Mel's Arc

Chapter 3 of 36

The dance filled the hall with light and noise. Mel stood at the edge in her borrowed red dress. Across the floor, the Caldwell heir laughed with a knot of ranch owners. They shook his hand and slapped his back. Mel had no way through that wall of people. Without someone to introduce her, she'd wave at him from the sidelines all night. She'd worn the dress for nothing. A woman brushed past her, then stopped. Purple hair, pink at the ends, tattoos down both arms. She wore no gown, just black jeans and a work shirt. Mel knew her from the salon downtown, though they'd only ever traded a few words. "You did that yourself?" Rose asked. She reached up and touched Mel's flat, pinned hair. "No time for better," Mel said. "Sit." Rose steered her to a chair by the wall. She pulled pins loose and worked fast with her fingers. "I'm here for a client. He books me every week. Comes to these things and drags me along." "Which one?" Mel asked. Rose's hands stopped. "Doesn't matter." She started pinning again, quicker now. "Turn your head." Mel turned. In the dark window glass, her hair fell soft around her face. She looked ready. But ready meant nothing without a way in. "There's a man over there," Mel said. "The Caldwell heir. I need to meet him. I don't know how to cross that floor." Rose followed her look. Her mouth went tight. "Him." "You know him?" "I cut his hair." Rose set the last pin. Her voice dropped flat. "Every week. Eight months." Mel felt the floor shift under her. Rose's client. The man she wouldn't name. Mel's mouth opened, then closed. Rose stood and stared at the heir across the room. She could walk Mel straight to him. One word and the wall would open. Mel watched her choose. "He likes people who don't wait to be asked," Rose said. She didn't look at Mel. "Come on." Rose cut through the crowd. Mel followed close. The ranch owners parted for the salon woman they all knew. Rose stopped in front of the heir. "This is Mel," she said. "She dances better than anyone here." Then she stepped back, out of the light. The heir looked at Mel. No smirk now. He held out his hand. "Then let's see it," he said. Mel took his hand and walked onto the floor. She glanced back once. Rose stood at the wall, arms crossed, watching the man she'd never named dance with someone else. She'd given Mel the door and kept her own mouth shut. Mel had her introduction. She also had a debt she never asked for, owed to a woman she'd just hurt without meaning to.