.

“We still have a lot to talk about” she whispered to me.

“I know”

“But for now, let’s just go to sleep, goodnight”

“Night”

In the morning, we woke up messy haired, each with a different blanket, her head close to mine. She reached for my head and ran her hand through my hair. She smiled.

“Messy” she whispered over to me.

“You look just as good yourself”

She laughed, her eyes still closed as she curled up close to me.

“15 more minutes” she mumbled, falling back asleep. I just watched her as she breathed in and out.

I loved this woman more than anyone, I smiled at the thought of waking up next to her every day, the thought sounded nice.

I knew it would soon be time to wake up the kids, so I got out of bed and showered quickly.

She then showered right after me and we quickly made breakfast for the kids.

“My mom needs to learn to cook like you” Aaron laughed as he ate the waffles Mel had made.

“Mel’s a professional chef” I pointed out.

Mel didn’t say much she just gave him a weak smile.

“Now Aaron and Sarah, your grandma will be picking you guys up today. We won’t be here when you’re back”

“Why not?” Aaron complained.

“John and I are going to be staying somewhere else, and then we will be heading back to Arizona”

Aaron looked upset. He pouted and crossed his arms.

“My momma?” Sarah asked.

“Your grandma will be taking you guys to see your momma” she whispered.

“It’s almost time, c’mon hurry and eat so you kids won’t be late to school” I said to the kids.

When we were dropping them off Aaron became especially sad.

“Does uncle John live over there too?”

“Uncle John?” she giggled.

“Yeah, I mean you are going to marry him someday, right?”

I laughed from the back of the taxi, I was glad I could overhear them. Melody just blushed and laughed.

“Maybe?”

“You have to!” he insisted.

“Why?”

“Because he loves you” he whispered, a little too loud. Even the taxi driver overheard this and started to laugh.

“Kid is funny” the driver pointed out. I laughed and nodded, it was then that I recognized the driver.

“Wait-are you the guy-” I began, but the man cut me off with excitement.

“Orange roses guy!” he laughed hard as he clapped his hands.

“It is you! How have you been?”

“Oh good, you know, business sometimes getting slow with this whole Uber thing, but anyways tell me, is this the girl?” he chuckled.

“It is” I smiled as I watched her get back into the car.

“What’s going on?” she smiled shyly.

“This is the guy that drove me to where you worked on that very first day, he helped me find the orange roses”

“Nice to meet you, glad I was of some help” the taxi man smiled.

“Thank you, the orange roses were key” she smiled.

“So where to?” the taxi driver asked.

“We need to pick up our things and drop them off at your friend’s apartment” she reminded me.

“Right”

We hurried and got our things and were driven to my friend’s house. He was out on tour so his house was empty. He was totally cool about letting us crash at his place.

“I always wanted an apartment over here” Mel pointed out as we opened the windows of the place.

“You prefer this over Brooklyn?”

“Yeah, it seems cozier here, or maybe it’s just the way he decorated his place, it’s cool”

“Neat huh?” I said as we admired the antique looking furniture and all the plants scattered around the house. My attention went to the room he turned into a studio.

“Of course, John would get called into the studio” Mel laughed.

“I’m not done with the lyrics, maybe I should work on them, I’m going to ask him if I can use his gear”

“Well, while you do that, I’m going to go buy some groceries down the street”

“You want me to go with you?”

“No, no it’s fine” she smiled, grabbing her purse and her phone.

I didn’t want her to leave but at the same time, it gave me time to write down all the ideas I had gathered up.

“In the back seat of a taxi…nah nah taxi, nah nah only”
It finally made sense. I knew what I wanted to write the song about.

“In the back seat of a taxi when you asked me, is the sadness everlasting?” I sang into the phone to make sure to save into my voice recordings. I wrote a couple more lyrics but time passed by really quickly and before I knew it she was knocking on the door already.

I opened the door and she stood there with two bottles of wine and a bag of groceries.

I couldn’t help but let out a grin.

“Grocery shopping, eh?”

“Wine and frozen pizza, this chef needs a break”

“You’re going to get silly drunk with that wine”

She turned towards me with a look on her face.

“Maybe I want to get silly drunk, especially if we are finally going to talk about everything that’s been going on this week”

She was trying to be her charming self but there was a lack of confidence in her voice, like she was almost scared of having these conversations with me.

It had really been a tough week for us.

She put the pizza in the oven and I opened the first wine bottle.
I poured her a glass and poured myself one.

“Let’s be completely honest”