Saving Mel

by Rye Hart

  I sighed. “I know. I guess part of me is afraid of how he will look at me after I tell him. I don’t want him to see a victim. I’m so damn tired of being the victim.”

  “I get that,” Layla said. “But if he’s truly as great as you say he is, I bet he just admires you even more for being able to go on living your life after something like that.”

  I nodded. I knew Layla was right. Though I didn’t know Evan all that well, I knew enough to know he was a kind and gentle man. A man who would treasure me, not harm or pity me. Still, everything was so new and I just wasn’t ready to tell him.

  “Enough about me, what’s new with you?” I asked her.

  Layla knew me well enough to know that I was done talking about it, so she happily changed the subject. We spent the afternoon eating burgers and fries, drinking our milkshakes, and laughing over the predicaments she got herself into with the numerous guys she went through. Part of me envied her for being able to go through guys like water. That was what twenty-three year olds were supposed to do. Another part of me, though, was glad that I had all I wanted with Evan right now.

  I just hoped that I was enough for him and that he wouldn’t see me as damaged when he finally did learn my secret.

  CHAPTER 17

  EVAN

  I heard a car pull into the driveway just as I’d finished putting the kids down for their nap. Liam was still asking about Melanie and I kept trying to tell him she’d be back soon. But the moment the front door opened I heard Liam’s feet hit the floor before he took off running.

  “Mew!”

  I heard her giggling just as I’d gotten Hadley to sleep, so I stepped out quietly and shut the door. I could hear Melanie murmuring to Liam while she walked him down the hallway, and I caught the back of her body as she walked into his room.

  I could hear the soft sounds of Melanie’s singing coming from Liam’s bedroom before she stepped out and shut the door. It was a sound I could really get used to. I went to the kitchen to brew up another pot of coffee as Melanie sank down into the couch. I caught her gaze as she looked over at me and my heart thudded in my chest. If I wasn’t careful, I would fall for this woman hard.

  I brought her a cup and sat down next to her. “You know, you didn’t have to come back today,” I told her.

  She smiled as she wrapped her hands around the cup. “I know, but I just couldn’t stay away,” she said.

  My gaze hooked on hers and the air grew thick around us.

  She cleared her throat. “You know, from the kids,” she said, and I felt a hint of disappointment.

  “Well, you are surely spoiling them. They love you,” I said.

  “They are amazing,” she said as she gazed into the fire.

  “So how was your friend?” I asked.

  “She’s good. Crazy as usual.”

  I smiled. “How long have you known her?”

  Melanie smiled. “Since the first day of preschool. I was playing with a stuffed bear and she came over and took it from me. I took it back and hit her over the head with it. We’ve been inseparable ever since.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh. “I didn’t know you had a violent streak.”

  Her eyes never left the fire as she answered. “Not until I need to,” she said cryptically.

  There it was again. That nagging feeling that there was something in her past that she was hiding behind. I couldn’t help myself this time and I pushed just a bit farther. “If you want to talk about it—”

  “I really don’t.”

  Her eyes whipped over to mine and I could see a seriousness brewing behind them. I wanted to know what was going on with her, but I also didn’t want her to push me away. I decided to drop the topic for now. I couldn’t really demand she tell me when I wasn’t ready to spill my secrets either.

  Her eyes turned back toward the fireplace and I quickly lost her again. Her motions were robotic as she drained the coffee from her mug. Her body was here, but her mind wasn’t. She was off in another land thinking about whatever it was that was plaguing her, and it wasn’t until her coffee mug was empty that she spoke up.

  “That was a wonderful cup. Thank you,” she said.

  “Would you like another one?” I asked.

  “I really should get back to work,” she said.

  “Doing what? The kids are asleep.”

  “I saw their clothes piling up in the hamper. I figured I’d do a load of laundry so you could go get some work done.”

  “My work can hold on long enough to do laundry. Let me get you another—”

  “There’s no reason to tiptoe around me,” she said.

  Her statement caught me off guard and it caused me to stay rooted to the couch.

  “Go get some work done,” she said. “That was the agreement. I take care of the kids and the things that surround them so you can work. Their laundry is part of them, so it’s my responsibility.”

  She stood up and plucked the coffee mug from my hands before she made her way to the kitchen. She rinsed them out and quickly washed them before she set them out to dry, and I reached for my coat. I stood by the door and watched her as she made her way down the hallway, her hips swaying and her hair fluttering around her shoulders while she walked.

  She was a vision of beauty, even with the stress she was currently under.

  But something told me she needed some time to herself, and I had projects calling my name from my shed.

  “If you need anything, I’ll just be out back in the shed,” I said.

  Her movements stopped for just a moment before she started spraying stain remover on the kid’s clothes.

  “Thanks,” she said.

  CHAPTER 18

  MELANIE

  The evening before hadn’t exactly gone as planned. Evan’s innocent comment about violence had thrown me. For a brief moment, I could feel the crunch of my captor’s nose against my forehead as I’d fought like hell to get away. I remembered swinging the pipe down and the sickening thud that had followed. I couldn’t get my mood right after that.

  I knew that Evan wanted to know what was up, but I still wasn’t quite ready to tell him. Not to mention, there was something he was not telling me either. Something that had to do with the kids and his brother. Maybe we weren’t meant to be more. Maybe we were just supposed to be a distraction to help one another deal with life’s heartaches.

  No, that couldn’t be it. We were both just damaged and needed to figure out how to be whole.

  I pulled up to the cabin and saw smoke billowing from the chimney. I parked my car and went inside to see the kids already sitting at the breakfast table. Evan looked exhausted as he stood at the stove, and I quickly went over to take his place before he sighed.

  “We’re almost out of diapers, so I’ll need to run into town to get some,” he said.

  “If you have car seats, I could go and take the kids with me,” I said.

  “No, no. I’ll make the run. There are a few other things we need anyway. Some things I need for my shop and all,” he said.

  The yawn that escaped was big, and I could tell by the bags under his eyes that he hadn’t slept well.

  “Rough night with the kids?” I asked.

  He just shrugged.

  “Your brother didn’t give you enough diapers to hold you over?” I asked.

  “He didn’t, no,” he said.

  “That’s odd. How long are they supposed to be gone?”

  “It’s fine. I’ve got it,” he said.

  His statements were clipped as I watched him pour a cup of coffee for himself. He chugged it down before quickly getting another, and that was when I saw how haggard he really looked. He was in his clothes from yesterday and his eyes were bloodshot red. His movements were slower than usual like his exhaustion was weighing down his ability to move fluidly.

  But where he looked tired and ragged, the kids looked well-rested and happy. It was as if he was the only one who hadn’t slept. I wanted to know more about it, but he wouldn�
�t let me in. I knew the reason why he wasn’t opening up to me. It was because I wasn’t opening up to him. He had gently prodded me yesterday, but I had shut down. I knew he was curious and I knew he was trying to put pieces together. He was trying to get to know me with the little bit I was showing him. And if I didn’t open up to him, he had no reason to open up to me. I couldn’t expect someone to tell me all their secrets while holding mine close to my chest, but I wasn’t ready to talk to him about this.

  I decided to throw him a bone. “If you want to talk about anything, I’m willing to listen,” I said.

  His eyes slowly panned over toward mine and they robbed me of my breath. I could tell he was debating something. I knew how he felt. That feeling where you bounce between pouring your life story into someone’s lap and burying it deeper into your chest. The mere fact that he was struggling with this meant he wanted to confide in me. He wanted to sit down and talk to me about these things. He wanted me to know what was going on with him, just so he’d have another person to help shoulder whatever it was and walk alongside him, instead of him dealing with it all alone.

  Just like I had wanted to tell him a couple of times before.

  “I know,” he said. “I’m gonna make the run to the store before I get working. You need anything?”

  “No,” I said, sighing. “I’m okay.”

  “Be back soon.”

  The kids were still eating as the door shut behind him. I heard him start up his truck before the crunching of ice could be heard as he backed out of the driveway. I stood at the sink and listened to him drive away, secretly wishing he would’ve opened up to me.

  I had no idea how the fuck I was going to repay him the favor, but I knew I was willing to try.

  Just then, something started ringing down the hallway. I didn’t recognize the sound and it wasn’t stopping. I figured it was an alarm or something and it would die down with time, but after three minutes of listening to it ring on and off, I decided to go and find the source of the noise.

  And what I found was Evan’s phone sitting on his nightstand.

  “Shit,” I said. “He forgot his phone.”

  “Mew?” Liam called out.

  “I’ll be there in a second, sweetheart. Just hang tight.”

  I turned my back to head for the kitchen but the phone went off again. The ringer was long and loud, and it vibrated against the wooden bedside table. I didn’t want to listen to the incessant noise the entire time he was gone, so I picked it up and toggled with the side buttons. I knew one of them had to be the volume button, but I turned on the phone screen before I could find it.

  There was a text message from someone named ‘Mike’ scrolling across the screen.

  “Come by later, forgot to give you Hadley’s present I made. Hope it’ll take the edge off being a new dad.”

  A new dad? Now I was thoroughly confused.

  “Mew!”

  “Coming, sweetheart!”

  Finding the volume button, I toggled it all the way down to silent. I set the phone back on his bedside table, then left in a hurry. I shut his door so I wouldn’t be tempted to scroll through any more of his phone, then I made my way back to the kids.

  But my mind was still swirling with that text message.

  Did it have something to do with why Evan never talked about his brother? Was there really no brother? Suddenly, I had the sick and horrifying thought that he had been lying to me all along. What better place to take a couple of kids you were trying to hide, than the mountains of Montana? It wouldn’t be the first time I’d met a man willing to take something – someone—that wasn’t his. I shivered at the thought as Liam came up beside me.

  “You guys wanna watch a movie after we get cleaned up?” I asked, trying to keep my voice even.

  “Aladdin?” Liam asked.

  “We can watch whatever you want to,” I said, smiling.

  A movie would keep them occupied for a couple more hours, and that was what I needed. I needed these kids to stay occupied until I could wrap my head around what the fuck was going on.

  But the dreaded question crashed to the forefront of my mind, and I felt the breath in my lungs flee in a resounding reaction to the fear that was now coursing through my veins.

  Was I still safe here?

  CHAPTER 19

  EVAN

  I couldn’t figure this woman out. I wanted to. I wanted to know why she was so weird about my working in the shed and why she kept prying about my brother. But it was like each of us was waiting for the other to open up first. I wasn’t sure if I could let her in until she let me in, but it felt like she was playing that same game. It was exhausting, especially when I actually wanted to get to know her.

  She was hiding something though, and I was determined to figure out what it was.

  She got weird every time I mentioned I was going to the shed, which was odd. Why would a shed elicit that kind of reaction? None of it helped with my trust issues and, even though I wanted to let my guard down with her, I found it hard. Her body was so easy to succumb to. My fingertips hummed, begging for a connection with her whenever I passed her body.

  And yet, we were still strangers, both seemingly hell-bent on waiting for the other to crack.

  I got back to the cabin with everything in tow and saw Melanie playing with Liam through the window. The sight warmed my soul and made my heart beat rapidly in my chest. The kids were so happy when she was around, and if anything, it was them that would make me trust her. She was good for them, and something in my gut told me they were good for her.

  I walked into the cabin and sat everything down. I was gone much longer than I’d wanted to be, which meant I couldn’t start on any of my projects. If I got going now I wouldn’t have time to break for dinner because I’d want to finish what I started.

  “Everything go okay?” Melanie asked.

  Something about her tone rose my hackles. It was almost as if she was nervous. “Yep. Found everything I needed. I was gone longer than I thought, though, so I won’t be working today,” I said.

  “In that case, I think I’ll go on home,” she said.

  “Mew leaving?” Liam asked.

  “I’m sorry, sweetheart, but I gotta go see my dad,” she said.

  “You know you can stay for dinner if you’d like. Or come back for it,” I said.

  “Not tonight, thanks,” she said.

  She seemed distant and it was beginning to worry me.

  “Were the kids okay while I was gone?” I asked.

  “They were angels, as always,” she said, as she pulled on her coat.

  “Did something happen?” I asked.

  She threw a glance my way and held my gaze, but the look on her face was hesitant. The brightness in her eyes had faded and in its place was something that bordered on accusatory.

  What the hell had happened while I was gone?

  “Melanie. Are you sure you’re all right?” I asked.