The Agent's Daughter (14 page)

Angela looked over at Alex. “You’re David
Winfield’s son, aren’t you?”

“
Yes, ma’am.”

“
Nice man, that David,”
Angela said, “but a little geeky. Of course, I mean that in the
best possible meaning of geek.”

Alex smiled. “Quite, all right. That’s a
fairly accurate description.”

Angela looked at Melina. “I just talked to
your father. He is running a little late, so I am going to take
your brother to his friend’s house. After that, I am going to go to
the grocery store,” Angela then furrowed her brow and continued.
“Can I trust you two not to get into trouble while I am gone?”

Melina thought for a moment. She had never
been left in the house by herself. All of her friends had already
reached that age where their parents felt comfortable leaving them
home alone, but Melina’s dad just could not bring himself to allow
it. Especially in the company of a boy. Melina now understood the
look that Angela had given her. This was something that they were
not going to discuss with Dad.

Melina smiled and nodded in understanding.
“You have nothing to worry about.”

“
Then we are off,” Angela
said. “Back in a while.”

An hour passed, and Melina and Alex had
settled into their work on the project. They worked in the kitchen
for a short while, but then they moved to the living room where
they sat side by side on the couch, each working on a laptop. Alex
was searching the internet for details on how to build a working
electromagnet and Melina was writing the outline for the other part
of the project, the three-page essay on a subject related to
magnetism. They were working hard, and there had been no talking
for some time. The entire last hour, Alex had seemed nervous. Now
he was starting to sweat.

He finally took a break and broke the
silence. “You doing anything good this weekend?”

“
My dad is getting back
tonight,” Melina said. “He is going to start teaching me to drive
tomorrow. Then we are going out to visit my mom.”

Melina thought for a moment. Was he trying
to gauge her availability to get together for this weekend? Perhaps
outside the context of schoolwork.

"If you get back early enough, would you
like to go somewhere together tomorrow?” Alex said. “Maybe we could
go to a movie or something.”

The words came out hurried and were a bit
high-pitched. As if he had been rehearsing them in his mind for an
hour.

Melina had a look of delight on her face.
“I’d love to. We should be back in the late afternoon. How about I
call you when we get back and we can firm up plans then.”

“
That sounds great,” Alex
said, in a tone that was much better than earlier.

They both went back to their work, or at
least the appearance of working. Neither could do anything more
productive as they both thought of tomorrow evening. Alex stared at
the display of his laptop and pretended to read an article on how
to wrap an iron bar with wire. Melina stared at the display of her
laptop and pretended to read her outline. She rested her hand on
the couch between her and Alex. Without looking, Alex went to lay
his hand on the couch between him and Melina, but it came to rest
right on top of hers. They both looked over at each other but
neither made an effort to move their hands. After a moment, they
each went back to staring at their screens. Alex intertwined each
of his fingers with Melina’s, so they were holding hands.

For the next hour, that is how they sat,
side-by-side, holding hands. They didn’t even move when Angela
returned from the store. Then, Alex’s phone began mooing, so he
reached into his pocket and took it out.

“
It is a text from my
mom,” he said, with a noticeable sigh. “She has left the house and
is on the way over here to pick me up.”

Melina made a frown-face at Alex and watched
as he packed his computer and notebooks into his backpack. When he
finished, she grabbed him by the hand. “We can go wait on the
porch.”

She led Alex to the front door, opened it
and walked with him onto the porch. She shut the door behind
her.

They stood side-by-side, looking out at the
street, not knowing what to do next. Then, Alex set down his
backpack and faced Melina. He put a hand on each of her shoulders
and slowly pulled her toward him. As they drew together, she turned
her head, rested it in his chest and wrapped her arms around him.
He put his chin on the top of her head.

After a few minutes of quietly holding each
other, Melina pulled her head back and looked up at Alex. He looked
down, their faces a few inches apart.

“
I’m glad you came over
tonight,” she said.

“
I am too,” he said, that
nervous voice returning.

His words hung in the air as there was a
silence between them. They both knew what was next. The goodnight
kiss.

After a moment of hesitation, Alex inched
his face toward Melina. She closed her eyes and tilted her head to
the side. Their lips were almost touching.

Suddenly, the silence was pierced by the
sound of a car pulling up in front of the house. Alex’s mom.

Melina opened her eyes wide, pulled her head
away from Alex and looked out at the street. Alex quickly put his
arms down at his sides, and did his best to look as if there were
nothing going on. He gave a nervous wave to his mom, grabbed his
backpack, and turned to Melina.

“
I will talk to you
tomorrow,” he said, still flustered.

Alex swung his backpack over his shoulder
and headed down the steps of the porch, when he stopped. He thought
for a moment, turned around, and went back up the porch steps
toward Melina. He stood in front of her, leaned forward and placed
a soft kiss on her forehead. Then he turned around and ran down the
porch steps.

“
Whohoo!” he yelled as he
ran across the grass toward the car.

Melina waved to Alex as he got in the car.
She watched the car pull away, and when it was gone, she smiled to
herself and went inside. Then she ran upstairs to her room, grabbed
her phone and dialed Jean’s number.

“
Hey lady,” Jean said,
“How did it go?”

“
It went great, and it
went not so great,” Melina said.

“
Okay, tell me the great
part first.”

Melina thought for a moment. “Well, we had
great conversations, we held hands for over an hour, and we had the
most exquisite long hug on the porch when he went to leave.”

“
Did you get a goodnight
kiss?”

“
That was the part that
did not go so great. His mom drove up just as he was going to kiss
me. We both panicked, and it didn’t happen. But he did give me a
totally sweet kiss on the forehead before he left.”

“
A forehead kiss,” Jean
said, laughing. “I got one of those from my grandma last
week.”

“
No,” Melina said. “This
was different from a grandma forehead kiss. Much slower. More lip.
It was verrrrry nice.”

“
It sounds like your buddy
Ellen Barrow can officially give up,” Jean said. “Alex is off the
market. I can’t wait to see the look on her face when she sees him
kiss you at school.”

Melina hadn’t thought much about what others
would think. Especially at school. She was uncomfortable with
others looking at her or talking about her, and her relationship
with Alex was going to be hot news around school. And there was
surely going to be a nasty confrontation with Ellen.

“
You may have to kick her
butt,” Jean said, echoing what Melina was thinking.

She tried to picture how that would go down
when she heard a knock on her bedroom door.

“
Come in,” she
said.

The door opened, and Angela stepped into the
doorway.

“
I’m going to pick up
Travis from his friend’s house,” she said.

“
I gotta go, Jean,” Melina
said into the phone.

“
Okay, talk to ya
tomorrow.”

Melina pushed a button on the face of the
phone to hang it up and then sat up on the bed.

“
Do you mind coming with
me?” Angela said. “Staying here with Alex is one thing, but your
father would not be happy with me if I left you here
alone.”

“
I understand,” Melina
said as she smiled in acknowledgement. “It is his way. He is one to
be afraid of things.”

Angela smiled at the thought. If she only
knew.

“
How did your studying
go?” Angela asked. “Did you get much done?”

Melina looked up from her book. “Yeah. It
was productive. Until …” Melina wasn’t sure that she wanted to talk
with Angela about Alex, but it was too late.

Angela looked concerned and stepped forward.
“Until what. Did something happen?”

“
Oh. No, nothing
inappropriate happened. Alex asked me to go to the movies tomorrow.
Everything is perfect,” Melina’s voice tailed off. It was clear
that everything was not perfect.

Angela picked up on that. “It doesn’t sound
like it. Are you concerned about anything?”

Melina shifted her position on the bed.
“It’s just… it’s just all new to me. I have never been out with a
boy. I don’t know what to do, how to act on a date. What others
would think of the two of us being together.”

Angela thought that last one was out of
place among Melina’s concerns. She wanted to help, but she did not
want to come across as taking the place of Melina’s mother in this
situation.

“
Tell you what,” Angela
said. “On the way to pick up your brother, we can stop and get ice
cream. You can ask me questions about dating and stuff.”

Melina didn’t say anything, but it was clear
she was thinking about it.

Angela put her hand on Melina’s shoulder.
“You need your mother right now. I am sorry that she is not here to
help. I know Laura. She is a dear friend of mine. She would want me
to help you.”

Angela was right. Melina was thinking about
her mom. But Angela was also right that her mom would not want her
to sit around and mope.

Melina got down from the bed. “Let me get my
shoes.”

…………………………
.

The first few minutes of the car ride were
spent in silence. Melina was still mulling over everything, and
Angela was trying to figure out a way to start the conversation.
She figured she would start with what Melina had said earlier that
she found strange.

“
You had mentioned that
you thought that others would have a problem with you and Alex. Who
are these others? Does your best friend not like him?”

“
Oh, no,” Melina said.
“All my friends like him and my best friend has been the biggest
help in getting us together.”

“
So your family has a
problem with him?” Angela asked.

“
My dad doesn’t even know
Alex exists, and my brother seemed to get along with him
fine.”

Angela looked confused. “So who are these
people that are going to have a problem with Alex? I mean he seemed
like a decent young man.”

“
Well… there is this one
girl at school, Ellen Barrow. She keeps telling me that Alex is out
of my league. And that she will be together with him before
long.”

“
Is she right?” Angela
asked. “Is he out of your league?”

“
Ummm,” Melina said as she
sounded as if she were thinking about it.

“
That was supposed to be a
rhetorical question,” Angela said. “Of course you are in his
league. You’re smart, pretty, and you are one of the nicest high
school kids I have ever met.”

“
Ummmm,” Melina
stammered.

“
This girl at school,”
Angela continued. “Do you trust her? I mean, is she someone that
you think has your best interests at heart when she talks to
you?”

“
That would be a definite
no,” Melina said.

“
Then why would you give
her opinion the time of day?” Angela asked.

“
Well …”

“
Look,” Angela said.
“There are going to be people in your life that are not your
friends, are not your family and do not have your best interest at
heart. They are going to say hurtful things about you. Some things
will be true, and some will be untrue. If what they say is true,
they are just trying to make you feel terrible. If what they say is
untrue, they are just lying. Either way, their opinion is not worth
acknowledging.”

Melina smiled at the thought. There was
certainly no reason to pay attention to Ellen.

“
Thank you, Angela,”
Melina said.

The short car ride was over, and Angela
pulled up in front of the ice cream shop. It was in a strip mall
with the requisite nail salon and convenience store. There did not
appear to be anyone in the ice cream shop except the young man
behind the counter. Through the car window, Angela spotted two
large, young men standing in front of the convenience store next
door. They were in the shadows, so she could not see their faces,
but one was wearing a hoodie, and the other wore a baseball cap
backwards on his head. They were each drinking from large bottles
of beer and standing under a sign that prohibited drinking
alcoholic beverages on the premises. This was not a positive
sign.

Angela got out of the car and continued to
watch the two men as she walked toward Melina. “Let’s get inside,”
she said.

The men were laughing at something when
hoodie noticed Melina and Angela. He staggered over toward them as
they approached the door of the ice cream shop.