Melt My Heart

by Anna Cove

  She noticed the bright sun after that, and the fact that the trees had almost completely leafed out. A butterfly flew over her head and she traced its journey. She hadn't even noticed spring in the past two weeks. What the hell had she been doing? She lost herself and for what? Over what? A kiss?

  It wasn't worth it. Life was too short, and she had already wasted too much time not being with the people she wanted to be with. She was tired of running. Her arms, arms that had held only air and blankets since Katie had died three years earlier, itched for someone to hold. Even if that someone was infuriating and nosy. Seeing Olivia and Jo together reminded her that she didn't have to be alone.

  It was an idyllic day. The colors were bright, the benches full, people were smiling. Love Falls' oldest veteran from World War II led the procession, with lines and lines of military personnel afterward. The sports teams followed, marching to the town square, and behind them, the Girl Scouts, and the high school band and flag wavers, and then the town band rounded things out. A firetruck threw candy. Kids scrambled into the road to collect the pieces.

  The itch in her arms turned into an ache as she carried her part of the crew team's boat for the length of the parade route. It was one that would last well beyond the pain of her aching muscles as Dylan didn't see Laura on the day of the parade, or the next day, or even that Wednesday evening at The Snuggery, when she was sure serendipity would bring them together once again.

  Serendipity, it turned out, was not on Dylan's side.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  LAURA'S ANGER WAS LIKE a violent storm. But instead of fading with time, the anger rains kept coming until the river of rage was overflowing its banks. She found herself drifting off while feeding Aaron, going over the argument with Dylan again and again. Stubborn, impossible woman. Sometimes in the middle of the night, when Aaron was awake and the rage had momentarily subsided to a drizzle, she tried to research Dylan and Katie. But "Katie" wasn't much to go on and when she searched for Katie Wilson, she found no one with that name in Love Falls.

  Maybe she moved.

  Maybe it isn't what I think.

  Maybe it's worse than I suspect. Maybe she's still married. But she said she wasn't, and I don't think she's lying. But what is it?

  Laura had even gone over to Colleen's to ask about Katie again, but although that woman would talk on and on about everything under the sun, her mouth clamped shut at the mention of the name.

  It had been a week since Laura last spoke with Dylan, and she needed to get past it. She needed to move on.

  So, she video called Cal.

  Cal's face filled Laura's computer screen, his mouth in a big broad smile, his teeth sparkling white and perfect, his tie knotted neatly under his crisp white shirt. "How's my girl?"

  Pissed. Tired. Ready to throttle someone. "I'm great. Motherhood couldn't be better. Aaron is so sweet, and I've started finding time to work again," she said, ticking off the items as if she was reading from a list. None of it connected with her soul.

  "Just six weeks out? Take it—"

  "I swear to you if you finish that sentence, I'll rip off your balls and stick them down your throat, Callahan Scott."

  "Whoa. Not two minutes into the call and you're already threatening my balls? Couldn't you have waited until I'd at least met Aaron? Can you show him to me?"

  "I can take care of myself." She folded her arms. She needed him to acknowledge this. She didn't know why. "And no I can't because he's sleeping in the other room."

  "I know Laura. I was just, you know, saying the thing that normal people say."

  "Well we're not normal people. So you can just stop trying, okay?" Laura's anger jarred against Cal's easy attitude. She tried to relax. "I'm sorry. I'm just a little tired. Can we start over? How are you? Are you bored out of your mind without me?"

  "Uh..." Cal looked off to the side of the camera. "Actually."

  A woman, clad in a tight leopard-print skirt, slid into the camera's focus. All Laura could see was a mass of curled ombre hair. She would know the back of that woman anywhere. She had seen it a dozen times, mostly whipping around at some rave, or obscuring the identity of the stranger whose face she was eating. She was one of the people she'd tried so hard to forget in her time in Love Falls. Sydney. Reality TV diva. Laura's former, hard emphasis on former, best friend. No, not friend. Acquaintance. Laura clenched her teeth to stop from spewing the select four-letter words surfacing in her brain.

  Cal peeked out from behind Sydney's breasts and laughed awkwardly. "Syd, why don't you go get us two lattes?"

  "You got it, babe." Sydney kissed Cal long and languidly, a kiss that held much promise. Then she looked over her shoulder and smirked at Laura before moving out of the frame. Cal followed her with his eyes.

  Sydney had never been a friend, Laura reminded herself. Just someone who used Laura to elevate her status. And now, Cal... her brain just didn't compute.

  "What the hell was that? Sydney? Are you two—after—"

  Cal shrugged. "Her manager was retiring, and she needed someone new."

  "And you just happened to jump right in, didn't you? Really in there." Laura could barely contain the urge to get up and pace and yell, but she didn't because there was a sleeping baby in the next room. She had something that mattered. This—this woman—didn't matter. But Cal did.

  Cal's face got serious. "If you're concerned about me not having time for you, you don't have to worry. You're still my number one gal."

  "I can't believe you would do this. After what she did to me?"

  "We can't be sure it was her who gave those photographers your address."

  "Oh really. Who else could it have been?"

  "Your doorman."

  "He would never."

  Cal glanced up and placed a finger on his chin, feigning a thoughtful man. "Well, I don't know. It could have been anyone who had seen you walk into your building ever."

  Anger, so close to the surface before, started to bubble over, clenching all the muscles in her face. "How would they know my apartment number?"

  "I don't know, Lo. But it wasn't her. I asked her and she promised me."

  Laura rolled her eyes so hard it almost hurt. How could Cal do this to her? After everything fell apart, her "friends" had left her one by one. And Sydney was the ringleader, the one who carefully wedged the knife in her back as she exited the door.

  Cal knew that. Cal had comforted her as she had wondered aloud, bewildered, about their days and days of ghosting. He had first held her back when she raged, then let her sob into his shoulder after Sydney had proclaimed to the world that Laura was a cheater and a piece of dirt on a nationally televised talk show.

  "Did you already sign something with her?" Laura asked.

  "Yes. It's a done deal. I needed the cash flow, Lo. With you out of commission."

  "I know. Damn it, Cal." This was all her fault. If she had come up with an idea they could sell, if she hadn't been in limbo with the soap, if she had only stayed in L.A. and toughed it out, none of this would have happened. And now what? How could she fix this?

  "What was your idea?" Cal asked, completely unaffected by it all.

  "Hm?"

  "You said you had an idea a couple weeks ago."

  "Well, I don't know if it's going to pan out." Talking to him about Dylan seemed so inappropriate now, and she was still so angry. But she had to push all that down. For the sake of her dream. She couldn't risk missing out because of pettiness. "But I'm thinking of following the life of a nine-one-one operator as she receives calls, then dig into both her life and the lives of those callers. It would be a multilayer story of people on their worst days and about the person who ties them all together."

  "Huh." Cal dragged his eyes away from the screen to look at his phone.

  "Huh?" Cal had never responded like that before to one of her ideas. He'd always been supportive of her, or at least acted supportive. Was Sydney poisoning him toward her? Or had Laura just pushed forward in the past
without really noticing whether Cal was on board? Laura needed to think through all this. "I'm going to go now."

  "Wait, Lo. I want to hear—"

  Laura hung up the video call.

  Sometime during the call, her anger had shifted. It was no longer directed toward Dylan. In the face of losing her oldest friend and manager, in the face of his blatant betrayal, she needed other people. Her old friends were no longer an option. She had no living family. Aaron couldn't understand. She wasn't quite there in her relationship with Colleen.

  Laura was completely alone in the world.

  And she no longer wanted to be.

  The only person she wanted to talk to about this—the only person she could talk to about this—was Dylan. The woman had kept running from her, but in their moments together, Laura had experienced a deep connection with her. She couldn't give that up now, on the verge of losing Cal.

  It was time to get over herself and lay it all out on the table with Dylan.

  AS USUAL, IT HAD BEEN a project getting Aaron ready to go. Just as she had dressed him, he unleashed a load into his pants. Already nervous about what was to come, Laura forced herself to slow down, to clean the baby, to talk to him, to be with him. But by the time the tinkling bells above the door announced her arrival at The Snuggery, her nerves had gotten the best of her.

  What if Laura had pushed Dylan too far? What if Dylan wasn't the person Laura thought she was? She was about to find out.

  The Snuggery was nearly empty on this gorgeous spring afternoon. Only one couple occupied the space, a man and a woman in their twenties huddled together over a café table, their heads just inches apart as they spoke in whispers. Laura looked away from them and over to Skylar, who was wiping down the counter with a rag.

  "You." Skylar pointed the rag at Laura.

  "Me."

  "You."

  "Yes?"

  Sky smiled broadly. "I'm happy to see you, Angel Face. What can I do for you?"

  Laura glanced at the couple, but they were too wrapped up in each other to pay any attention to Laura's drama. She walked up close to the counter so they wouldn't have to yell across the shop. She set Aaron's carrier on the ground and leaned on the counter. "I was hoping you could help me with Dylan. We argued about something and..."

  "Wait. Wait a second. Is this the argument from last week?"

  Laura cringed. "She told you about that?"

  "Yes. It was a miracle she did. But I thought... she was going to... she didn't talk to you after Memorial Day?"

  Laura frowned, suppressing the urge to check her phone to see if she'd missed a call. "No."

  "You've got to be kidding me." Skylar dropped the rag on the counter and leaned around the antique cash register to catch the eyes of the couple in the window. "Do you two mind keeping an eye on the shop for a while?"

  "Not at all," the woman said, never breaking eye contact with her suitor.

  Sky rolled her eyes. "The place could probably burn down around them, and they wouldn't notice. But business is slow, and this is too important. Come with me."

  Skylar made her way around the counter, smiled vaguely at Aaron, and led the way. Laura scooped up Aaron's carrier and followed her out the door.

  "Did you try to call her this week?" Sky asked.

  "No." Laura settled the carrier on her hip, loping as she walked.

  "Why not?"

  Because the last words she said to me were fuck you, Laura. Because I'm afraid I crossed the line. "Because the last time she stopped talking to me, she wouldn't answer my calls or texts. I didn't want to make myself look foolish again."

  "Love does make you look foolish. Almost all the time," Skylar muttered. Her pace was quick, and she rounded the next corner so fast that Laura had to jog to keep up, though she barely could with the heavy carrier.

  "Where are we going?" Laura asked.

  "You two are going to sort this out. Both of you are talking to me about the other when you really need to talk to one another."

  "She talked about me?"

  Skylar slowed her pace and dropped back to walk next to Laura. "Do you really like her?"

  Laura was out of breath. She would have to start hiking soon to get back into shape, her mind thought idly. Then it flashed to an image she had seen before. A hot summer day. A hike in the cool woods. A stream burbling. Hands linked with someone... with Dylan. It was always with Dylan. There was no one she'd rather spend time with. "Yeah, I do."

  Skylar eyed her openly as she walked. "I believe you."

  "Thanks." Laura couldn't manage sarcasm in her voice and the word came out more seriously than she'd meant for it to.

  "I was nervous at first about you, because, you know, everything they write in the news."

  "Can't believe everything you read."

  "I know, but the way the press was always where you were... I thought someone had to be tipping off the paparazzi. I thought it was you. For attention."

  "It wasn't," Laura said quickly. "It was a former friend."

  But wait. Why would Sydney tip off the paparazzi about Laura? She hadn't bothered to ask the question before that point. Laura had just thought it must be her based on her attitude. But Sydney always wanted to be the center of attention.

  She froze, stopping dead in the middle of the sidewalk. No press is bad press, Cal had said. And he had suggested tipping off the paparazzi to up her visibility when he was trying to get her onto the big screen. But there was no way he would do something like that.

  Plus, it had hurt her career.

  But it hadn't hurt him. Maybe he had planned it. Maybe he wanted the freedom to take on other clients. She'd never felt like this before. That Cal had anything but her best interests at heart. She really needed to talk to someone about this.

  "Are you okay? I'm sorry. I should slow down. I can hold the baby for a little while if your arm is killing you. Dylan's place is right there." She pointed to a vinyl-sided three-decker with a satellite dish on the stoop roof and not an ounce of character. It was so different from the cabin. It didn't suit Dylan at all.

  But if Dylan was inside, Laura would be relieved. She needed to talk to someone about all this. To untie the knots. She needed a friend. She needed Dylan back, and she hoped, given how Skylar was reacting, Dylan wanted that, too.

  "I'm fine," she said. She picked up Aaron's carrier and walked the last few steps to the house.

  Skylar jogged to catch up. "Can I give you a piece of advice before we go in?"

  "Sure."

  Skylar's rich chocolate eyes shimmered in the sunlight. "Dylan has been through a lot in the past few years. She's a little rough around the edges, but don't give up on her. She's worth it."

  It was similar to what Colleen had said about Dylan. Everyone was rooting for her. No one had anything bad to say about her. Hearing this sentiment again only confirmed to Laura that she was making the right decision in coming here.

  Laura liked Sky. She liked how straightforward she was, how she seemed to cut through the bullshit. Laura pushed through her exhaustion to give her the same courtesy. "So far, she's done just about everything she can to push me away, but I seem to keep coming back. It may be foolish, but it's going to take a lot more than ignoring me to make me give up."

  I owe her more. She's already done so much for me.

  Skylar kept her piercing gaze on Laura for another minute before she nodded once. "Good. I like you, Laura Munro. I don't care what anyone else says. Dylan's apartment is on the third floor. Let's go."

  The trek upstairs was enough to send Laura's lungs into fits and her arms burning from the weight of the carrier. By the time she reached the top, it was all Laura could do to remain upright. Sky pounded on the door.

  And then the air from Laura's lungs was gone.

  Dylan wore a slim pair of jeans and a tank top over a sports bra. On anyone else it might have looked simple, made someone invisible, but Dylan's body didn't need an ounce of adornment to shine. Not as far as Laura was concerne
d. Dylan held a towel up to her wet hair and her biceps were firm and round...

  And would be just right for pinning Laura to a bed.

  Dylan let her hand fall to her side. Her hair stuck up straight and her mouth gaped open and closed as she stared back at Laura.

  And Laura still thought she was the hottest person she had ever seen.

  "Are you going to let us in, woman, or will you just keep staring?" Skylar asked. "Laura needs a drink of water and a chair."

  Dylan blinked, then shook her head. "Of course."

  The next few seconds were a blur, but Laura found a chair and collapsed into it. Dylan set a glass of water in front of her. Aaron woke from his nap and started to cry. Laura picked him up, draped a muslin cloth over her shoulder, and awkwardly fished out a breast for him. She could feel her face burning, but she didn't need to worry as Dylan and Skylar had fallen into a conversation about crew and their next regatta and weren't paying any attention to her.

  Her breath finally returned to normal and she was able to relax her rigid body into the support of the chair. It took her about half an hour to feed Aaron and then she sat him up and tapped his back with a cupped hand. Aaron let out a belch.

  Skylar barked a laugh. "I like this one."

  "Me too," Laura said.

  "Is he all set for now?" Skylar asked.

  "He could use a diaper change..."

  "Say no more. I'll get it and then Aaron and I will hang out for a little while and you two can, you know, talk."

  "Subtle," Dylan said. "Also... are you sure you can handle changing a diaper?"

  "How hard could it be?" Skylar shrugged.

  Laura smirked and handed Skylar the diaper bag, explaining where the wipes and diapers were. Skylar slung it over her shoulder and picked up Aaron. She seemed comfortable enough with him, so Laura let her go and decided not to worry until she had to. She really did need to talk to Dylan, and the few minutes of space would serve her well.

  "Well, that's something. I've never seen her like this with babies. Even with her friends Jenny and Alex. She barely ever held their baby. Now she's offering to change a diaper?"