Melinda returned to her store and the day went by slowly. Many customers passed throughout the store but Melinda's mind was still stuck ok the fact that Rick was home. He wast actually here in the same town as her! When the store wasn't busy she would talk to Delia about their lunch and what Rick did.
Delia helped the last customer as Melinda kept meddling with the same display for the past ten minutes. She smirked at her friend as the store became empty.
"So," She said. Melinda paused and looked at her friend.
"How happy are you now that the nutty professer came home?" She teased her friend. Melinda let out a giggle and shook her head.
"I know that the both of us are happy that Rick's home." She said. Delia rolled her eyes playfully as she walked up to Melinda.
"Yes I'm happy he's home but I think your happier than me. All you've been talking about is him and your lunch since you came back!" She said. Melinda smiled shyly and sighed.
"I'm sorry Delia. It's just it's been a whole year and we've been through a lot. When you, Jim, or Eli weren't available, Rick was there for me. He was very helpful with ghosts and was a really close friend. I'm just overall happy that he came home safe. I got real worried something happened to him." Melinda admitted. Delia smiled softly and nodded.
"I guess I didn't see it that way." She said. Melinda nodded and Delia smiled.
"I wonder," Delia said. Melinda looked at her friend curiously.
"What?" She asked. Delis grinned devilishly.
"I wonder if still carries a torch for you like he did before." She said. Melinda blushed and pushed Delia playfully.
"He does not and your awful for thinking so!" Melinda laughed. Delia laughed and shook her head.
"I'm just saying Mel! He had it bad for you before he left! It was very obvious and you were the only one oblivious to it!" Delia giggled.
"What do you mean?" She asked. Delia looked at her surprised.
"Seriously Mel? Gosh he was head over heels for you! I can see why he did since you two have such great chemistry together! I'm pretty sure Jim was worried for a second but we all knew your heart belonged to him! That's why you brushed off his comments as easily as you could." Delia said. Melinda felt her heart ache at the mention of Jim's name and Delia frowned.
"I'm sorry Mel. I didn't mean to bring up painful memories!" Delia apologized quickly. Melinda smiled sadly at her friend.
"It's ok. Jim wouldn't want me to still be this upset about him. He told me he wanted me to be happy and move on before he crossed over." She said. Delia smiled sadly and nodded.
"Maybe Rick is just the person to help you move on." Delia said softly. Melinda thought about it. Rick told her he was going to help her through her healing and he wasn't leaving town again anytime soon. The more she thought about it, the more she liked the idea of Rick staying. She looked at Delia and saw her have a smile on her face.
"Hey! I'll close up for the night. You go get your dinner and go help Rick. Knowing him being a scatterbrain he's going to need it!" Delia said with tease. Melinda giggled.
"Thank you! I'll open up shop tomorrow and have coffee with me!" Melinda said as she gathered her things.
"See ya!" Delia said waving to her. Melinda waved goodbye and grabbed her keys. She hopped into her Jeep and drove to her and Rick's Chinese restaurant. She ordered their usual orders and grabbed the Chinese from the window. Melinda then dug around in her purse and pulled out her phone. She dialed Rick's number and waited. He answered on the fourth ring.
"Hello?" He said.
"Hey it's me! I'm on the way over to your place!" Melinda said happily. She could practically hear the man smile on the other side of the phone.
"Great! The door is open for you so just let yourself in." He said.
"Alright see you soon!" Melinda said happily.
"See you soon Mel." He said and hung up. The drive to his house was short and quick. Soon enough Melinda pulled up to the silver Range Rover and parked next to him. She grabbed the food and walked up to his door. She walked inside and smiled at all of the cardboard boxes cluttering the floor. It was the official sign that the professor was home.
"Rick! I'm here!" She called out. Rick appeared and smiled at her.
"Hey! Take your shoes off and come on in!" He greeted as he took the Chinese from her. Melinda slipped out of her shoes and walked in. She saw he was focusing on the living room and smiled. She followed him and sat down.
"Alright I brought you our Chinese food as your official welcome home meal!" Melinda said proudly. Rick grabbed the two boxes and smirked as he saw the logo.
"I can't believe that these guys are still in buisness!" He said handing her a box. Melinda let out a giggle.
"Don't worry, I didn't order the shrimp." She teased. Rick laughed and Melinda laughed with him. The two ate and caught up some more as they did so. After twenty minutes of eating Melinda put her half empty box of food aside.
"Alright I'm here and I want a box!" She demanded playfully. Rick rolled his eyes in amusement and looked behind her.
"That box behind you has some books and the other has artifacts that you can unpack." He said putting his food aside. Melinda reached behind her and grabbed the box. She ripped the tape off and was greeted with books. Melinda pushed the box over next to where Rick was working and started putting the books into the bookshelf. Her and Rick started talking about old times and their personal favorite ghosts they helped. Time passed by and Melinda's very full box was soon empty. She walked back over to the other box Rick mentioned and opened it up. She was greeted with packing peanuts and newspapers. She sat down and grabbed something wrapped in newspaper and opened it. She smiled as she saw it was the wooden manikin from Peru. She smiled fondly as she remembered that it was the same wooden manikin that led Melinda to the ghost of Rick's fellow college professor who came to her for help and in result of that help Melinda revealed her gift to Rick. They grew closer ever since that night.
"Hey! Look at what I found!" She said as she held up the item. Rick looked up at her and smiled.
"Hey hey! I was wondering where I put that!" He said walking up to her. She handed the manikin to the man and he looked at it.
"Do you remember what that manikin did to us?" Melinda asked. Rick smiled fondly and looked at her.
"Of course I do. You were helping Martin cross over. While helping him you told me about your gift and saved one of my colleagues life." He said. Melinda looked at the wooden object and smiled. She remembered how Rick came over to her house drunk and demanding answers. How things were going 'bump in the night' at his house which she later found out was Kate, Rick's dead wife who she helped later on. He just wanted to know what she was truly like and after saving his fellow professor, she took him home and told him. Rick changed his skepticism on the afterlife and helped her ghost hunting. Rick became her best friend and was there for her through thick and thin. She felt her heart break when he told her he was leaving because she had grown to care for the professor. Sure he was crass and sarcastic but it was front for his caring and sensitive side. She then remembered more about that night. Rick was drunk but he was also very honest. He demanded to know what it was she did because he knew she had something special inside her.
"How did you know?" She asked softly.
"What do you mean?" Rick asked as he continued putting books away. Melinda looked up at him.
"That night when you came to my house. You wanted to know what I did because I had something special inside me. You were right obviously but what I want to know is, how did you know?" She asked. She watched as Rick paused to think. He finished putting the books away and looked at her.
"How did I know?" He repeated. Melinda nodded and watched him as he slowly walked over to her.
"Honestly, I knew it from the moment that we met." He said. Melinda looked at him curiously. Rick sat down on the floor across from her and grabbed another box. He opened the box and pulled out a book. Rick looked at it for a moment before he put to the side and looked up at her.
"From the the mysterious questions, to the 'bump in the night' moments with you, to you doing these amazing things with people, I knew there was something special inside of you Melinda. I knew it because once I started to get to know you, I knew you were a wonderful person. And in my personal opinion, all the wonderful people I met in my life have something special." He explained. Melinda felt her heart warm at his explanation. Never had she heard him say anything so sweet in her life about her. Usually he would tease her or find something to make fun of her. But sometimes Rick would be really sweet and it would surprise her. Like the time he chose to help her with the veil and light instead of go on the Peruvian jungle sabbatical he was packing for or the the time he helped her with the childre. who were touched by the light and how he stuck around for quite sometime with her.
Melinda then thought at what Delia said earlier.
"Maybe Rick is just the person to help you move on."
She smiled and looked at Rick who was paying attention to his artifacts.
"Rick?" She said softly. He looked up at her with those piercing blue eyes and she smiled.
"Thank you." She said softly. He grinned at her.
"You're welcome." He said. The two continued to organize and put away Rick's things. The night continued on and the pair fell into a comfortable silence handing stuff to one another and putting the item in its respective place. Rick looked at his watch and was surprised. It was already ten thirty.
"Hey, I'm going to call it a night for us lady! It's getting late." Rick said turning to Melinda. Melinda finished putting an artifact away and she looked out the window to see it was really dark out.
"Wow! Guess they weren't kidding when they said time flies when your having fun!" She said looking at Rick. He gave her a lopsided grin.
"You call this fun?" He asked waving his hand to the boxes. Melinda rolled her eyes in amusement and stood up.
"Y'know you could just say thank you." Melinda said with a tease. Rick chuckled and held up his hands.
"Alright, alright. Thank you for your help Melinda." Rick said as the two walked towards the door. Melinda gave him a smug smile as she put her shoes on and grabbed her purse.
"See! Now was that so hard?" She teased. Rick grinned and put his hands on his hips.
"It was more difficult than you think." He teased back.
"Oh I think your ego will recover in no time." She said. Rick chuckled at the woman and Melinda smiled as he met her eyes.
"On a more serious note, thank you Melinda. For everything. From lunch to dinner to helping me out tonight. It means a lot to have my best friend help me move back home." Rick said sincerely. Melinda smiled shyly and waived him off.
"You don't have to thank me for dinner. I know if things were reversed I know you would do the same for me." She said. Rick smiled and pulled her into a hug. Minda smiled and held onto him.
"Welcome home." She whispered to him. She felt him smile againt her.
"It's good to be home." He whispered back. They held each other for another moment more before Rick cleared his throat and pulled away.
"Once again, thank you. Drive safe and call me if anything goes bump in the night!" He said with his signature playful grin. Melinda grinned at him as she rolled her eyes.
"Good night Rick." She said as she opened the door. Rick watched as she walked off and to her car.
"Good night Melinda." He said as she drove off.