Chapter 26

We didn’t get the lock on the door until Friday afternoon. Dad wanted to wait until Mom was out of the house to ‘not cause an argument,’ which I guess I could see his point. But it also meant I put stuff I cared about in my backpack and hauled it with me to school on Thursday.

Josh was escalating and I really didn’t trust him not to do anything stupid, even for just the one day.

At least we got the mattress on Thursday. Mom saw us but was lying down on the couch and, other than looking at us carrying the mattress in, didn’t really have much to say.

I really did feel better when Dad put the new lock on my door. I talked him out of just replacing the knob with one with a lock, since I thought Josh could get that open pretty easily, and instead had him install a hinge and I put a padlock on it, so that Josh would have to literally destroy my door to get in.

While that wasn’t out of the realm of possibility, at least that might finally be him going too far and actually get him in trouble.

By Friday night, though, I’d put all of that out of my mind as I got ready for my date. I dressed in jeans and a nice button-up shirt, going for nice but not too fancy. Jimmy’s wasn’t exactly the Ritz, and church clothes felt like a bit of a stretch for there.

I was actually way less nervous than I’d thought I’d be. Maybe it was because I’d experienced dating in the dream life, so it wasn’t as scary to me as the few dates I’d been on in middle school. I’d been a wreck before the first dates I’d been on with Brandy in eighth grade, before we became a couple.

Now, I felt alright.

Dad was working the night shift tonight and left as soon as we got the lock on my door and Mom had gone to work for the first time in a week, so that left me on my own.

Thankfully, Melanie’s place was between my house and the school, so the walk wasn’t bad, and we weren’t far from Broad Street where Jimmy’s, the burger place where we were going, was located.

Her house was a little two-story place that appeared really well kept, like someone had put a lot of care into the way the yard looked, and the front porch light was on.

It was just starting to get a little cool out so I’d worn a jacket, but otherwise, it wasn’t too bad. I rang the doorbell and a few moments later, an older woman opened the door. She seemed a little too old to be Melanie’s mother, maybe in her mid-fifties with silver-streaked hair, but there was a resemblance there.

“You must be Blake,” she said, giving me a warm smile. “Come in. Melanie will be down in a minute.”

I stepped into the entryway, noting the family photos on the walls. Except for a few pictures with a man around the same age as the woman who answered the door, all of the pictures had just Melanie and two other women in them. In the pictures with the man, Melanie was really little, but the other women confused me. There was the older lady who answered the door and then another woman who looked maybe ten or fifteen years older than Melanie.

The age gap was a weird combo, and I could only guess that she was Melanie’s older sister, although why waiting so long between kids was a wonder.

Before I could contemplate it any further, footsteps on the stairs drew my attention. Melanie appeared, wearing a blue dress that made her eyes pop.

It wasn’t overly fancy, but it was still very nice and for a moment, I wondered if I’d miscalculated wearing the jeans.

The other woman in the picture appeared from what looked like the kitchen and solved the mystery when she said, “Hi. I’m Donna, Mel’s sister.”

“Uhh, hi,” I said, not expecting to meet so much of her family on the first date.

“Okay, we’re leaving!” Melanie grabbed my arm. “Bye, Mom, bye, Donna!”

“Have him back by eleven,” her mom called after us as Melanie practically dragged me outside.

Once we were down the block, Melanie burst out laughing. “You looked like you were about to pass out in there.”

“Did not,” I tried to sound offended but couldn’t help grinning.

I’d been so calm and collected when I’d left my house. What had happened?

“Please, you were so nervous. It was kind of cute, actually.”

“I just wasn’t expecting to meet your whole family.”