Chapter 6

Mélanie’s cell phone sounded softly on the counter below the shelf with all the bottles in the public room – ever since Karine had managed to call her that first time, she’d developed the habit of keeping it there, accessible, in case someone else would call.

“Hello? Oh, hi, Karine ... Wait up. I’m at the bar. Let me get to the back room – I can hardly hear you ... There, that’s better. What’s up?”

“Mel, you’d never guess! Roger and I finally managed to have a long talk, in bed as you might guess. Since I’ve been back, he’s barely spoken to me. It was like living at the North Pole. I finally gave him a load of shit and told him I’d cut off his balls if he didn’t tell me what the matter was.”

“The reason he didn’t want to come was because he thought I was getting bored with him and wanted to bring Paul back into the mix like our first time. He didn’t want to go through that again since we’ve been living together. He was convinced that I was still doing it with Paul and had preferred to stay alone in town rather than witnessing that ... Isn’t he cute, the big lug? When I finally convinced him that he was my one and only, he started to cry like a little baby. I had told him how it was with you and Sonny, about your inn and how Sonny was super polite and bright and guess what ... We decided to try for a baby of our own, for the two of us.”

“Oh, wow ... that’s wonderful. Congratulations in advance. Listen, I’d love to talk to you longer but it’s a madhouse here – that gang from Manitoba I told you about is here and I need to get back to work. Are you free, tomorrow morning? ... Yes? Good, I’ll call you.”

“Okay. I just wanted you to be the first to know. Er ... Mel... , when you call tomorrow, don’t call too early, okay? We want to get busy starting on Charley as of tonight.”

Since the gang from Manitoba had wanted to continue partying until three o’clock that night (they were still firmly set on Central Time), Mélanie promised herself a nice, luxurious morning in bed, at least luxurious for her. Usually, Sonny got up just as early as she did and they were both up by six so lazy mornings were few and far between. It has been over two years now that Sonny slept the night through; the only rough spot had been the time when his tummy was upset with the colic but that hadn’t lasted long. For several weeks already, if he saw that his mom wanted to sleep longer when he woke up, he would make his own way to the kitchen where Cookie would make him a little snack and have him do something really important like mix the pancake batter until his mom would come to get him.

It was therefore seven fifteen when Mélanie came back from her shower (unlike the guestrooms, her room didn’t have a shower so she was obliged to use the public bathroom at the end of the hallway.) Opening her door, she heard her phone. Thinking that Karine must have been less worn out than she expected and had called again, she answered.