Work Text:
To say they got it right this (second) time would be sweetening the truth a little too much. They did get it right, mind you, but it was no smooth road.
It never was with them.
But it didn’t make it any less sweet. Or special.
Melanie Smooter, turned Carmichael while escaping her past, never really stopped being Melanie Perry — no matter how much she tried. And, deep down, she realized she never wanted to stop being Mrs. Perry.
“I’m not going to live here all year round, though. You get that, right?” She asked while struggling to add a pile of old clothes to her suitcase.
Sure, she was going back with way more than when she arrived, but who was she to fight against her muse if inspiration struck? Some old dresses here and vintage patterns would look amazing in her next show; she just knew it.
He nods, taken aback by the question, but going back to his usual calmness — typical Jake. “Yeah. You got a big career up there and all.” He smiled languidly while laughing quietly at her, battling the clothes.
Even though he said it so calmly, she still flinched.
It took a little too long to realize it hadn’t been a personal attack — or an attack at all — but her mouth was quicker than her brain. Which usually served her well (at work) but when she was too involved, it just made things worse. Like when back here, in the same ol’ (lovable) Alabama.
“Exactly.” She punched the pile down, and wouldn’t you know, it worked. “I got a whole line for the next season that I still need to close, so many models to interview… do you have any idea how difficult it is to find one that isn’t snooty?” Without giving him time to reply, she kept going, “You’re right, I got a big career, and it’s not here-”
In this hellhole- but she stopped soon enough to avoid letting that out, at least.
A small mercy.
She sighed. It’s not even like she saw her hometown like that — at least not anymore — but it was still such a thorny subject. Acknowledging that she did run away without looking back, pretending to be someone she was not, all to please people who didn’t even know her. How it was easier that way than staying with the broken pieces of her life.
She was proud of her career, damn it. Going from a nobody to having your own line in NYC, of all places, was honestly a dream come true. So many would have given anything to be where she now stood. She poured a lot of sweat and maybe a little blood into it and she deserved this.
So why did she feel guilty now? As if she had to defend living in NYC, far away from home.
Jake just nodded. He was always much better at reading her than the other way around.
“Mel, we’ll make it work. Don’t worry.” His soft words next to her ear calmed her down more than any calming tea ever could.
She relaxed into his arms, leaning her head back for a quick kiss.
Back then, when they were two foolish kids without any fear of the future, Jake had said the same thing.
Melanie couldn’t help but worry.
She brings her parents to New York, finally. Surprisingly, her mother had been all for it. She still hadn’t quite forgiven her for the failed marriage (“and breaking that poor man’s heart, dear!”) but being in the big city made her into a different woman. Freer, more optimistic, so willing to learn it all and go everywhere and anywhere.
Melanie sees where she gets it from.
If her mother transformed when in the big city, that’s nothing compared to the Bobbie Ray who left the cocoon and is fully living. Melanie is so happy to see this and glad she was able to give this to him, even though she knows he’d eventually find his way here. Bobbie is right at home everywhere, from the local coffeeshop — already quite popular with his charming accent, as the baristas call him — to the fancy restaurants.
He’s the only one from Pigeon Creek who just gets New York. And Melanie’s work.
She’s so happy for him (and already looking into hiring him somewhere, if not at her own place to avoid nepotism rumors) finally living the life he so deserves. And just a tiny bit sad that only Bobbie truly gets it. He’s already making plans to stay more than half the year up north — and their common friend to help him with it all — and is so at home.
Melanie bites down on that ugly, sad feeling that she should never say. How she wishes her parents and Jake would have the same glint in their eyes when they’re in New York. As if maybe they could also see what she and Bobbie see in this wonderful city, so open, diverse, and filled with opportunity.
But to them, this will always be “Mel’s city”. Not quite home.
Not quite Pigeon Creek.
And Melanie feels more divided than ever.
“Mel, you know we’ll make it work. Half the year here, half up north. It’s fine. We got my private jet.” Jake winked as if it was their little secret — even though the entire town knew all about his plane, he lovingly called jet.
She wanted to believe that. But it was difficult when his heart was so set in Alabama. Jake has always made sacrifices for her — now she sees them for what they were — so she doesn’t know how much he really wants to go to NYC and how much it’s just to please her.
It’s the one thing she’s too worried to bring up, even in their most heated arguments.
Absence, while it indeed made the heart grow fonder, also made her that much more miserable, especially after they lost a whole decade together. Just by being stupid and stubborn.
They weren’t that different from those silly old kids who found anything worth arguing. Or that different from the teenagers who quickly used their lips for better use (though with arguing soon following most of the time).
Now they were adults, trying to reconcile and rekindle a distant marriage in opposite places. When they did meet, it was always so much.
It had always been too much between them.
Always intense. Never easy, complacent, or boring.
Jake always made her burn, even as a kid. She wanted to do better, impress him, draw his attention, beat him in all their little games — all at the same time. Prove she was the most fun person around (just like he was for her), anything so he wouldn’t grow bored with her.
Because she could never grow bored of him, try as she might. And she did.
“I’ll see you on the 17th then, okay? I’ll need time to finish everything after the show on the 15th and-”
“Whoa, slow down, Mel!” He laughs on the other side of the line. “No worries, I know you got a lot goin’ on.”
She signed into the phone. Somehow, when Jake said ‘slow down’, it seemed less annoying. Still a little bit, but not like when anyone else tried to calm her down. It usually just irked her having to hear that. As if just telling someone to calm down would actually work, as if it’d fix all the line’s problems, the materials being late (again), the models changing out of nowhere, the magazines ever judging and publishing the most scathing words as if it was all for fun (for them) while she drove herself crazy to make it all work.
Once, she had to pretend the line was cut so she wouldn’t scream at Andrew. He would have been so upset; she couldn’t stand even the idea of fighting.
With Jake, though, she can scream and yell all her frustrations at him. He can take it. He always could, ever since they were kids and joined at the hip. That big old fool (secretly a genius, she suspected) somehow always managed to wade through all her non-ending random rants and find what the real problem was. And sometimes the solution too.
A bark from the line makes her smile, all worries forgotten — if only for a second.
“Bryant doing alright?”
“As well as he can without the missus home.” He isn’t just talking about their best bud.
She knows he’s smiling on the other end. Jake has always been more prone to being sensitive than she. When they were kids, she used to mock him relentlessly for it while he tried to hide it, especially from the other boys (as well as help Bobby Rae like a big brother). Jake didn’t argue when it was her teasing him.
“Get ready to have the nicest looking glass this side of the country. You know that puma statue?”
“Yeah! The one you were working on last month?”
Wow, it’s already been a month since they last saw each other. Work was so busy that she didn’t even realize. It was always a lot, but when the season was ending and contracts were closing, the rush was out of this world. Not rarely, Mel would eat and sometimes even sleep at work. She just lost track of time. But she knew Jake always counted the days.
“It’s got a nice little partner up with it now, too.” His smile was so clear over the phone that she could picture it as if he were in front of her. “It’ll be the centerpiece at your after-party.”
That sounded wonderful. Melanie couldn’t wait to see the final piece. His glass statues were truly something else. She loved strong predators and Jake made that one inspired by her, “his badass puma lady”. It would look amazing, she was so sure of it. Everything he did always turned out incredible.
The few pieces and glasses she’d shown so far always turned eyes and had many asking how to contact this elusive Deep South Glass. Mel always made sure to sing Jake’s praises and sell products herself. Try as he might, Jake was too softhearted and always undersold himself and his sculptures. Too low-priced in New York meant little faith in the products, so she made sure to sell them at the right price to Jake’s initial horror.
After many talks and Bobby Rae coming to her rescue and sharing competitors’ prices, Jake was finally convinced. “They’re selling this scrappy glass at that price?? No way!” and that was it. Mel kinda hated that Bobby Rae had been the real clutch in that discussion, but oh well. Can’t win them all. At least she won that one with a little bit of help.
Hearing scuffling on the other end and some barking, she could hear Jake feeding Bryant and letting the now older dog rest his legs after a full day of flying to the dunes. Mel focused on the last piece Jake said.
“Wait, how are you going to get it here before the party? What if someone breaks it? Oh my god, what if it breaks before? During delivery! You know how those guys are, Jake, last time they broke a brooch I spent weeks on and-”
“Mel, relax.” Jake laughed calmly, forever that lanky chill teen even years later. “I’ll take care of that. No glass is breakin’ while I’m around.”
She smiled and nodded, relieved. Yes, with Jake around, she knew he’d be fine.
Wait.
Around?
As in, the day of? He’d be at the runaway show, party and all?
“Jake… when are you dropping in?”
“The 14th. But don’t worry, I know you’ll be sleeping at work. Out of your hair and at your service, I’ll be your errand boy, Ms. Perry.” He was always way too happy to call her like that.
“Wait, wait. So you’ll be... at the party?”
“Uh... yeah?”
“Why?”
“Sorry, what?”
“Why would you go? I know you don’t care about fashion.”
In fact, he’s made it very clear over the years how silly it all was: everyone idolizing weird costumes and sickly looking girls (“our moms would make sure to feed them up in two weeks tops! Look at them, Mel! You also need some feeding up!”).
Pigeon Creek didn’t scream fashion and pretty much everyone save Bobby Rae and, to a lesser degree, Lurlynn. And even though they never talked too publicly about it, what with it stinking of “city folk” talk and all that.
It was one of the reasons Melanie always used for not wanting to return to Alabama. People there just didn’t get it (or so she told herself). She’d have no one to talk to about her true passion, just like she did when she was still in high school, and their teacher laughed when she said ‘designer’ for her future career. Everyone thought it was one of her latest jokes. Imagine, felony Melanie as a fashion designer.
She couldn’t stand it.
It pissed her off how Jake, especially, didn’t really get her work while she adored his glass sculptures. Always did, always would. But no matter how much she showed him her designs, he’d only grunt and say it looked fine.
So would Andrew, but then again, he’d never had much of an opinion on many things. Everything was fine for him, displeasing at most (aside from his mother). That’s why they never fought. Or really talked deeply about anything, she realizes now.
Jake and her… they were very opinionated. Both knew what they wanted and what they couldn’t care less about. It killed her a little that her own husband didn’t care much about her own artistic work. But it seemed like such a childish complaint, she didn’t want to say it.
She’d done enough stupid things, from the time she was a kid to now. Her stupid mouth had done enough damage, as Bobby Rae could attest to any day of the week.
“Mel, I wanna see that line of yours because it’s yours. You’re my wife. It’s your work and you’re proud of it.” Some shuffling and Bryant was closer to the phone, huffing for attention. “I’m proud of you.”
Jake says things in that way of his. Like it’s the only truth in the world.
It still annoys her even now, way back from the time they were kids.
“Even though it’s stupid how people up here spend fortunes on ugly costumes? How the stuff used at the parade back home ’looks better’ and I quote you on that, sir?” She can’t help but let the venom out a little. She remembers quite well everything Jake had to say about fashion — and he had a lot to say.
He sighs on the other line. “Mel, why are you picking up a fight now?”
She honestly didn’t know. It seemed so stupid. She should be happy he was going there for her. But it felt awful still. Like how this was a sacrifice for him, how he didn’t get it at all. He wouldn’t be caught dead at a show like that and was only going because he was married to the designer. Saying he liked her work when he actually didn’t understand it at all. Not the same way in which she admired his art.
It had never bothered her when Andrew did it. But with Jake, it did.
It always was different when Jake was involved, for better or for worse.
Melanie lets it rest and decides to focus on what she can control. Jake notices but doesn’t say anything else, even when he eventually arrives. Known as the ‘hubby’ and ‘errand boy’, he does a lot to help out, even becoming friends with quite a few workers and delivery boys. The models get a little too close to him, and Mel is so sure he likes seeing her get jealous over him. Not like the fool would ever admit to goading her.
The runway was flawless and the magazines, while enthusiastic, weren’t as full of compliments as last time. But it doesn’t bother her nearly as much as she expected.
This time around, she wasn’t even focused on the reporters and colleagues in the audience. No, her eyes would always instantly fly to Jake, Bobby Rae (and his boyfriend) smiling from ear to ear at each outfit. Bobby clearly liked it and had opinions, always whispering something to both men.
Jake was just smiling throughout the whole thing. Without a care in the world, as if they were both back home watching some chick flick she picked. One he had zero opinion on and, if asked, wouldn’t remember much of the plot. But one he liked seeing for the sole fact that the two of them spent that time together, comfy in their old couch with Bryant by their side, just enjoying each other. Just being happy for being there.
And Melanie gets it. Jake will never understand her world. But then again, neither will she. What little he does get, he appreciates the hell out of it.
“That’s my wife’s work right there! See that hem? She stitched it up herself! Mel dreams them up and does them! One of a kind, I tell you!” He said that phrase or a variation of it around twenty times at the party.
Just like Melanie couldn’t stop showing the beautiful puma statue — it turned out even better than she’d hoped, two mirrored pumas standing up as if rising to either fight or hug each other — to everyone and saying this was her husband’s work.
The one thing she was certain of was that she had broken Andrew’s heart and probably would never see him again. The other thing she was certain of was that she would never, ever return to Alabama.
She was wrong on both fronts.
Her life really was now an (almost) balanced mix of north and south, work and home, city life and quiet domestic home. Jake was the one traveling the most, spending half the week in Alabama and making sure to always save the weekends for her. Melanie actually looked forward to going home on every trip.
The most shocking twist was how Jake and Andrew ended up as… maybe friends wasn’t quite the word, but maybe acquaintances? Apparently, punching his mother made him like Mel even more, and he wanted to know more about wild old Mel. Jake was only too happy to tell the wide tales of his wife, starting with the craziest ones (“Did you have to tell the cat story first, Jake? God!”)
Now, Andrew was still a bit involved in her life and a staple at her runaway shows. At first, she thought it would be awkward, but it turned out to be quite nice. As if a new friend was added to the mix. And later on, she also learned it was more due to Erin than her. When they announced her engagement, she was genuinely happy.
She really hurt Bobby Rae and Andrew in the worst possible ways. It would take time (maybe a whole life?) but she wanted to try.
Things finally seemed like they were working out.
Just like the first time, it happens at the worst possible moment.
She’s just been named the designer of the year, Jake got a huge offer to provide the glasses outside Alabama for the first time, and they’ve never been better. Less fights now, mostly just banter and a lot of good sex. It’s the best time in their lives and careers, period.
And she gets pregnant.
This time at least she won’t have to worry about finishing high school — not like she’d been the studious type really — or getting a dress that would still fit by the time of the ceremony. Or having a blacked-out drunk husband on the supposedly happiest day of her life.
Should this be the happiest day of her life then? She isn’t sure.
It still feels like a heavy surprise. A welcome one — more than the first one had been, truthfully — but still heavy. At such a difficult time when they were just getting things sorted… There was too much involved. The memories of a decade ago were still so raw and fresh, the loss, the desperation of being left with nothing... she couldn’t go through it all over again.
Jake is ecstatic. In truth, he was happy in high school too — of course, he wasn’t the one carrying it — but by his own admission, he was a stupid kid who didn’t know better then. Having kids was always a certainty for him, just like them getting married. Mr. and Mrs. Perry and their little family.
Melanie wanted to feel that same happiness. She always thought of that one — guess she’d have to start calling it the ‘first one’ now — the one she barely got to think of a name. The one who changed her life forever. The one who, god forbid, gave her relief to be released from. She wonders if she deserves another chance now. She, who ran from so much. Who hurt so many good people dear to her?
Would she be a good mother?
She knew Jake would be a good dad, if a bit rough around the edges. He was kind, though. She could be brutal. Feral. Insensitive and cruel. Mel knew herself only too well.
But it happened, and this time around, she has her own life sorted out: her career, friends, places she loves. She isn’t that lost little girl who didn’t know up from down. But she still feels just as lost.
Everyone around her celebrates. Her parents and mother-in-law are only too happy to give lots of advice — most of which will be taken with a grain of salt — and Lurlynn gives her lots of actually helpful tips. Melanie loves spending time with her kids and, deep down, she always wondered about the life that could’ve been. What it would be to have had that kid. To never have left.
She sometimes opens up to Jake and asks what he thinks. He usually grunts (unhelpfully) at times like those and says what happened is in the past. Not knowing what to say, but always willing to listen to everything she has to confess. That’s what works for them.
The one thing they never argued about was names.
The first time she felt secure enough time-wise during the pregnancy to finally ask what he wanted for names, his answer was immediate. The very same one he gave back in high school, in that same nonplussed (infuriating) tone.
“Whichever name you want, babe.”
“What?” She deadpans, closing down the notebook she so helpfully picked up for this discussion. Their baby notebook, as she decided. “So you don’t care, is that it?”
How dare he give the same answer as before? Did he not grow up at all??
If she was more pissed off than usual, it was all the hormones, thank you very much. Not like Jake couldn’t handle it. He’s seen her much worse.
Jake stopped massaging her feet and turned off the television. Mel realized she was so nervous she didn’t even know what had been playing until then.
Turning around and looking at her very seriously, like it was life and death, Jake said so low it was almost a whisper.
“Of course I care, Mel.” He went back to massaging her heel without losing eye contact.
Unfair, using those baby blues against her. She both hated and loved it.
“I’m just...” he sighed, seemingly wanting to scratch his head but not daring to remove his hands from her. Especially when she asked to be touched. “Just happy we’re having a kid, you know. I thought- I thought it wouldn’t happen.”
The watering of baby blue eyes goes unnoticed (verbally). Mel knows he doesn’t like being called out when he cries — much more often than her — and this isn’t a moment to be ruined by banter.
She also never thought it would happen. Motherhood was a thing long in the past for her. Something she thought no longer fit in with her — something she didn’t deserve.
Leaning in to kiss him, she lets her lips do the talking. Both of them work better this way.
Kay Pearl, if it’s a girl, named after both mothers, and Pete Earl if it’s a boy.
It’s easier that way, naming them after someone. Melanie doesn’t feel so sure about taking so long dreaming of what may not come. And nothing can erase the smiles on their parents’ faces when they hear the homage.
Her father can’t wait for the little boy. Jake and his mom think it’ll be a girl.
Melanie just hopes it’s born.
Their short-established balance is quickly thrown away. Half and half in the country won’t work, not now. They need a home base now. Mel tries to avoid thinking about the ‘what ifs’. She doesn’t want to think that all the changes in their life may come to nothing if she loses this one too.
She feels brave enough to mention this to Jake in the dark of night when they’re holding each other close, and he touches her full belly as if it’s the most beautiful sculpture of all.
“What if we lose this one too?” Asking in the darkness so quietly makes the fear feel a little bit less real.
Jake sighs into her ear and a tighter hug removes the remaining fear.
“Won’t change how much I love you.” He mumbles, “still a family. Can always adopt.” And he goes off to sleep.
Her heart melts.
She heard that Jake got into an argument with his friends, which is rare. He always tries to take things easy; his fierier side shows more often to her. Bobby Rae is spending most of his time in NYC now that his only remaining relatives have passed, so he has no idea what it was. Wade is the one who tells her, eventually, after a lot of asking and favors exchanged (his mom would love some new clothes, he tells her).
“It was about your little one.” He tells her while letting her turn on the siren as they speed through town. Their little fun hangout time.
“What about it?” She asks, thoroughly confused.
How could that be a reason for arguing between guys?
Wade is helpful (when he wants to be) and adds in, “They were talking about how boring a girl is, y’know. Can’t play catch, teach to shoot, all that fun stuff.”
Melanie crosses her arms — something more and more difficult as her belly is getting larger and most of her clothes don’t fit her anymore — and huffs. “Never stopped me.”
“True,” Wade laughs while taking a turn, driving to her home. “Anyways, Jake got real mad. Said girls are great and they just don’t get it. Eh, I don’t, but you don’t see me talkin’ about stuff I don’t know.”
Melanie nods. That was the nice thing about her hometown. People didn’t put on airs pretending they knew more than they did.
Pretending they were better than they were.
New York got too much into her head in that sense. Staying some time in Alabama helped her remember her roots.
On the other hand, she couldn’t imagine this argument happening in New York. Jake never mentioned the fight to her, but he was extra vocal on how girls were great and totally not boring. Melanie only nodded, laughing.
As her belly grows and the preparations get closer to an end, it seems more and more real. Melanie feels safer in thinking this will happen. And that brings a whole lot of new feelings with it.
She’s thrown back to pregnant teenage Mel, who got a cold sweat whenever she went to the local hospital. Who’d walk around the streets and people would compliment her and call her Mrs. Perry. The Mel who was so lost and afraid. Not ready for it.
She decides to have the baby in New York. They even got a great doctor, thanks to Andrew, and a daycare with a slot waiting for them. As much as Alabama is home, she can only picture raising her daughter there. Their 50/50 time will soon become 80/20, at least in the first years.
She expected Jake to raise a storm over it, but he was the first one to propose it. He knew what she wanted and just put the words out there.
“I knew I couldn’t give you all you deserved back home. Sure as hell won’t do that to our baby girl.”
“Really? You serious?” She asks, slipping into her accent.
“As a heart attack.” He swears with a hand on his heart.
“Shut up, you ol’ fool.” She swats his hand away and kisses him. Always with the terrible sense of humor, that guy.
“You always do this, Jake! You always decide on things without telling me!” She screams at him through the door before opening it.
The neighbors in the apartments around them be damned. New York is always loud, even in the middle of the night; nothing new there.
He tries to pretend to be asleep, but she can see right through him. Oh, they were having this discussion right damn now.
“Closing down Deep South Glass?? Are you insane?”
“What’s insane is how loud you’re screaming. You’re gonna wake up the baby.” He grunts, also not caring about their neighbors. He misses being back in Alabama with so much space around his house, not surrounded by people on all four sides around them in such a tiny box they called an apartment.
“Babe, we’re talkin’. Get your ass up and stop pretending to sleep!” She takes his pillow from under him and turns on the light, blinding him.
“Augh, hell, Mel.” He tries to cover his eyes, but she grabs his arm. Grunting, he gets up. “Fine. You wanna talk? Let’s talk.”
She’s already sitting down on the bed, maneuvering the best way to sit with the belly in their way. In two months, their lives would be changed — hopefully for the better.
“Why are you closing down our place?” She always goes straight to the point.
Smiling at ‘our place’, Jake answers just as straight. “Can’t stay there the full year. Our girl needs us here with her.”
Now it’s her turn to smile at ‘our girl’. Ignoring the fact that the gender is unclear — both their decision — she goes back to the topic at hand. She wouldn’t let it escape so easily.
“If I could manage a line down south, so can you, mister. What about those boys you were training? Can’t they handle the operation side down south?”
He scoffs like it’s the funniest joke in the world. “Those boys are great, but they couldn’t see a bull if it lunged at them.”
“So what? You just give up on your business, that’s it?” She asks, holding her pillow in front of her. She needed something to squeeze.
“Not giving up. Taking a break. At least until the kid’s grown.” He holds her hands and lets her squeeze his. Stronger than she looks, they both know it hurts, though he won’t complain. “What matters is our family.”
She both loves and hates hearing that. How the sacrifice of going up north to visit her turned into a full stay there. And how for Jake, it’s no sacrifice at all.
But if it had been the other way around, it would have been a hell of a sacrifice to her, staying down south for the whole year.
They argue less and less these days. The conversation is over, but not gone from her mind.
Even while technically on vacation, Melanie hits the phones and starts calling all the trustworthy people in her life. Bobby Rae, Andrew, her friends, and even some past colleagues try their best to help. Eventually, she gets her answer.
It was her time to surprise Jake now.
One of his biggest customers, an attorney in New York (born in the South as well), jumps on the idea: bringing Deep South Glass closer to the city. Fewer taxes, less worries about transportation, and definitely a lot of art and money guaranteed.
Jake was flabbergasted, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. Melanie loved it when she got him good like that.
And with that, plus some investing on the side from both Bobby Rae and Andrew, the Deep South Glass franchise in NYC was born.
Soon to be followed by another birth.
On New Year’s Eve, the busiest day of the year, filled with accidents, and (of course) with their OBGYM on vacation, their little girl arrives.
Kicking and screaming, raising hell behind her, Kay Pearl joins them like a fighter.
“Just like her mom.” Jake smiles, so proud of the most important woman in his life.
Mel agrees with the sentiment, after she got a full nap and stopped screaming murder for the last few hours.
“Think she’ll also add explosives to some poor ol’ animal?”
“As if you weren’t part of it, mister.” She says while kissing the chubbiest, pinkest cheeks she’s ever seen. “And no. She’ll be raised well and proper, like a young lady.”
Their daughter was the most beautiful baby in the world. That was the truth as far as they were concerned, anyhow.
“Got it. She’ll blow up more than just a poor cat. The next generation always has to be better, hmm?” Jake is already reaching out his arms for their little angel.
Only husband in the world that willing to change diapers, Lurlynn said, sighing over how lucky Mel was. That was all too well, as diapers were the hardest thing for her. At least she made up for it by coming up with the cutest clothes. She already had a children's lineup in the works, inspired by the cutest baby in town. Or the world.
It’s in the little things.
How Jake is always the first one up, before the alarm (the good old rural lifestyle kickin’ in, he said while mocking her city-folk obsession with sleeping in), picking little Kay up and getting her dressed for school.
It’s how Melanie creates every piece now with her daughter in mind: what would she like to wear? How cute is this? When she’s older, how empowered and powerful would she feel in this? Before, she designed for herself. Now, it’s for her daughter and all the wonderful women around her.
In the way they still banter and love to get into a silly argument for the sake of it, sealing with a kiss. Or how the real fights still happen — usually over how much Melanie overworks herself or how Jake just can’t let others create their own statues without micromanaging everything — and screams are thrown left and right. It’s still sealed with a kiss, after a lot of stubbornness and an eventual olive branch extended.
It’s how little Kay brought their lives so much joy (and peace) that all the world’s biggest problems seem smaller, doable, somehow. A bubbling laughter from her or a little burp is enough to make them forget what they were arguing about, and just smile at each other.
And in how they make sure to spend their vacations in Pigeon Creek, letting little Kay get used to animals, learn how to milk cows, how (not to) put explosives on animals, run in fields, and see lightning create the most beautiful sculptures — from a safe distance, of course. Much safer and farther away than her own parents were in the dunes.
It’s in how Jake is happy to be in New York City now, just as much as he is back in Pigeon Creek. In how he’s still the humble errand boy when a show is drawing near and how he never stops gushing about his wife and daughter, to whoever might listen (even poor passing strangers who have places to be).
It’s in how Melanie is happy to be in Pigeon Creek, revisiting her childhood while her daughter gets to live hers. How nice it is to be close to her parents, so happy to be grandparents now and teach little Kay all they know. And Mel and Jake get a little time to themselves for dates and dancing. Going to the same places they went to as kids had a different flavor now. Every time lightning hits the dunes, it fills her with that same sense of awe — for both nature and her husband.
Sure as hell it ain’t no smooth ride for them, as their friends say, but it’s just as sweet. They do get it right, eventually. And even when they don’t, being by each other’s side is enough.
That’s how they say “I love you”. And “Let’s stay together forever, so I can kiss you whenever I want.”