by Holly Martin
‘Hi Leo,’ Melody said, sadly. ‘It’s not really important, I just wanted a chat with Isla, but it can wait until tomorrow. I certainly wouldn’t want to interrupt a spectacular magic show.’
‘Melody, you’re important,’ Leo said, the gruffness gone. His voice held a softness that he normally only reserved for Isla. ‘Whatever it is, Isla would want to talk to you. She’s not here, she’s just popped out to grab pizza for us all. Are you OK?’
‘I’m fine.’
She certainly didn’t feel fine. The date hadn’t been anywhere near what she imagined or hoped it would be. Although that kiss was amazing. There was that.
‘Didn’t you have your hot date with Jamie tonight? If he’s bailed on you I will personally go round and kick his ass.’
She shouldn’t be surprised that Leo knew about the date. He’d probably heard from Isla or from Jamie himself, but she was always amazed that the people in the town knew more about her business than she did.
‘It was the shortest date in the history of dates. I managed to poison him and he left after finishing only half of his starter.’
‘Ah crap, was the starter shellfish?’
‘There was oyster in the Chinese stir-fry sauce. I had no idea. I knew he was allergic to shellfish, so I made sure there was no fish in any of the food. I didn’t think about the sauce. It certainly didn’t mention oyster on the front of the jar.’
‘Was he OK?’
‘His lips swelled up, he was scratching a lot, his eyes were watering and then he bolted out of the house, though I’m not sure if that was anything to do with the allergy or the fact that I was pushing him to commit to some kind of relationship. I’m so stupid. He said he wasn’t keen on getting involved with someone, but I pushed him anyway. I should have—’
‘Melody, if he ran out of the house after eating oyster, I guarantee it was because he was going to be sick and didn’t want you to see it, not because he wanted to get away from you.’
‘You think he’s being sick?’ Melody asked with alarm.
‘I think he’ll spend most of the rest of the night in the bathroom either throwing up everything he’s eaten in his entire life or sitting on the loo with his stomach being squeezed like a tube of toothpaste.’
Melody winced at that frank and gruesome image.
‘Maybe I should go round, see if he’s OK.’
‘Hell, no. No man wants the woman they have the hots for to see them like that, it’s enough to put them off for life. Give him some space tonight and I bet he will be making it up to you tomorrow.’
‘What if he’s really ill and needs to see a doctor? I hate to think of him alone and suffering.’
‘His allergy isn’t life-threatening. I’ll give him a call and pop in and see him on the way home. He’ll be fine tomorrow. Jamie really wouldn’t want you there to see that.’
Melody sighed. What a disaster.
‘Come round here, we have a ton of pizza coming,’ Leo said.
‘I have loads of food here that Jamie never got to eat.’
‘Put it all in Tupperware containers and come round. Don’t sit there alone feeling sorry for yourself.’
‘I’m OK. I wouldn’t want to intrude.’
‘There is nothing to intrude on, believe me. Hang on, the master of illusion wants a word,’ Leo said. There was a clatter as he evidently passed the phone to Elliot.
‘Melody, you need to come round, we are having Hawaiian with extra pineapple and the extra-large hot gooey chocolate chip cookie for pudding. And I have a ton of new magic tricks to show you.’
She smiled; she never could say no to her nephew.
‘OK, I’ll be round in about fifteen minutes.’
‘She says she’s coming,’ Elliot said, passing the phone back to Leo.
‘Good job, buddy,’ Leo said as he came back on the phone. ‘Stay where you are, I’ll get Isla to pick you up on the way back from the pizza place.’
Melody smiled. It would be good to not be alone tonight.
6
Melody threw the last pizza crust down on her plate and sat back with her glass of wine and sighed, contentedly. There was something to be said for being around her friends and family when she was feeling down. A few slices of amazing pizza from Stefano’s restaurant and a couple of glasses of wine and she was feeling all happy with the world. She glanced over at Isla who was looking slightly happier than Melody was.
‘I can’t believe you poisoned your date,’ Isla giggled. ‘I had such high hopes for the evening, you two are made for each other.’
Melody eyed Elliot and Leo as they sat in the adjoining dining room, finishing off their pizza and completely engrossed in learning how to do the next magic trick. Leo had bought Elliot a cuddly rabbit which they were going to learn how to pull out of Elliot’s top hat. Isla’s new puppy, Luke, was curled up at Elliot’s feet.
Melody turned back to Isla. ‘The evening wasn’t a total loss.’
‘It wasn’t? It sounded like it was over before it started.’
‘It was but… he kissed me.’
‘Before he ran out the door to be sick? Nice,’ Isla said, dryly.
‘At the very beginning of our evening, before we ate.’
Isla looked at her and then put her plate down on the coffee table. ‘I take it we’re not talking about a peck on the cheek?’
Melody blushed as she remembered the intensely hot kiss. ‘He pinned me to the wall, then carried me to the sofa where the kiss was so hot it very nearly progressed to… more,’ she finished vaguely, for Elliot’s benefit.
‘Holy shit,’ Isla whispered.
Elliot gasped and giggled. ‘Isla swore.’
‘Come on, buddy, let’s go and practise this in your room,’ Leo said, packing up the box of magic tricks. ‘We don’t want to give away any of our secrets of how the magic works, do we?’
‘No we don’t, a magician never reveals his secrets,’ Elliot said.
‘And it’s nearly time for bed now, so we’ll finish this trick and then you can brush your teeth and I’ll read you a bedtime story.’
‘The one with the dragons,’ Elliot said, excitedly leaping onto Leo’s back so he could give him a piggy-back.
‘Yes definitely. I want to see how that one turns out myself,’ Leo said as he carried him out the room, giving Isla a wink as they left them alone to talk. Luke yawned and sleepily followed them up the stairs.
‘Leo’s so good with him,’ Melody said.
Isla stared after them fondly. ‘I know. They spent the afternoon today on the beach practising for the sandcastle competition on Saturday. Elliot adores him.’
‘And he’s spending a lot of time here lately.’
‘He practically lives here,’ Isla said. ‘He enjoys spending time with Elliot.’
‘Not with you.’
‘Well, yes, I suppose he does enjoy spending time with me too,’ Isla said, vaguely, as she busied herself with the crumbs on her plate.
Melody narrowed her eyes. ‘And nothing has ever happened between you?’
‘I know you’re desperate to see us married off, you’re as bad as Agatha when it comes to that, but it’s not going to happen.’
‘That wasn’t a no,’ Melody said.
Isla smiled. ‘Tell me more about this kiss.’
Melody stared at her sister. ‘Something has happened between you, hasn’t it?’
Isla laughed.
‘Oh come on, after my terrible date tonight I need something to cheer me up, tell me some good news. Anything. I don’t need details, just a tiny morsel of something happy.’
Isla took a swig of her wine and listened to the muted voices of Leo and Elliot in the room above them.
‘OK, OK. God, I can’t believe I’m saying this out loud, but we slept together, once, a long time ago. The night before Elliot’s christening. It was just… a one-night stand with two people that were very attracted to each other.’
‘Oh my god,’ Melody squealed. ‘I c
an’t believe you never told me. You two had this thing—’
‘It wasn’t a thing. I went back to London and met Daniel who I dated for two and half years. Leo carried on sleeping with a different woman every week. There was no thing.’
Melody leaned forward. ‘How was it?’
Isla laughed, awkwardly. ‘It was the hottest sex I’ve ever had. We were at it all night, he couldn’t keep his hands off me. It was wonderfully liberating.’
‘And you didn’t want to start anything with him?’
‘Oh god, I think my heart did. My head was a little more sensible. The next day, at the christening, some woman came up to him and said she’d had an amazing night with him the night before I’d come down here. The night before he’d slept with me. I don’t know why I was so disappointed by that. We weren’t together in any way, so he hadn’t been unfaithful. But I just thought I was obviously one of many. He was polite and friendly to the girl but after a few minutes he left her to come and sit with me. I looked over at her as he sat next to me and I could see how hurt she was by it. I felt so sad for her. Of course, I wouldn’t want to hear him say how much he loved being with her and wanted to do it again, that would have killed me, but it was quite clear he had no intention of seeing her again. He was so casual with her. They’d clearly spent this amazing night together and she’d probably fallen a little bit in love with him because of it and it didn’t mean anything to him. I figured if we were to continue what we had, if he even wanted to, I’d just end up like that girl, one of many that he slept with and then eventually rejected as he moved on to the next. It wasn’t a great time work wise anyway. Being the head visual merchandiser in one of the biggest department stores in the world, I was about to spend the next three months travelling to different stores so I wouldn’t have even been in the same country. The lead up to Christmas was always our busiest time so there didn’t seem any point starting anything. He texted a few times once I’d gone back to London, but I didn’t really know what to say to him, so it fizzled out pretty quickly. Every time I’d come up to visit Matthew there was this chemistry in the air between us, but nothing happened.’
‘And now you live here, has anything happened since you moved down here?’
Isla shook her head.
‘Except that he has asked you to marry him a hundred times.’
‘That’s just him wanting to keep a promise to Matthew that he would look after me and Elliot, that’s not… anything serious. Leo doesn’t do serious. Look, you know I’m crazy about him and I’m pretty sure he likes me and would like a round two but it’s just not going to happen.’
‘Why not?’
Isla sighed as she finished off her glass of wine and lay down on the sofa.
‘I was with Daniel for two and half years, I thought he loved me. We’d talked about a future together, marriage, children, a little cottage somewhere. We’d even talked about maybe moving to the seaside in that way where you know it’s a pipe dream but maybe, some day, one day. As soon as I told him that I would be having custody of Elliot a few days after Matthew’s death, he finished with me. I know Elliot wasn’t his, but we had talked about having children together. It wouldn’t have been that different to having our own. In some ways it would be easier having Elliot than a baby. No sleepless nights, no dirty nappies, or late-night feeds. We had bypassed all of that. And moving here to Sandcastle Bay meant moving into a cottage by the sea, like we had always dreamed about. I know it meant I lost the job I love, but Daniel was an accountant, he could do that anywhere. I was heartbroken that he didn’t want any part of my new life down here. Love is supposed to be for better or worse, no ifs and buts, and I need to know that whoever I end up with will give me that. Not just for Elliot’s sake, God knows he’s lost enough people in his short little life, but for my sake too.’
Melody’s heart broke for her sister. If anyone needed a happy ever after it was her. Tori often teased Melody for being the eternal optimist, for wanting everyone to fall in love and have their happy ending. But Isla couldn’t see what she could see. Leo was undoubtedly in love with Isla and, if she refused to see it, then a little nudge wouldn’t hurt.
‘You don’t think Leo could give you that happy ending? He has changed, you know that. The drinking, the women. I haven’t seen him with a single woman in the year since we moved here. He is here almost every day. And I doubt that’s just because of honouring some promise to Matthew. Does he not deserve a chance?’
‘I don’t know,’ she yawned, sleepily. ‘I think my heart hopes for that and Elliot is completely besotted with him. I’m kind of scared of letting anything happen between us, because if he gets bored and moves on to the next woman, what would that mean for Elliot? Would Leo stop coming round here and seeing him?’
‘You know Leo wouldn’t do that.’
‘I know.’
‘Well then.’
‘I just can’t risk my heart on a “Marry me and I’ll take care of you.” I need more than that.’
Melody sighed. She was going to have to have serious words with Leo Jackson and his complete lack of romance.
‘Tell me more about this kiss,’ Isla said, rolling on her side to face Melody and effectively closing down the subject of her and Leo.
Melody smiled. ‘It was everything a kiss should be.’
‘It was hot?’
‘I honestly thought he was going to make love to me right there on the sofa.’
Isla smiled. ‘Well if it was as hot as you say it was, there’s no way he is walking away from that.’
‘I hope not. He didn’t seem keen on the idea of dating or having a relationship. I think he would prefer it if we stayed friends.’
‘You should offer to be friends with benefits,’ Isla giggled.
Melody laughed. Usually, in the cold light of day, Isla had quite a sensible head on her shoulders, but after a few glasses of wine anything could come out of her mouth.
‘Do you know me at all? I’m more of a big white wedding, fairy tale happy ever after kind of girl, not the sort that has passionate sex with my friend that leads to nowhere.’
‘I’m just saying, if Jamie isn’t keen on a relationship, maybe a few weeks of hot sex with you would change his mind.’
‘And if it doesn’t?’ Melody said.
‘Then maybe you would have got him out of your system.’
‘Or fallen in love with him even more.’
‘But if it’s not going to happen, at least you would have had some great sex with the man you love, rather than no sex at all. God, why am I so obsessed with sex? Being around Leo Jackson makes me horny as hell.’
‘And are you going to jump into bed with him just to satisfy that need?’
‘No, because that bloody man would break my heart if he walked away.’
‘Exactly,’ Melody said.
Isla sighed. ‘God, we’re rubbish, aren’t we?’
‘Falling in love is never easy, is it?’
‘It would be if the men we fell in love with weren’t so complicated.’
‘This is all their fault,’ Melody said, laughing at how quickly the conversation had gone downhill, from gratuitous sex to man-bashing. Maybe it was time to go home, before she declared she was going to become a nun and take herself off to a convent.
‘Men!’ Isla said with a groan of frustration.
‘And on that hopeless note, I’m going to go and say goodnight to Elliot and then I’m going home.’
Isla lay back on the sofa as Melody stood up. ‘Bloody men.’
She met Leo coming down the stairs.
‘Is Elliot in bed?’
‘Yes, magic trick learned, teeth cleaned, bedtime story read and now he’s tucked up in bed.’
Melody smiled, and she put a hand on Leo’s shoulder. ‘You’re a good man, Leo Jackson. I’m a little bit in love with you.’
‘Whoa there,’ Leo teased. ‘I like you and everything, Melody, but I just don’t think we would work.’
Melo
dy laughed and swatted at him. ‘Not like that, you daft oaf. I love you for how you are with Isla and Elliot. You’re good for them.’
He frowned. ‘I’m not but I’m trying to be.’
‘You are. I wish you could see yourself through my eyes.’
He shook his head and walked down the stairs.
She pushed open Elliot’s bedroom door and he was lying in bed, his toy rabbit held tightly in his arms as he dozed. Isla was right, Elliot was besotted with Leo.
She kissed Elliot on the cheek. ‘Goodnight, beautiful boy. I’ll see you tomorrow.’
‘Night Melody,’ Elliot mumbled. ‘Love you.’
‘I love you too.’
She went back downstairs, into the lounge, where she saw that Leo had joined Isla and was lying next to her on the sofa.
‘Men are complex creatures,’ Isla said, resting her head on Leo’s shoulder and wrapping an arm around his stomach.
‘I think you’ll find women are the complicated ones,’ Leo said.
‘How so?’ She looked up at him and Melody saw the look of love he gave her.
‘Most women just want to get married, live in a big house by the sea, have lots of children, be financially secure, but you don’t want any of that,’ Leo said.
Isla smiled, sadly, and then put her head back down and closed her eyes. ‘I think you’ll find that what most women want is much simpler than that.’
It was evident that Isla was drifting off to sleep and Melody watched as Leo kissed her on the head.
Melody stepped up and Leo looked at her and smiled.
‘I’m going to go,’ Melody whispered.
‘I’ll walk you home,’ Leo said.