“Some people drink their fancy while others fancy their drink. I wonder which one you are?” She did not mean to bite at him, but he asked for it.
Her smart remark goes unnoticed. Then Rob leans in, his breath potently drenched with the smokey whiskey he’s glugged down. “What happened to your leg anyway?”
“I fell, weren’t you there when Morrison found me?” Seeing Rob has brought back bitter feelings of betrayal, now Melody’s hairs raise on her arm, an alarm warning her to be careful how she speaks around him. Luckily for her, he’s a tad too sloshed to pay much mind to her.
“Yeah...bu’ you didnae say how it happened, did ye?” Rob’s words are slightly slurred and sounding almost as Scottish as when he was on the hill with Tam.
“What do you mean?”
“How did yae fall, lass?” His voice is a little more raised, but not enough to match the plethoric sounds of the barflies competing to be heard tonight.
Melody cannot tell if he is genuinely asking out of concern or suspicion. Did he see me on that hill? Is that why he’s asking this? With a crowd of this size surrounding her, Melody feels safer than the night he stood in her room, but until she knows what he is insinuating, she is sticking to her story. Melody tells him what she told the doctor and Morrison.
“I went out for a stroll and I was walking back to the inn from touring the town when I tripped and caught my foot on the cobble stone. I guess I’m not used to walking on uneven ground yet.”
“Hmm...” Rob takes a sip of his drink, looking unsatisfied with her answer. “I just find it interesting that you fell right there by the entrance of the inn and somehow you had nettles in your hair. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you took one good tumble doon that hill.”
He pauses and Melody’s heart stops along with him. Her suspicions are proving more and more true with each line Rob delivers. She sits there, the recipient of much dread.
“You may want to take a sip, or your cuppa might ge’ cold.” Rob smiles devilishly.
Melody looks down at the cup in front of her, she has only taken a sip out of it. Her fingers caress the cup as she cusps at its waist and sure enough her tea has cooled down. The blood appears to have cooled from her face also as she sits on the bar stool.
“Are you trying to suggest I lied?” While Melody did lie, she can’t help but think how rich that is coming from Rob when she clearly caught him red-handed.
Rob sits up more smug than at her arrival. He leans in again and says, “I’m saying you should be careful where you walk next time.” This time, he turns to Morrison in a more cheerful voice, “This should cover my drinks. I think I better quit while I’m ahead.”
Morrison takes the money and counts it as Rob stands up. Suddenly, Melody snatches Rob’s hand firmly. She stands up to face him and says between gritted teeth, “If you think I’m scared of you, you have another thing coming.”
“And if...” As Rob begins to answer, his face more serious than before, Morrison interrupts his rebuttal.
“While ahead? I donnae ‘hink you’re gonna get anywhere with Miss Winter, Rob. She’s too good fae ye.”
“Ye reckon?” Rob tries to play off the moment as less tense than it really is.
“Aye!” A shout comes from somewhere in the pub and the crowd roars with laughter again. Rob stands up, his face a little flushed and walks up the stairs to his guest room.
The crowd continues to throw humorous comments to Rob as walks away. Melody, however, is not as tickled by the joke, she is still shaken by Rob’s threat, but she is not about to reveal that to him.
“Are ye o’rite, hen?” Morrison is quick to pick up on Melody’s mood.
“Yes. I think I’m going to take my dinner upstairs and get an early night.”
“Here comes Bruce with ye food the noo. He can walk you up the stairs.”
Melody is thankful for the assistance. She had not thought about how she would support her plate up the steps. “Thanks, Morrison. Goodnight.”
“Aye, nae bother.” He waves his hand and concludes, “I didnae do anything.” Melody and Morrison have bonded these past few days. They laugh together, they tell jokes and he instructs her on who is worth her time as well as who to avoid. She does not always listen, but appreciates his advice nonetheless. She can’t quite put her finger on it at first, except that, his attentiveness to her is like that of… a father.
Quietly, Melody and her shy companion, Bruce, walk up the stairs – one is deep in thought and the other has little to say. “Here you go, Miss.”
“Thank you, Bruce.” Melody graciously accepts her plate, though her appetite is now amiss. She lightly limps back into her room, slips back into the confinement of her bed and falls asleep with one wish in her mind: that morning might come quickly and release her back into her normal life at Talon’s Point. The delays her leg has caused are drawing to a finish and now, more than ever, she is determined to unravel her father’s sudden disappearance.
*
“Morrison, I’m ready!” Melody’s cheerful voice bounces on the walls of the inn. It is early in the morning; a slight drizzle can be heard outside the bar. Inside, it is a ghost town now that all the barflies have deserted its quarters and retreated homebound to nurse their hangovers. There is no doubt, they’ll be back again tonight to relive the experience.
“I’m almost done here. Give me a wee second, I’m just putting away the messages. The queues
