Logan took a sip of wine. It was oddly comfortable in her little kitchen. No pretenses, a ticked off teen in the other room... This was familiar territory for him, and he shot her a smile.
“Thanks for inviting me over,” he said.
“I was afraid of facing an evening with her,” Melanie said with a low laugh. “I mean, I could tell you something more appealing than that, but that girl intimidates me.”
“She shouldn’t,” he said. “You’re a successful woman. You’ve got to remember being her age—the power of youth.”
“I do. But when I was seventeen, I was dating you,” she countered with a small smile.
“That’s true... And you were just as intimidating. She’s got nothing on you.”
Melanie smiled at that. “I wasn’t quite so spoiled.”
He took a bite of spaghetti. It was perfectly cooked—just a little al dente and the sauce had a bit of spice to it that was a surprise.
“Mmm...” he murmured past the food in his mouth. “This is really good.”
“Thanks. It’s my specialty.”
“Do you know why Tilly’s here yet?” he asked.
Melanie shrugged. “She dumped her boyfriend mid–road trip, and decided to come here.”
“Like she kicked him out of the car?” he asked with a frown.
“You have to understand Simon.” Melanie swirled noodles around her fork and took a bite. She swallowed before she continued. “She’s been on and off with him for a couple of years. He’s demanding, mean and emotionally manipulative.” She started twirling the noodles around her fork again on her plate, and he ate in silence as he listened. “I’ve never liked him, but forbidding her from seeing him didn’t work. I tried—trust me. It only drove them together. He made her feel like she was the lucky one to be with him, instead of the other way around. He talked down to her, ignored her until it was convenient, and was a generally terrible boyfriend. So if he crossed a line and she finally took a stand, I’m glad.”
“Is there some forlorn teenaged boy wandering down a highway somewhere?” he asked, his own fork held aloft over his plate.
Melanie laughed at that. “She dropped him off at a bus depot. He’ll be okay. Besides, I know his parents. They’d come get him. I highly doubt he’d actually get onto a bus. Simon is a very self-entitled kid.”
“She has style.” Logan took a bite and chewed for a moment. “She shouldn’t put up with that. Graham dated a girl I really didn’t approve of when he was the same age. She was just...mean. She’d insult him and embarrass him in public. I didn’t know why he put up with it.”
“He’s not still with her, is he?” she asked.
“No...” Logan shrugged. “He figured it out on his own and broke up with her. I was so relieved. I didn’t want him going through life being treated like that. He’s a good kid—a good young man. He’s kind and smart and...deserves better.”
“Exactly,” she replied. “Tilly might be a handful, but she deserves more than Simon offers, I can tell you that.”
“What does her dad think?” Logan asked.
Melanie shrugged. “He’s never liked Simon much, but he and Simon’s father are connected professionally, so...”
“So he’s okay with it?” Logan asked.
“No.” Melanie shook her head. “He gave her whatever she wanted, and that was Simon. But on a deeper level, he wanted to let his daughter figure it out on her own. Like you did with Graham, I guess. I see the wisdom there.”
“I get it,” he agreed, and for a moment, they fell silent. “This is surreal, the two of us discussing raising teenagers.”
“Isn’t it?” Her smile slipped. “I’m not raising her anymore, though.”
“So what happened there?” he asked. “What’s the story with your ex?”
“Adam,” she said. “I met him when I was twenty-three. I was working as an interior design assistant, and he was older, more mature, and wanted commitment pretty quickly. It was a real change from the guys my age I’d been casually dating. And I fell in love.”
“I get that.” He’d been one of the guys who hadn’t wanted commitment. Caroline had had other plans for him, and the memory still made him smile.
“So I became a stepmom to a toddler, a first grader and a fifth grader, all at once,” she said. “It was a huge leap, but I thought I was ready for it. Adam was like...a fairy tale, I guess. He was wealthy, smart, attentive. I thought I’d met my guy.”
“So you raised his kids,” he said. “You didn’t have any of your own?”
“He had three children,” she said with a faint lift of her shoulders. “And Tilly was still pretty small. She was this tiny little girl with pale blond hair. She was stick thin, and still in a diaper. And she needed so much love. For the first year, she clung to me constantly and could only fall asleep if I rocked her. I thought I’d have my own children later, but then Adam and I talked about it, and we really thought that three was enough. Besides, they’d lost their mother to cancer, and they needed me.”
“So you raised Adam’s kids, kept his home together and then got cheated on,” he said.
“That sums it up.” She sighed. “I thought he was my forever. And a good relationship requires some give and take, right?”
“It also requires fidelity,” he said.
She smiled ruefully at that. “Thank you. I agree with you, there.”
He remembered how Graham’s birth had changed him. He’d gone from being someone’s boyfriend, someone’s son, someone’s employee to becoming someone’s father—he was the one responsible for giving this tiny person a good life, stability, love and guidance. Becoming a dad had turned his heart inside out.
“Do you regret it now—not having a child of your own?” he asked.
“I keep getting asked that, and I don’t know...” Her voice was soft. “Maybe. But then, Adam and I would be battling over custody. It wouldn’t make the divorce any easier. Though it might be nice to have a child who still loves me.”
“You’ve got a teenager in your home, using up your space, your food, your emotional energy... I gotta say, Mel, you aren’t quite so alone as you feel right now.”
She smiled at that. “That girl hates me.”
“Graham has hated me at times.”
“Like when?” She looked up.
“Like when I took away the car keys for a month the time he came home three hours past curfew when he was sixteen,” he replied. “And the time when he was fourteen, when I told his friends he wasn’t a badass-mother-anything, and made him come home with me. I mean, every time he acted up and I put my foot down. That’s parenting. We aren’t their friends. We raise them. It’s pretty thankless.”
“It’s feeling thankless,” she agreed.
“She dumped her boyfriend, and she came to you. That says something.”
Melanie looked over her shoulder toward the hallway, then smiled wanly. “She used to love me, you know. Back when she was little. She used to crawl into my lap and snuggle. And she used to insist that I tuck her into bed a particular way and read her the same story over and over again... Then she got older and figured out I was nothing more than a stepmom, and I didn’t actually count.”
“Nah, she found out she had some power,” he said. “They discover that they’re capable of hurting an adult, and they get drunk with it.”
“You make it all sound so simple,” she said.
There was movement in the doorway, and Logan looked up to see Tilly standing there. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and she looked pale.
“That smells good,” she said.
Melanie turned around. “You hungry? Come eat with us.”
“I’ll just take some to my room,” Tilly replied, and she came to the table, picked up her plate, dished herself up a heaping pile of spaghetti. She dropped three meatballs on t
op and grabbed a fork.
Tilly didn’t look at him, and Logan didn’t say anything. When the girl had retreated again, Logan shrugged.
“See?” he said.
Melanie shook her head. “I get what you’re saying, Logan, and I appreciate it, but this isn’t going to last. Her dad is going to come get her, and I’ll fade very quickly into the background. I’m not deluding myself here.”
She knew her situation better than he did. He suddenly felt bad for making assumptions. Who was he, anyway—just a guy who happened to have raised a son. That didn’t make him any expert on raising girls, or on marriage.
“Okay...” he said. “I’m sorry.”
He just hated the thought of her being alone after all this time. After all she’d given. She deserved better, too.
“I made choices, and this is the fallout,” Melanie replied. “That’s life.”
Melanie raised her gaze to meet his, then she reached for his empty plate.
“Let me help clean up,” he said. He gathered up the plates and headed for the sink. He rinsed them off and stacked them on the counter. He felt her touch on his elbow and he turned. She was closer than he’d anticipated. She looked mildly surprised, too, looking up at him, her lips parted.
“Oh...” she breathed, but she didn’t move.
“Sorry.” Logan should have stepped back. But he couldn’t bring himself to do it. A wave of longing swept over him. She was beautiful in a deeper way than she’d been before. Years only seemed to make people more of what they already were—and she only glowed more than ever before.
“You know how we’re talking about what the kids deserve?” he said quietly. “You deserved a whole lot better than you got, too.”
And so had Caroline. She’d deserved a guy who could have made her feel grateful to live with him. Instead, she’d been stuck with him. Some guys cheated and deserved what they got. Other guys, like him, messed things up in smaller ways—but the result was the same for the women who’d loved them.
“I left him, didn’t I?” she said quietly.
“Yeah. You’ve got some style, too. I’m glad you did.”
“Why?” There was a teasing gleam in her eye.
“Maybe I’m enjoying this. I couldn’t flirt with a married woman.”
She dropped her gaze and stepped back, her cheeks pinking slightly. “You left me, Logan.”
Her words stabbed beneath whatever armor he still had up, and he winced. So maybe she saw it earlier than Caroline had.
“I’m really sorry about that,” he said. “I was an idiot. I don’t know what to say. Even if we weren’t going to work, you deserved a proper discussion about it. You deserved to cry, or smack me, or whatever... I was too much of a coward to face it.”
“I know, and life went on,” she said with a shrug. “But I’m fragile right now, too. So maybe you could...not use your charms on me, if you wouldn’t mind.”
“I wasn’t trying anything, Mel,” he said quietly.
“Okay. I just thought I should say what I was thinking.”
“You think I’m charming?” he asked, a smile tickling at his lips.
“Oh, shut up.” She laughed, though, and the heaviness of the moment broke.
Fair enough. She’d made herself clear, and he wasn’t really looking for a relationship, anyway. But there was something about being with her that made this whole visit back to Mountain Springs easier...and a whole lot sweeter.
“I do have one favor to ask, though,” he said.
“Yeah?” Those warm eyes met his again, and he felt his pulse jump in response. She could still do that to him...
“I think we’re friends again,” he said. “Granted, I’m a charming friend, but...friends nonetheless, right?”
“I think so,” she agreed.
“The thing is, I don’t want to visit my dad for the first time alone. I just... It’s going to be awkward, and I imagine we’ll both be on better behavior with a witness present.”
Melanie chuckled. “A witness, huh?”
“Will you come with me?” he asked. “As a friend. You even get to see me at my least charming. It might be helpful.”
Melanie smiled, then rolled her eyes. “Sure.”
“Thank you.”
He’d meant to take a look at the lake, but he wanted a bit more time alone with Mel. And that wasn’t safe right now. He looked down at Melanie with her soft brown hair and those warm eyes that asked for nothing but still seemed to tug him in.
“Why don’t I come pick you up in the morning about ten?” he asked.
“Sure.”
“And I should probably head out...”
Her smile faltered, and he felt a surge of regret. “It’s not that I don’t want to stay, it’s just...” He knew how this looked—like she’d put him in his place, and he didn’t want to stay if all he’d get was conversation. But it wasn’t like that. He was wanting to stay a little bit too much. This was the first time since his wife’s death that he was feeling attraction for another woman, and he wasn’t ready to feel this, even if it was one-sided.
There was movement in the doorway again and he looked over to see Tilly holding her empty plate. She wore a loose T-shirt now and a pair of shorts. She looked younger than seventeen. Just a kid... Tilly glanced between them skeptically.
“I should head out,” he repeated.
“I guess I’ll see you in the morning, then,” Melanie replied.
Logan smiled. “Yeah.” He glanced toward the sullen teenager again. “See you later, Tilly.”
Logan needed to get back to the lodge where he could sit by the lake alone and get his head on straight. Because tomorrow, if all went well, he’d be coming face-to-face with his father. He was here for Harry, not for Mel...even if she was the much more pleasant of the two.
CHAPTER SIX
MELANIE SAT ON the deck the next morning watching the mist swirl over the lake. Her laptop was open on a deck chair next to her, and she’d been perusing the design classes that were offered online from a Denver college. She’d have to start at the bottom—and she was beginning to suspect that a few classes weren’t going to cut it. She’d probably need to update her diploma in order to make sure she had a solid foundation.
Melanie flicked over to another tab, a different college with a slightly different offering. She reached for her mug of black coffee and hitched her sweater up a little higher over her shoulders. This would be a hot summer day in just a few hours, but right now, with the sparkle of morning light playing across the mist, the air was chilly. Melanie pressed her bare toes against the cool wood of the deck. She’d been texting with her mother last night, after Logan had left, and her mother was of the firm opinion that Tilly needed to be packed off to an actual blood relative ASAP. It made sense...except, Melanie had agreed to let her stay.
Was she a glutton for punishment?
Melanie’s parents held a grudge against Adam for having cheated on her and broken her heart, and that was only natural. They’d been Tilly’s grandparents, too, until the divorce, though they hadn’t seen much of the kids. Adam’s side of the family and their late mother’s parents had been upper crust, and Sheila and Steve Banks just couldn’t compete. They’d felt...unneeded.
And maybe that was Melanie’s fault, too, because it had taken a while before she’d found her footing in her new family, and she’d never really insisted on making sure her parents were included with the kids.
Melanie heard a clatter from the kitchen through the open screen door, and she pushed herself to her feet. Had Tilly’s cooking improved in the last year? She took another sip of coffee as she headed back inside, pushing aside the stone frog that had been propping open the door so the screen could swing shut behind her.
Tilly had pulled out a bowl and some cereal and was rummaging through the fridge when Melanie came into
the kitchen.
“What are you looking for?” Melanie asked.
“My cashew milk.”
“I don’t buy it for myself, Tilly,” Melanie said. “And I forgot when I went to the store yesterday. Can’t you just have regular milk?”
There were no allergies—Melanie knew that much.
“I’ll have something else, then,” Tilly said. “But you need to pick up cashew milk.”
“You can pick up some cashew milk,” Melanie replied. “I won’t be drinking it.”
Tilly cast her a mildly perplexed look. “Dad can pay you back.”
“It’s not about the money.”
Tilly swallowed, and her lips turned pale. She put a hand over her stomach and hurried toward the hallway.
That was honest-to-goodness nausea, if Melanie had ever seen it. Great...so it looked like Tilly had the stomach flu. She grimaced as she heard the sound of vomiting from the bathroom, and she waited until it stopped, the toilet flushed, the water ran and Tilly came back out.
“You need to go lie down,” Melanie said. “You’re sick.”
“No, I’m not. I’m fine,” Tilly muttered. “I’m actually hungry.”
“It’s only going to come back up!” Melanie said. “Do you want to lie on the couch and watch TV?”
Tears welled in Tilly’s eyes, and she shook her head. “Why does no one listen to me?”
“Because you just threw up for the second time!” Melanie said with a low laugh. “Come on, Tilly. Are you so bent on proving me wrong that you won’t even go rest?”
“I’m not sick!” Tilly’s voice rose. “I’m pregnant!”
Silence descended upon the kitchen and Melanie stared at her in shock.
“What?” she breathed.
“I’m pregnant.” Tilly took a step back. “Are you going to tell my dad?”
Melanie shook her head. “Who’s the father? Simon?”
“Yeah. Who else?”
Simon...cruel, immature, manipulative Simon... It couldn’t be worse.
“When did you find out?” Melanie asked.
“A month ago.”
“So you’re what...two? Three months along?” Melanie asked hesitantly.
Their Mountain Reunion (The Second Chance Club Book 1) Page 8
