"Why? Do you need one?"
I looked heavenward. "You have no idea." My stomach twisted at the mere thought. Where on Earth was I going to get the money? Trying not to sound as worried as I felt, I forced another laugh. "So if you know anyone with a backhoe, you know where to send them."
With a ding, the elevator stopped, making my stomach lurch with the change in momentum. When the doors slid open, I thanked Luna for all of her help and rushed into the lobby, leaving Luna to ride back up alone.
The doorman was still there, but this time, he was obnoxiously polite. It shouldn't have mattered, but I couldn’t help but feel the tiniest bit of satisfaction by his change in demeanor.
See, I'm not a groupie. So there.
Of course, I might've felt more satisfaction if I didn't end up sprinting for the lobby bathroom, where I said goodbye to my nachos, along with any hope of leaving with my dignity intact.
Five hours later, I arrived home, exhausted from everything – my stupid food choices, the long hours on the road, and too much thinking along the way. Long-term, I still didn't know what to do, but short-term, there was something that simply couldn’t wait.
I had to call Joel.
Chapter 19
I didn't call him from the road. Instead, I waited until I arrived home, where I took a quick shower, brushed my teeth, and threw on some fresh clothes. And then, feeling almost human again, I pulled out my cell phone, only to pause at what I saw on the screen – a voicemail from Derek.
Reluctantly, I hit the play button and listened as Derek's voice said, "Alright, fine. You win, alright? I talked to my dad, and he's agreed to drop the thing with Joel. And just so you know, I had to really sell it. So you owe me. Remember that."
Listening to this, my jaw dropped. I owed him? For what? Living up to what he originally promised?
Talk about nerve.
And besides, it didn't even matter, not anymore. Thanks to what I'd learned from Jake and Luna, the suspended sentence was no longer an issue, which meant that Derek and his dad could take a flying leap for all I cared.
Even a day ago, Derek's message would've gone a long way in easing my concerns. Now, it was just plain annoying. As the voicemail droned on, mostly with reminders that I should be grateful, I muttered, "Thanks for nothing."
The message ended with Derek's promise to stop by early the next day to discuss something else. I sighed. Just great. On top of all my other troubles, I'd be getting nice dose of Derek first thing in the morning.
I checked the time. Already, it was past midnight. And late or not, I still wanted to call Joel.
The odds of him answering were almost zero, but I was reasonably certain that, at the very least, he'd listen to whatever message I left. As expected, my call went straight to his voicemail. At the prompt, I took a deep breath and tried to pack as much as possible into a brief message. "Listen, it's me." I hesitated. "Uh, Melody…."
I winced. That didn't really need to be spelled out, did I? I sure hoped not.
Pushing aside the distraction, I went on. "Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that your suspended sentence, well, it's gone. I mean, pretty much like it never happened."
Again, I hesitated. There were so many things I was longing to say, starting with "come back" and ending with, "don't ever leave."
But the words died on my lips. It felt too much like begging, and I'd done plenty of that already. So instead, I briefly outlined what I'd learned from Jake and Luna, and summarized by saying, "So the thing with Derek, meaning all of his threats, well, they're pretty pointless now."
I forced an awkward laugh. "I mean, it's not like he can have you dragged off to jail or anything." In a quieter voice, I said, "I hope you're okay, and um, if you want to talk, let me know."
With that, I ended the call and stared down at my phone. Maybe Joel was listening to my message right now. And maybe, he'd call me right back and tell me all of those sappy things that I'd been reluctant to tell him.
But none of that happened, at least not right away. So against all hope, I sat there, clutching my phone, for at least an hour, praying that he'd call.
In the end, it was a total waste of time. I received no call, no text, and no sign whatsoever that he'd even gotten my message. I shouldn't have been disappointed or even surprised. After all, he'd made it pretty plain that a happy reconciliation wasn't in our future.
And yet, I kept telling myself that there was always tomorrow. Maybe he hadn't gotten my message. Or maybe he had gotten it, and was still deciding what to do. Or maybe – and this was the best one yet – he wasn't going to call at all, but rather, was going to show up here and surprise me like I surprised him outside that warehouse.
Sure, it was a long shot, but anything could happen, right?
Finally, exhaustion caught up with me. Still clutching the phone, I curled up on the sofa and drifted off, only to be startled awake by the doorbell.
I bolted upright and looked around. I'd fallen asleep with the lights on, but now they were drowned out by the sun's rays filtering in through the front window. From what I could tell, it was just past sunrise – a fact that was confirmed with a quick glance at the clock.
Recalling Derek's promise to stop by, I stood on shaky legs and peered out the front window, only to freeze in mid-motion. It wasn't Derek's car in the driveway.
It was Joel's.
Chapter 20
Unable to stop myself, I practically ran to the door and yanked it open. Sure enough, there he was, looking as good as I remembered. As if in a dream, he moved forward and pulled me into his arms, saying, "I got your message."
I was so overwhelmed by the feel of him, I could hardly think. Somehow, I managed to ask, "So why didn't you call?"
"Screw calling," he said. "I didn't wanna wait."
I wasn't quite sure I followed, but I really liked the sounds of what he was saying. I swallowed. "Really?"
He nodded against me. "It was almost three in the morning when I got the message." He ran a soothing hand along my back. "And I didn't wanna wake you. So I said, 'Screw it.' I got in my car and hit the gas."
I gave a small laugh. I could totally see it.
Maybe this was a dream. But if it was, I was determined to enjoy it while it lasted. Wordlessly, I soaked up the feel of him as he cradled me close, just like he used to, back before everything fell apart.
Into my hair, he said, "Would you believe I've been driving all night?"
"Really?" Against his chest, I asked, "Where were you?"
"Cincinatti. But forget that." He pulled slightly away and said, "I've got a question."
"What?"
"Wait, I wanna do this right." And then, right there in the doorway, he sank slowly to his knees. "Melody—"
My breath caught. "What are you doing?"
His gaze met mine in a look so intense, the force of it almost sent me reeling. "You know what I’m doing."
My heart was hammering, and my knees felt weak. Suddenly, I was afraid. It was official. This had to be a dream.
Damn it. Probably, any second, I'd wake up, only to find myself alone in my bed, longing for him like I always did.
In front of me, he reached out, taking both of my hands in his. And then, in a voice that sounded surprisingly real, he said, "Will you marry me?"
And just like that, the world stopped spinning. I wanted to pinch myself, but I didn't dare. Again, I swallowed. "What?"
"I don't have a ring," he said. "But we'll get one this week, I swear." He gave me a crooked smile that melted my heart. "Not much open at seven in the morning."
I almost didn't know what to say. Even in my wildest dreams, this wasn't anything like what I'd been expecting.
I'd been missing him for weeks. I'd been thinking of him every day. I'd been longing for him every night. And yet, all this time, I'd received no sign whatsoever that he'd been thinking of me at all – no calls, no texts, no nothing.
And now, he was proposing? Against all logic, I wanted
to say yes. I loved him. I loved him so much, it hurt. But the mental whiplash was making it hard to think. I gave a confused shake of my head. "You can't mean that."
"Why not?"
"Well, because, you've been gone, and –"
"And miserable."
I stared down at him. "What?"
"Without you?" He gave a slow shake of his head. "I've been a miserable bastard. You don't believe me? Ask Cal. He'll tell you."
I recalled Cal, his friend from the parking lot. At the moment, I couldn’t even remember what he looked like. Cripes, I could hardly remember what I looked like. My head was too filled with images of Joel. The images spanned our entire acquaintance, from the day I'd first met him, to the night he'd broken my heart.
And here he was, kneeling in my open doorway, offering me the promise of forever.
In front of me, the cold air was rushing in. Behind me, the heat was rushing out. Between us, the air crackled with that huge question – his question – which I still hadn't answered.
I'd dreamed of this. I'd wanted this. I'd even fantasized about this, just last night, in fact.
Deep in my heart, I knew with absolute certainty that Joel was the guy I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. And yet, I couldn’t help but recall that he'd left me – not just once, but twice, without giving us the chance we deserved.
I still didn't know what to say. But I did know that we couldn’t stay out here forever – so with a light tug, I tried to pull him to his feet, saying, "We should go inside."
He didn't budge. "No."
I was almost too breathless to speak. "No?"
"No," he repeated. "Not 'til you say yes." He gave my hands a tender squeeze. "I know you want to."
"How?"
He gave me the promise of a smile. "I can see it in your eyes."
He was right. I did want to. I let out a ragged breath. "You're right. But…" I paused. How could I explain?
His gaze probed mine. "But what?"
"But when I saw you last, you said—"
"What needed to be said."
"What?"
With no trace of a smile, he added, "It was the hardest fucking thing I ever did."
"It was?"
"Baby, you've gotta ask?" His voice softened. "That was for you. Not for me."
I recalled some of the things he'd said – in particular, something about not wanting to drag me down into the mud. In my mind, I could still see the look in his eyes as he'd pushed me further and further away. They'd been anguished beyond description.
And now he was here, looking at me with eyes filled with so much love, it almost made me want to cry. I bit my lip and tried to think. What if this was a dream? If I said yes, would I wake up?
Joel gave my hands another squeeze. "Baby, just listen. Everything's different now. You know it is."
It was then that I realized something. He was right. Everything was different now. Back in that deserted parking lot, the suspended sentence had been hanging over both of our heads, like a dark, dangerous cloud.
For him, it had meant the very real possibility of prison, surrounded by strangers who wanted him dead. For me, it had meant a long public spectacle regardless of which way it went. Even if Joel had beaten the charges, it would've been a train wreck of epic proportions.
Suddenly, my heart felt lighter than it had in forever. The way it looked, Joel had wanted to spare me in the same crazy way that I had wanted to spare him.
If that wasn't true love, what was?
Joel's voice, more urgent now, broke into my thoughts. "No one – and I mean no one – could ever love you like I do. You're everything to me. Just give me the chance. I'll prove it. You won't regret it. I promise."
His words drifted over me like a warm, wonderful dream.
But it wasn't just his words that made it impossible to say no. It was the deep realization that, before Derek's awful threats, I knew exactly how I would've answered this life-changing question.
I would've said yes without a moment's hesitation, and I would've counted myself the luckiest girl on Earth.
I felt my shoulders relax. I could still be that girl.
As time stood still, I gazed deep into Joel's eyes and saw, once again, a truth I couldn’t deny. His love for me, like mine for him, had been there the whole time.
Suddenly, I wanted to cry, but this time, it wasn't with sadness. I opened my mouth, but was too choked up to speak.
Into my silence, he said it again, "Marry me." He gave my hands another squeeze. "Say yes."
Finally, I felt myself nod. And then, I couldn’t help but smile. My voice, when I found it, was just above a whisper. "Yes."
The word had barely left my lips when Joel practically jumped to his feet and pulled me into his arms. A choked sound escaped my lips. But I wasn't crying. I was laughing – with relief, with surprise, and with so much happiness that I could hardly think.
This was real. And it was a dream. How incredible was that?
Together, we stood in the open doorway, letting the heat out, and the cold in. But I didn't care. I couldn’t help but tease, "If this is a dream, I'm going to be so mad."
"You're the dream." His voice grew quiet, and he pulled back, gazing deep into my eyes. "I don't deserve you, but I'm gonna spend the rest of my life trying." With that, he lowered his head and pressed his lips to mine, tenderly at first, and then with an intensity that left me trembling with a new-found need.
This was better than a reunion. It was like he'd never left, like nothing bad had ever happened, and like nothing or no one could ever tear us apart. Pulling back, he picked me up, kicked the door shut behind us, and carried me up the stairs, just like he'd done on our very first time.
As we celebrated in the most intimate way, he told me loved me at least a hundred times, and I said the same thing right back, over and over, until I was too lost to say much of anything.
Later that morning, as we lay together in a naked, happy embrace, I couldn't help but compare this time to the last time, in the darkened parking lot outside that nondescript warehouse.
In its own way, that time had been amazing too. And probably, if it hadn't ended in such heartbreak, I would've spent an embarrassing amount of time reliving it in my fantasies, if not in real life.
Still smiling, I drifted off with my head on his chest and his arm wrapped protectively around my naked back, only to wake up who-knows-how-long later in an empty bed, listening to the sounds of angry male voices somewhere in the house below.
I sat up and threw aside the covers. One of the voices was definitely Joel's. I listened more carefully. Damn it. The other one was Derek's.
And the way it sounded, they were ready to kill each other.
Chapter 21
I jumped out of bed and struggled into the first clothes I could find. Breathlessly, I scrambled into the hall, only to stop in mid-stride when I heard a door slam, followed by the sounds of tires squealing in the driveway.
By the time I reached the front door, the only person standing there was Joel, looking surprisingly unruffled in jeans and a T-shirt.
I glanced toward the door. "Was that Derek?"
"Yup."
"What happened?" I asked.
"Nothing. I told him to fuck off."
I stifled a giggle. It shouldn’t have been funny, but for some reason, I wanted to laugh like a crazy person. "You didn't."
"I did."
"But why?"
Joel flashed me a grin. "Do I need a reason?"
In truth, I wasn't sure. I still wanted to laugh. "Uh, yes?"
He reached out and pulled me tight against him. "Alright, here's a reason. I don't want him bothering you. You're done with that."
Maybe I should've objected, but I'd been thinking pretty much the same thing. Somehow, I was going to get control of the estate and stop Derek and his dad from having any say at all.
Leaning into Joel I said, "Do you wanna hear something funny?"
"What?"
&
nbsp; I pulled back to meet his gaze. "The last time I saw him, I told him the exact same thing."
He stared at me for a long moment. "You?"
I nodded.
The corners of his mouth twitched. "No way."
I couldn’t decide if I was proud or embarrassed. "It's true," I confessed.
"Well, aren't you full of surprises?" He glanced down. "By the way, your shorts are on backwards."
I looked down to check. He was right. They were. I gave another giggle. Summer was long-gone. Probably, I shouldn't have been wearing shorts at all. But they'd been the first thing I could find in my top drawer.
I had to tease him. "It's your fault, you know."
His eyebrows lifted. "My fault?"
I nodded. "You took my clothes."
"I didn't take them. I threw them in the laundry."
"Why?"
His gaze warmed. "Maybe I wanna see you naked."
I felt a slow smile spread across my face. "Again?"
Now, he was smiling, too. "Always."
We spent the rest of the day in and out of bed, making up for lost time. Maybe we were crazy, but I couldn't bring myself to care. Without him, I'd been lost, and here he was, almost like he'd never left.
In spite of the frigid weather, everything around me felt warm and wonderful. When darkness fell, I grabbed my favorite quilt out of the closet and carried it out to the lower balcony. Together, Joel and I sank onto an oversized lounge chair and lay there, snuggled under the quilt, gazing up at the stars and listening to the waves crashing below the bluff.
In all the fun of getting reacquainted, we hadn't done a lot of talking, at least not about anything serious. But now, the questions were piling up, and I almost didn't know where to begin.
"I'm curious," I said. "What have you been doing over the past two weeks?"
His arms closed tighter around me. "Other than missing you?"
"Yes." I smiled in the darkness. "Other than that."
"The truth?" he said. "I've been racking up some favors."
"What kind of favors?"
"The legal kind."
I wasn't following. "You mean related to your suspended sentence?"
Something True (Joel Bishop Book 2) Page 8