“It wasn’t your fault, Tilly,” she said. “We were adults, and our marriage was our business. That had nothing to do with you.”
Melanie headed for the door and went outside. The tears started to fall before she had even pulled the door shut behind her. There were some apples on the ground underneath the tree, and she thought of the pies she wanted to make, the cobblers, the apple sauce...and she didn’t have the heart for it anymore. What did it matter?
She’d chosen to put Adam and his children first—for better or for worse—and she’d thought it was the virtuous thing to do. She’d made a home for them...and this was the result.
Melanie centered the heel of her shoe over an apple and crushed it, the tangy scent of broken fruit tickling her nose. Then did the same to another apple and another.
Blast it. The kids had known.
CHAPTER NINE
LOGAN HAD NABBED a table by a window overlooking the lake. There were some loons swimming on the smooth water, and the sunlight shimmered. A man and woman kayaked closer to shore, their paddles dipping into the turquoise water. Just a couple enjoying a morning together, making memories. It was so easy to take that stuff for granted. He and Caroline had come to the lake that summer they’d helped his mom move out to Denver. A few months later Caroline would get her first cancer diagnosis. She beat that one, but when the cancer came back the second time, she hadn’t been able to.
Last night, he’d sat up with his mother’s bracelet in his hands, mulling over the past. Mountain Springs hadn’t changed a whole lot. Even the family dynamic around here felt pretty similar. Junior was still strangely protective of their father. Logan was still considered the danger to all things civilized. His father was still distant even when he was trying to connect. They were all the same people with the same issues, the same defense reflexes. And somehow, he was still drawn to Melanie in a powerful way. Was it just this town, that feeling of everything being the same, or was it something deeper?
He turned from the window and noticed Melanie come into the dining room, her stepdaughter just behind her. Melanie wore a pair of tan linen pants and a gauzy white top. Her gaze moved around the room, and when she spotted him, she smiled.
His heart skipped a beat, and he smiled back. He had to stop this—he’d only get his heart mangled in the process.
Melanie and Tilly came up to the table and Logan stood up as they chose their seats.
“Hi,” he said, shooting Melanie a smile. “How are you doing?”
“Not too badly.” She smiled back, and the fine lines around her eyes crinkled. He liked that—evidence of a thousand smiles.
“I’m glad you came, Tilly,” he said, turning to the teenager. “Are you hungry?”
“I guess,” Tilly replied, and she eyed him with that distrustful scrutiny of teenagers. “What’s with the formality? The standing, and all that?”
She must have come across a few formal manners in her upbringing within a wealthy family. Logan glanced at Melanie, but she didn’t blink.
“It’s polite,” Logan said. “You are ladies, and I’m showing you some respect.”
“People don’t do that anymore. We aren’t in a black-and-white movie,” Tilly replied.
“I do it,” he said. “And maybe you should expect a few people to show you some old-fashioned manners.”
Like that twit she was dating that Melanie had told him about.
Tilly rolled her eyes. “It’s ridiculous. But just don’t start dancing and singing, and we should be fine.”
Logan chuckled. And maybe to her it was nuts, but looking at that blonde girl who looked so much younger than she seemed to think she was, he wondered what she faced out there on her own. How did people treat this girl? Not half well enough, he’d guess. Money didn’t always equal respect.
The waiter came by with menus and glasses of water.
“So, Melanie says that you guys vacationed here a lot?” Logan asked. “I grew up in this town. Like Melanie did.”
“Right...” Tilly glanced over at Melanie. “She used to tell us that—about her old friends and stuff. Dad used to say that Mel’s life was a constant vacation living in a place like this.”
“Not exactly a vacation,” Logan said. “She worked hard. She got good grades, made extra money working at a Dairy Queen.”
“Beside a lake,” Tilly said with a smirk. Yeah, this kid had no concept of what regular people lived like. Had Tilly ever worked?
“I lived in a house in town,” Melanie said. “There was no lakeside anything for me. Except when I came to the lake in the summer on a day off. More like an afternoon off, because I was busy saving for college.”
“Well, there’s a lake now,” Tilly retorted.
Melanie didn’t answer. This sounded like an old conversation. He cast Melanie a sympathetic look and she shrugged.
“But remember how you used to complain about things?” Tilly said, turning to Melanie. “You were all princess and the pea. Remember that? Dad used to tease you so much!”
“About what?” Logan asked, trying to sound casual, but his hackles were up.
“Like...everything. She hated it when we called her Melanie instead of Mom. And she had this thing about Dad not answering her calls. Like, he’d be in a meeting or driving or whatever, and not pick up, and she’d get all offended. And Dad said it was just a pea, and it was proof that she grew up spoiled rotten.”
Tilly laughed and turned back to the menu, scanning the page. Melanie’s cheeks had gone pink, and she looked away. So that was how she’d been treated in her marriage. And the kids had joined in on needling her. How many meetings could the guy have possibly been in? And how many of those “meetings” had been something else entirely? He felt his anger rise at the very thought. That had been Melanie’s life for the last fifteen years. She’d deserved a whole lot better than that.
“I knew Melanie when she was young, and she was far from spoiled,” Logan said. “But one thing I always liked about her was that she knew how she wanted to be treated, and she expected nothing less.”
Tilly looked up. “Whatever.”
The lazy reply was meant to antagonize him, but he’d raised a teenager of his own, so he wasn’t easily put off with these things.
“What do you want to order, Mel?” he asked, turning his attention toward her.
“The burgers look good. But so does the baked onion soup,” she said. “What about you?”
“I’m going for the chicken pasta,” he said. “I’ve had it. It’s really good.”
He dropped his gaze to the menu again.
“Any plans to see your father again?” Melanie asked, and he looked up.
“I was considering getting my brother to come with me,” he said, then sighed. “Maybe this isn’t about just me and my father anymore. Maybe it’s more of a family dynamic.”
Melanie raised her eyebrows. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
“We always did have our quirks,” Logan said. “But I tried to connect with Dad, and Junior and I avoided each other. Maybe it’s time to just be a family. Dad seems to like talking about him, anyway. Maybe it’s time for us to connect, just the guys. With no one to answer to.”
“I think it’s a good idea,” she agreed.
He hoped so. The idea had occurred to him last night, and today, watching Melanie and Tilly together, he was struck by how much of their dynamic had involved the whole family. A marriage might start things off, but kids turned a marriage into a family—with all the connection and warmth, as well as the revealing teasing.
Tilly pulled out her phone and started typing. Melanie’s gaze turned toward her stepdaughter, and she pursed her lips.
“Not your business, Melanie,” Tilly said without even looking up.
“Do you always talk to her like that?” Logan asked.
Tilly glanced up in Logan
’s direction. “I’m busy. I’m talking to someone. Okay? Give me a break.”
“Melanie deserves more respect than that,” Logan said, keeping his voice low. “She doesn’t have to open her home to you, but she has because she loves you. She deserves to be spoken to with respect.” He paused, unsure of how that was going to land. “And so do you, for the record.”
Tilly rolled her eyes and dropped her phone back into her lap. “Sorry, Mel. Jeez. He’s got a pea under his chair, too.”
Tilly’s phone rang and she picked it up again, and suddenly her expression changed. From attitude and insolence, there was suddenly a look that could only be described as “little girl.”
“It’s my dad,” she said, picking up the call. She plugged her other ear and stood up. “I’m going to take this.”
Logan watched as Tilly made her way out of the dining room, and he looked back at Melanie. She was watching Tilly go, her eyes filled with unnameable emotion.
“I’m glad he’s called her,” Melanie said after a moment. “She needs her father, not me.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” he replied. “I mean, I agree that she needs her dad, but you factor in, too.”
“Maybe more than I might like,” she agreed. “I had a bit of an epiphany last night.”
“Oh?”
“She watched her father cheat on me for years—”
“She knew?” he asked with a frown.
“They all did. I only just found that out. But if she spent her formative years watching her stepmother being cheated on and disrespected, then it explains a lot about how the kids saw me. I was never going to be someone to respect. I wasn’t worthy of their father’s fidelity, and I wasn’t going to get their respect, either.”
“Does it explain Tilly’s choice in boyfriend?” Logan asked softly. That would have messed up more than just Melanie’s relationship with them; it would have done some real damage to the children watching that dysfunction up close.
“It very well might,” Melanie replied with tears in her eyes. “I was the woman in the house, and I was the example of how women were treated by their husbands. And Tilly adored her father. She thought the sun rose and set with him. He was her example of what a man was supposed to be. Wouldn’t it be heartbreaking if she is putting up with Simon’s bad behavior because she watched her father cheating on me?”
* * *
IT WASN’T THAT Melanie blamed herself, exactly. She hadn’t known that Adam was cheating. As far as she knew, he was moody sometimes. Maybe he was less than doting when he got really busy, but he made up for it other times. He always took her somewhere tropical for their anniversary, and other gifting occasions always came with beautiful jewelry and kind words. No relationship was perfect, was it?
The waiter checked in, then retreated since Tilly was away from the table.
“Is it the boyfriend who she was texting with before?” Logan asked.
“Probably,” Melanie replied.
But what was she supposed to do? Tilly was old enough to make some bad choices of her own.
“Is that what it was like in your home?” Logan asked. “The teasing, the disrespect...”
“Not always.” She shook her head. “Sure, there were times I felt a little picked on, but everyone got their turn for that. And as for Adam, he wasn’t like that all the time. But after that many years together, a couple gets a sort of shorthand. You must know what I mean. You don’t necessarily keep up with the sweet-talking.”
“I guess so,” Logan replied. “I did try to keep up with some basic manners, though.”
“Well, you seem special in that,” she said with a smile.
“And while you might get more comfortable with each other, the stuff Tilly talked about sounded mean to me.”
Melanie nodded. “I know.”
“I’m sorry it was like that, Mel. You really did deserve a lot better.”
“I guess I have a chance for that now,” she said, trying to force a smile.
“So what’s the plan?” he asked. “Going forward, I mean.”
“Tilly asked if I’m going to sell the lake house, and I think I will,” she said. “It has a lot of memories attached.”
“I get that,” he replied.
“And I’ll have to figure out how to be Melanie Banks again.”
“Is she different now?” Logan asked.
“Melanie Banks is a completely different person than she used to be,” Melanie replied with a short laugh. “I’ve been married. I’ve been a stepmom. I’ve felt what it was like to be wealthy, and what it was like to lose it all. I’m not Adam’s wife anymore, and the world won’t see me in the same way. Life is easier with a wealthy husband, I can tell you that, but it’s also cramped.”
“I could see that,” he replied.
“What about you?” she asked. “Are you different now that you’re widowed?”
If he was going to ask her personal questions, he supposed he should answer a few of hers. He took a moment to consider, then he lifted his shoulders. “Yeah. I am.”
“But you’ll be okay,” she said.
“I’ve survived,” he said with a nod.
“I suppose I will, too.”
Logan eyed her for a moment. “If you’re planning on selling the lake house, would you move to Denver?”
“I’m not sure,” she said.
“It would be a great place to start up a home-decor business,” he said. “I could use someone to stage some houses in new subdivisions.”
“I’m sure you already have someone to do that,” she countered.
“Yeah. I’m not that attached to him, though,” he replied with a grin.
“I’m not letting you fire someone to make work for me,” she said with a laugh. “Besides, I’m not sure I want Denver again. I’m not sure I want Colorado, even. If I’m starting over, maybe I want something more exotic.”
She hadn’t actually thought about it until just now, but if she was already starting fresh, it was a great time to make all the changes at once. And while she’d been a Colorado girl her whole life, that didn’t mean she had to stay one.
“How exotic are we talking?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I’m only thinking of it now. Hawaii? New York? Maybe somewhere in Maine?”
“Wow. That would be far.” His eyes saddened.
“Why, would you miss me?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
His answer was gut-wrenchingly honest, and she paused, her breath in her throat.
“I mean, you don’t owe me anything,” he said quickly. “We’ve only just reconnected. It’s not like I even expect you to talk to me again after this trip is over.”
Like he’d done to her? Did he think she’d just sweep his memory aside that easily?
“Why wouldn’t I talk to you?” she asked.
“I’m just saying, sometimes people run into each other again, and it’s great to catch up, but that’s all it is.” His gaze met hers. “But for me, I hadn’t realized how much I missed you until I saw you again. So if you fade off into the distance and have some great exotic life, I’m going to miss you. It’s just the truth.”
“Oh...” She smiled at that. “So...do you want to stay in touch?”
What would that look like? But the thought of Logan in her life...even somewhat distantly...was comforting.
“Yeah. I really do.”
Melanie felt the smile come to her lips. “Me, too.”
“So... I have permission to give you a call? Chat? That kind of thing?” His voice deepened, and he met her gaze with a look that made her breath catch. Why did looking at him like this always make her think about going further than just a few phone calls? He’d kissed her out on the deck, and suddenly, the memory of his lips on hers came back in a rush.
She nodded. “Yes. I’d like that, too.”
“Okay, then,” he said. He leaned back in his chair and shot her a warm smile. “And I will call.”
She felt her arms tingle with goose bumps at the promise in his voice. He was very easy to fall for, this man. But she wouldn’t upend her life for a man again. Whatever they’d be to each other, it wouldn’t be romantic.
The waiter came by again, and Melanie looked in the direction Tilly had gone, then shrugged. “I think we’ll order. My daughter—” She winced. It was hard to stop referring to her that way. “She’ll be back in a while. But I think I’ll order her the cheese burger and fries. She always likes that. I’ll have the same.”
Logan placed his order, too, chicken fettuccini, and the waiter left again.
“Just do me a favor,” Logan said once they were alone again.
“Sure.”
“Keep Denver on the table,” he said. “If you came back, I promise I’d give you something new to associate the city with.”
“Would you, now?” she said with a low laugh. “Like what?”
“I don’t know. Dinners out. Long walks. Someone to talk to. I’d pass your business card around to everyone in the business.”
“In exchange for what?” she asked.
“For nothing at all,” he replied. “For being there, in Denver, breathing the same air. That’s it. I’d love to have you closer.”
And suddenly, despite her resolve, Denver sounded a lot more tempting.
“I have to be honest,” Melanie said firmly, “I’m not thinking of Denver.”
His smile slipped, then he nodded. “Sure. I mean, of course. I’m sorry to put you in a weird position there.”
Tilly came back into the dining room then, saving Melanie from having to answer. Tilly slid into her chair and dropped her phone on the tabletop next to her.
“I ordered for you,” Melanie said.
“What did you get me?” Tilly sounded like the old Tilly again—out for a meal with her stepmom.
“A burger and fries.”
Their Mountain Reunion (The Second Chance Club Book 1) Page 12