As she waited, she was suddenly aware of every sound, every movement. She could hear the hum of the electric clock, the rattle of plastic bottles and ping, ping, ping of pills being counted out as Eli filled a prescription in the back, the swish of a mop as Mabel dusted the floor. Mabel rounded the aisle of shelves, caught sight of the silent tableau at the front of the store and stopped and stared.
Melissa felt like screaming. Mabel’s presence was anticipated, but unfortunate. Of all the people in town, she was the most likely to spread word of every last detail of any encounter between Melissa and Cody. Her pale eyes sparkled as she watched the two of them.
Cody tipped his hat to Mabel, but didn’t extend even that much courtesy to Melissa before latching on to her arm and practically hauling her into the storage room, past the startled gaze of Eli Dolan. Cody kicked the door shut behind them, plunging them into darkness.
“Dammit, Cody, what do you think you’re doing?” Melissa demanded, trying to wrench herself free and reach the light switch at the same time. She couldn’t succeed at doing either one.
“We need to talk,” he declared, seemingly oblivious to the lack of light.
“Fine. Then let’s do it like two civilized adults. There’s no need for your caveman routine.”
He was close enough that she could see that his eyes sparked fire, but he released his grip on her. Melissa felt along the wall until she found the switch. She flipped it on, illuminating the room that was small under the best of conditions, but claustrophobic with Cody pacing in the cramped space.
Somehow he managed to neatly avoid the stacks of just-delivered boxes, metal shelves of inventory and a disorderly array of cleaning supplies. Melissa had the feeling that he was practically daring the inanimate objects to give him an excuse to knock them all to the floor. She couldn’t recall ever seeing him quite so angry or quite so speechless. Cody’s glib tongue was known far and wide, especially among women.
She kept silent and waited. Finally he stopped in front of her, his hands shoved in his pockets, legs spread, a belligerent expression on his handsome face.
“Whose baby is it?” he demanded in a tone that made her hackles rise.
Melissa made up her mind then and there that she wasn’t giving in to his bullying or to any coaxing he might decide to try when that failed. Maybe that had been the problem in the past. She’d been too darned easy on him, too much in love to ever say no. She hoisted her chin a challenging notch. They were going to have a conversation on her terms for a change.
“Good morning to you, too, Cody.”
Cody’s gaze narrowed at the sarcasm. “Dammit, I asked you a straight question. The least you could do is give me a straight answer.”
She wasn’t sure where she found the courage to face him down, but she did. “Why should I, when you’re acting like a bully?”
“I think I have a right to act any damn way I please.”
“No,” she said softly. “You don’t. I told you before that we can discuss this like two civilized adults or I can go into the other room and go to work.”
He raked his hand through his hair in a gesture that was vintage Cody. She’d always been able to tell exactly how frustrated or annoyed he was by the disheveled state of his hair.
“If that baby’s mine, I have a right to know,” he retorted, his voice starting to climb.
“I was under the impression that you already know the answer to that. You certainly carried on as if you did when you dropped in on my parents last night.”
He didn’t look even vaguely chagrined by the reminder of his outrageous behavior on her parents’ doorstep. “I want to hear it from you,” he snapped. “I want to hear why you kept it from me. If I am that child’s father, I should have been told about her way back when you first discovered you were pregnant. I had a right to know. We should have been making decisions together.”
Melissa met his gaze unflinchingly. “You gave up any rights the day you left town without so much as a goodbye. You never got in touch. I didn’t know where you were. How was I supposed to let you know?”
“Jordan knew where I was, but you made damned sure he wouldn’t tell me, didn’t you?”
“Because your leaving town the way you did told me everything I needed to know about how you felt about me. What was the point of dragging you back so you could tell me to kiss off?”
She could almost see his patience visibly snap.
“Dammit, Melissa, you know that I had more than enough cause to go,” he practically shouted, slamming his fist into a box and sending it crashing to the floor. Judging from the shattering noise it made, it was the glasses Eli had bought to replace the supply she’d broken only the day before.
Eli opened the door a crack and peered inside, his expression anxious. “Everything okay back here?”
“Fine,” Cody and Melissa said in unison. The response wasn’t very heartfelt from either of them.
Eli glanced at the box on the floor and shook his head wearily. He backed away without comment and shut the door.
Throughout the interruption, Cody had kept his gaze fastened on her face, sending color flooding into her cheeks. “You know I’m right,” he said more quietly the instant they were alone again. “You cheated on me.”
She had known from the beginning that that was what he believed. She had even wanted him to believe it…up to a point. Even so, it hurt to hear him say it. “Still jumping to conclusions, I see.
