Need You Now (Love in Unknown) Read Online Free PDF Page A

Anything to help both of them move on and start living their lives again.
    She couldn’t remember the last time she’d really seen her mother smile, let alone laugh. They talked nearly every day, but it wasn’t the same. Their talks in the last year had been stilted at best, her mother too wrapped up in grief and her too wrapped up in her own problems to be happy. Mel missed the easy laughter and banter that her parents shared. They’d sometimes both get on the phone with her and it would be like she was at home in the family kitchen rather than a thousand miles away in North Carolina.
    Mel sat in her office, filling out a chart for one of her few patients. Doc Booth had pulled back to part time, but most of the older patients still insisted on being treated by him. Since they made up a majority of the regular patients, Mel wasn’t terribly busy. After spending her life always studying or practicing medicine, doing nothing drove her absolutely crazy.
    She still shook her head over a run-in she’d had the week before with Mrs. Brown. Mel had just come out of the bakery when she bumped into the widow of the former mayor.
    “Melody Carr. I never thought I’d see the day.” The diminutive little old woman drew herself up to her full height. “Never in all my life did I think to see the day when we’d have a woman doctor. Your granddaddy would be appalled.”
    Mel had put on her best smile. She couldn’t count the number of times she’d heard this same litany over the past few weeks. It stung a little –okay a lot-- that no one in her hometown seemed to give a damn that she’d worked her ass off at some of the best schools in the country to come home and take care of them. “Well, Mrs. Brown, I know my daddy was sure proud the day he watched me graduate from medical school. He and Mama always taught me to do my best and use the gifts God gave me.”
    The eighty-five-year-old sniffed. “Be that as it may. I certainly don’t know how you’ll find a man to marry you. Decent men don’t want a wife who’s had more schooling than him. It just isn’t fitting for a girl to have so much schooling.”
    While she sounded like she’d never evolved past the 1950s, Mrs. Brown’s sentiments seemed to be shared by a lot of people in town. Education beyond high school had only become common place in Unknown in the last twenty years. Even then, the kids who went to college usually didn’t come back. Still, Mel loved being home. It would just take a little time to get the town to see things her way.
    Mel’s cell phone blasted out an excerpt of her favorite David Garrett violin piece, breaking the cloying silence of the long afternoon. The number showed up as blocked, but she was only expecting to hear from one person today. Her blind date must be calling.
    “Hello?”
    She could hear someone breathing on the other end, but they didn’t respond.
    "Hello?" Why wasn't this guy responding? Had she been butt dialed?
    The voice that finally spoke was harsh and low, hoarse enough that she couldn't tell whether it was a man or woman. " Bitch. Leave town while you can."
    Before she could say anything, the line went dead. The hair on the back of her neck stood up a little. Okay, so not her blind date. Seriously creepy. Maybe it was a wrong number. Briefly, she thought of telling Gage about it, but with a blocked number there wasn’t much he’d be able to do. She shivered a little before trying to turn her attention back to her patent's file. Unsettled, she struggled with the paper for several minutes before her phone rang again, causing her to jump a good half a foot out of her seat. She fumbled a little, almost dropping the phone before she could answer it.
    Her greeting this time was a bit less cheery than before. “Hello?”
    “Hi. Is this Melody?” The voice on the other end sounded warm, maybe a little nervous, but definitely eager.
    “Mel, this is Ian Douglas.” She could almost hear the smile in his voice. “Emma gave