At Sunset (ChickLit)

Chapter Eight

The morning was rainy. The sun again didn’t come out until later but by then Melanie’s mood had been set. There was no sickness in the middle of the night, which she’d been afraid of. Melanie sat inside by the window breast feeding Sawyer while she waited for Angela to return. Angela had forgotten something at the shop so she had to run out for a while.

She begged Melanie to come with her, to just get out of the house, but she opted out of it. Something about the morning felt different from the others. This day, despite the rain and clouds, felt peaceful. Melanie had opened the doors and windows to let in the cold air and to exterminate the smell of sickness.

Her cup of coffee was empty and the house was remarkably clean. The throw-up from the night before was gone too. Sophia had brought back a whole bouquet of carnations which she so neatly arranged in a vase and positioned on the dining room table. Melanie straightened up the nursery by folding Sawyer clothes and stocking the diapers in their basket. She folded the blankets and put them in easy reach of the crib and in the effort of trying to add a little décor to the room had Angela print out two pictures of her and the baby. One she got her to frame and hang over the crib while the other Melanie slipped into her journal.

Sophia and Heather were at the store all day today so Angela had planned on staying with her.

Melanie could feel the breeze filtering through the window screen. It smelled sweet and earthy, like pine and the fresh rain smell.

A few crows spotted the field as they dug their beaks in the soil looking for worms. A few found what they were looking for and flew into the trees, but others stayed and kept searching. As the clouds taunted with little peeks of sun and the clock changed, Melanie felt a sudden rush of adrenalin surge through her.

She fixed her shirt and walked to the bathroom. Her face wasn’t blotchy and sweaty as it had been like the other days, instead it was pale. Her eyes were extremely sparkly which made her wonder if she was going to get that fatigue attack again.

Her pain had numbed as she walked so where it didn’t hurt as bad. She still felt like she was floating, but she was clearly aware of what she was doing.

Melanie sat on the couch and waited for Angela because she was the only one she could talk to. She was having trouble separating fact from fiction.

Everything that happened the past four weeks all seemed like just a bad dream, the ugliness seemed faded compared to today, where she didn’t look half monstrous as she had days before.

Her hair though was the constant reminder that it wasn’t a dream. It had thinned to a fine layer of silver strands. She was afraid to even brush it through or scrub her head too hard when showering, afraid that it would all disappear.

She’d been having so many bad dreams about Wes lately. The most recent was one that didn’t have anything to do with Sawyer. This time she’d dreamed that he’d called and given some excuse for not being there. In the end he told her that her answer was always no and that he’d worked too hard for that. She’d wanted to pick up the phone but an imaginary wall was stopping her.

She sat waiting for two hours. Angela still hadn’t returned and Melanie was beginning to become impatient. They’d done a lot for her, but on out of all days that she felt that something was truly wrong did they all disappear.