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“I mean. You don’t have to.”
Frank laughed softly to himself and shook his head. He shifted his phone from one ear to the other to tuck it into the crook of his neck as he reached down obligingly upon seeing his daughter’s outstretched hands. Rose back to his feet with Penny on his hip and only a small grunt of effort. “Melissa King.”
He heard Mel huff, pretending to be annoyed. “You know, if it was anyone else saying that, I would think I was in trouble.”
“Yeah, I know. Now are you gonna come to the park with us or not?”
Frank could almost picture the crease between Mel’s eyebrows, that cute little look she got when she was uncertain or confused. It would be nice if she joined them–after all, it was a beautiful day, and although he definitely had it under control wrangling the kids all week, he couldn’t deny that he wouldn’t mind a little company.
Maybe more specifically, in the form of a certain blonde doctor who always managed to brighten his day no matter how shitty things were. Who always managed to command his attention every time she entered a room.
“I mean, that sounds nice, yes, but…Frank, you have your kids. I don’t want to–”
“Uh uh uh. You’re not intruding, Mel. I want you to come, and I’m sure Tanner and Penny would love to see you.” Frank glanced down at Penny in his arms, widening his eyes at her when her face lit up at the mention of Mel’s name. “Besides, I know you don’t have anything planned for your day off. And Becca’s out for the day, so…”
Mel sighed, and maybe Frank should’ve been worried over how in deep he was, because he knew that sigh. It was her resigned sigh, the one she made when she knew she’d been backed into a corner or run out of excuses. “Okay, fine. But I’m bringing snacks.”
Frank laughed. He purposefully didn’t look over at the packed cooler bag sitting on the kitchen counter, ready to go. “Sounds good. Meet us at Schenley Park in twenty minutes.”
“Sure, see you then, Frank!” And with that, Mel hung up.
He set his phone down on the counter and looked at Penny again. “Yeah, we’re gonna go see Dr. Mel! You excited?”
Frank’s heart soared at the sound of his daughter babbling excitedly and took a deep breath to settle his nerves over seeing Mel again.
It wasn’t like he just saw her yesterday at work. It wasn’t like every time he saw her sunny smile or her neat braid he felt a jolt of electricity running up his spine.
Nope, Frank Langdon had completely normal and platonic feelings for his coworker (and sort of best friend now?) Melissa King.
Frank was in the middle of calmly persuading Tanner to drop a questionable object he’d found behind the slide when he glanced up and spotted Mel near the parking lot entrance. He tried to ignore the way his heart stuttered at the sight of her, catching her eye and waving her over. Her eyes lit up when she saw Frank and waved back, making a direct beeline for them now.
“Hey!” Mel grinned at him, a small tote bag over her shoulder. “Thanks again for the invite.”
“You make it sound so formal.” Frank chuckled. “Like I personally hand delivered you a gold embossed invitation to a gala, or something.”
She giggled, and it did something weird to Frank’s stomach. Whatever. It was fine. He probably just hadn’t eaten in a while or something. “Don’t forget the wax seal.”
Frank let out a mock gasp. “I could never forget the wax seal.”
They laughed together, heads bowing towards each other like they were sharing a secret. Then Mel was just looking at him, almost like she was studying him. And Frank was looking back–god, had she always been this pretty? It wasn’t the first time he’d seen her outside of work or out of her scrubs, but. Damn, she was practically a vision in her lavender T-shirt and cropped denim jeans, her honey brown hair down.
For some reason, Frank’s palms seemed to sweat whenever he saw her with her hair down. It shouldn’t have been anything special–but with Mel, it was usually enough to make him forget how to speak coherent sentences. He cleared his throat.
“So what’d you bring?” Frank gestured towards her tote bag.
“Well, I figured you probably had everything you would need, but I thought I’d bring some extra things just in case.” Mel explained as she started pulling items out to show him. “Snacks of course–don’t worry, no blueberries, I know Tanner hates them. But also, like extra juiceboxes and sunscreen and that kind of thing…”
Frank must’ve been staring, because her eyes widened when she glanced back up at him and she looked like she’d just been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. “I mean…not that I meant I thought you’d forget those, or didn’t bring them or…I didn’t…you’re a good dad, Frank, I know you wouldn’t have–”
God, she was cute when she started rambling. Frank laughed and put out a hand to stop her. “Mel, Mel, Mel. It’s okay. I didn’t think that’s what you were saying at all. Thank you, that’s very thoughtful.”
Mel looked sheepish. “Of course.”
He shot her a smirk. “I will take a juicebox now that you mention it. Penny keeps asking for one, and of course she decides she doesn’t want the flavor I brought anymore.”
“Which one did you bring?”
“Cranberry.”
“Ah, well, you’re in luck, because–” Mel fished one out of the tote bag, a triumphant look on her face. “I have apple.”
“Thank god.”
Mel offered the juicebox out to Frank, but he shook his head. There was that crease between the eyebrows again. Frank swiftly tamped down the warm fluttery sensation in his chest.
“Why don’t you give it to her? She’s been excited to see you ever since you two played ‘Princess and Dragon’ last week.” Frank nodded towards the merry-go-round, where Penny was giggling in delight as her brother pushed her around and around.
Maybe a little too fast, but…Frank decided to let it go and be grateful that at least his son was no longer touching something that could be disease-ridden or contaminated. And they looked like they were having fun, anyway.
Mel’s warm smile grew. “Okay, I’ll be right back.”
Frank watched Mel run over to Tanner and Penny and bend down to hug them. She talked to Penny for a minute, whose eyes went wide as saucers as Mel pulled out a juicebox from her bag. He heard Penny squeal as her tiny hands reached out to grab it and babble her thanks. His chest felt tight all of a sudden.
He was sure it didn’t mean anything.
Twenty minutes later, Frank found himself on one of the playground benches with Mel, both of them watching the kids run back and forth. They’d been chatting about their mornings so far and Frank’s weird next-door neighbor, of whom he always had plenty of stories about.
“I feel like you should write a book about him, at this point,” Mel intoned gravely, mirth in her eyes.
“Oh, most definitely.” Frank matched her tone. “I really feel like it could be the next John Grisham, you know? Just need to find a good publisher.”
“Don’t worry, you’ll find one.”
“You think so?”
Mel shrugged, her gaze soft now, the corners of her mouth turning up just a bit. “Of course. I think you can do anything you set your mind to, Frank.”
Frank had to glance away then, back towards his kids, because he could feel his neck starting to heat up and his heart starting to beat faster against his ribcage, and…
He was definitely in trouble.
Be cool. Frank snorted out a laugh and forced himself to look back at her. “Pretty sure that’s just the ADHD.”
Mel tsked and rolled her eyes at him. “Or maybe it’s you being incredibly talented and capable and smart and…shall I go on?”
Frank loved how sincere and genuine Mel was. It was just one of the reasons he was drawn to her in the first place. But it wasn’t until recently that he’d noticed her start to lay it on thicker with him–whether that was because she could tell he needed an extra dose of kindness and encouragement, or because she was becoming more comfortable with the outright praise.
Either way, he secretly loved it, even if it was making him blush right in front of her. Frank tried to laugh it off, but he could feel Mel’s eyes roaming his face like he was a question that had been stumping her and she was searching for the correct answer.
“Uh,” Frank said brilliantly. His brain seemed to conveniently have shut off. “I–car. I left something in the car. Could you–?”
“Oh, yeah, of course! Take your time.” Mel waved him off and shot him one of her famous sunny smiles. It almost knocked the air out of Frank’s lungs as he rose to his feet. “I’ll keep an eye on them, don’t worry.”
He knew she would. He never had to worry about his kids when Mel was around. He trusted her with…well, with anything, really, Frank realized. As he made his way to his car in the lot, he also realized that his heart was still pounding and his stomach was in knots. Frank resisted the urge to look back, quickly reaching his car and sliding into the driver’s seat. He shut the door and let his head drop down onto the steering wheel.
Frank didn’t leave anything in the car that he needed. He didn’t forget something. He just…needed a second. He took a few deep breaths to ground himself, his mind racing.
What the fuck was that?
He must’ve forgotten to take his vitamins that morning or something. It was Mel. His best friend Mel. Frank had no reason to feel off like this around her. So he shook it off and haphazardly grabbed something from the trunk so he wouldn’t come back empty-handed. A soccer ball, he distantly registered.
As Frank strolled towards the bench they were sitting on, he spotted a few flower bushes in his path. He cast a quick glance over at Mel. Her back was to him, and he faintly heard her call out to Tanner. It brought a warm smile to Frank’s face, one that he couldn’t seem to shake. All Frank could think about was how lucky he was to have Mel in his life, how good she was with Tanner and Penny, and how much he loved talking to her.
Which was probably what possessed him to lean down and pluck one of the flowers off the bush as he walked towards Mel. He barely gave it any thought beyond “it was pretty” and “she deserves nice things”. Frank didn’t know very much about flowers, even he could tell this was a daisy.
“Oh good, they’re not ripping each other’s heads off,” Frank quipped as he approached their bench and sat back down next to Mel, partially obscuring the flower. He was rewarded with an amused look.
“No, they were very good, Frank.” Mel gazed back at Tanner and Penny. “You did good with them, you know.”
This time, Frank firmly ignored the ache in his chest at her kind words. “I, uh, got you something.”
“What?” Mel whipped her head around to look back at him, her eyes wide.
He set the soccer ball down on the bench next to him and held up the flower. “Just…it’s a nice day and I’m glad you’re here and…I wanted to give you something nice, Mel. You deserve nice things.”
Frank’s grin returned as he watched Mel splutter out a surprised thank you, a pretty blush covering her cheeks. He had only seen her flustered a few times, but…he couldn’t deny how adorable she got.
“F-Frank, you shouldn’t have,” Mel got out, laughing nervously. Her wide brown eyes were shining at him now, and all of a sudden Frank forgot what he was going to say next, feeling shy. He waved her off, still grinning, and rushed off to the monkey bars where Tanner was calling him over.
And when Frank looked back, he swore it was like the sky opened up and shone a ray of light solely on Mel, bathing her in a golden glow and making him forget how to breathe for a second. She’d stuck the flower in her hair then, her cheeks still pink, but also smiling so wide it threatened to crack her face in half.
He thought she was the prettiest woman he’d ever seen on the planet.