Page 39 of Finding Elodie
“I have a million questions for you, but they’ll have to wait,” he told her.
“I can’t believe you’re here,” Elodie told him.
“I think that’s my line,” Mustang said with a smile.
“Hey, Rachel, it’s good to see you again!” Midas said as he approached.
“Damn, Mustang was right. It is you!” Aleck said in amazement.
“Guys, I’d like you to meet Elodie Winters,” Mustang said quietly. “Elodie, you remember Midas and Aleck, right?”
“Scott…I thought we just agreed—”
He interrupted her. “We did. But these are my teammates. They’re going to help me…you, us…figure out what’s going on and fix it.”
“I’m not sure it can be fixed,” Elodie said softly.
“Elodie. That’s unusual,” Midas said.
“It’s French. Over there, it’s pronounced with the emphasis on the O, but my parents said it like Melody without the M,” Elodie said, as if she’d explained her name many times in the past.
“We all thought Mustang was losing his mind when he said he saw you,” Aleck told her. “But we should’ve known. There’s a reason he’s our team leader. He’s pretty damn sharp.”
“We’re glad you showed up. He’s been checking his phone like a squirrel waiting for a bird feeder to be re-filled,” Midas said.
“What?” Aleck said, staring at his friend as if he had horns growing out of his head. “What kind of an analogy was that?”
“You know, the little buggers get used to stealing food from a bird feeder, then get impatient when it’s empty,” Midas said.
“Good Lord, you’re a dork,” Aleck said, shaking his head.
Elodie giggled, and Mustang’s heart felt as if it grew two sizes. It was a sound he hadn’t heard from her before, and he wanted to hear more of it. She sounded happy. Carefree. Whatever trouble she was running from hadn’t completely diminished her ability to laugh. “What’s your schedule for the rest of the day?” Mustang asked her.
She looked up at him, and even though she was smiling, he could still see the shadows in her eyes. He’d noticed them back on the cargo ship and had hoped maybe her troubles were behind her, but with her still using a fake name, it was likely they weren’t.
“I’m off for the rest of the day,” she told him.
“I came with Aleck. How about he takes us back to my place, where I can change, then I’ll take you back to your place so you can do the same, and maybe we can have dinner somewhere together and talk?”
She stared up at him for a long moment, and Mustang felt as if he were seventeen again and waiting on his crush’s response to his invitation to prom.
“Okay,” she finally said.
“Okay,” he agreed. He didn’t like that she sounded a bit reluctant, but she’d said yes.
When the rest of the team caught up to them on the dock, he reintroduced everyone once more.
“This is Elodie…previously known as Rachel and, for now, Melody, when we’re around others.”
“Hey,” Jag said.
“Good to see you again,” Pid added.
Slate merely gave her a chin lift in greeting.
“I…were you guys really fishing today?” she asked a little hesitatingly.
“Yup,” Pid told her. “Things have been fairly intense at work and we needed a little downtime.”
