Weston (Broken Falls #6)

Chapter Eleven

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Weston

I t's weird sitting at my dining room table with Melanie directly across from me. There have been so many times since she left I imagined this very instance, but none of them add up to how it feels now. Especially as I talk to Kara about her impending marriage to Abel. There's happiness but also an anger that I can't quite place. Frustration, maybe. I wish I could articulate it all, but it's as if there's something stopping me. Like I can't fully get the thoughts out of my head or mouth.

Seeing her sit here with Kara laughing is a bit of a mind fuck. I want to be the person that she laughed with. I want to be the person who makes her smile. Then I feel guilty because I told myself when she left I wouldn't reduce my world to her any longer. The promise I made to myself was that I'd get out there and have friends who weren't tied to her, because it'd killed me when she left.

Kara gets up and walks over to the counter, opening the lid on the container of food. The smell wafts through the kitchen.

"Holy shit that smells good," Melanie says, her eyes wide.

"Doesn't it? Kara is really good at what she does. One of the best. It's why Let's Taco ‘Bout It is so popular."

She brings the food over to the table and puts it in front of Melanie and I. Instead of waiting on her to go first, I take a bite, groaning as the flavor hits my tongue. "Damn girl, I can see why Abel has gained some weight."

She snorts. "Don't tell him that. He is so upset even though it's not even really that bad. It's like the freshman fifteen, but you know how he is."

I'm nodding because I do understand. Even in high school, he was meticulous about how often he worked out and what his body looked like. Now that he's gained a little bit of weight, he's having a hard time with it.

Melanie is quiet as the two of us speak. Her eyes are down on her food, and she almost refuses to meet my gaze. I hate that. I want her to look at me. I want her to realize that this is what our life could have been like if she would have just given me the chance to stop her.

"What did you all do today?" I hope to drag her into the conversation.

Kara looks over at her, hoping she can put herself into the conversation. When Melanie is slow to speak, Kara starts. "She learned how to cook some birria and agreed to come help me at the truck when I need it."

This is surprising to me. The Melanie I've known never had a job unless it was babysitting for friends.

"Oh really? You're gonna go work at Let's Taco ‘Bout It? Do you know how popular that truck is?" I smirk. "Like they have a multi-state following. Did you show her your social media?" I pin Kara with a glare.

She holds her hands up. "Look, she mentioned that she wanted something to do. I need help all the time. Who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth? And any friend of yours is a friend of mine."

It's on the tip of my tongue to tell her that Melanie is not a friend, not anymore. I don't know who she is now, but she is my wife. Fuck, it's all so complicated. Instead of speaking further about it, I bury myself in the food while they carry on a conversation. And then I hear Melanie laugh and remember how that laugh used to stop me in my tracks, how it would make me smile and how at the end of a bad day it could almost bring a tear to my eye.

I fucking missed it and until this moment didn't realize how much.

Two hours later, Kara has left and Melanie's cleaning up the kitchen while I go take a shower. It goes against everything I've done since she left to let her clean up the kitchen. That was one of the things I had to learn, how to take care of myself.

It sounds so stupid, but I went from my parents' house to moving in with her and getting married, and she took care of me. When she left, I was lost and had to learn how to do all that by myself.

There was so much trial and error; I don't even know where I'd be now if I had to do it again.

I distinctly remember one night washing dishes and crying because I just didn't know what to do, not with the dishes but with everything else in my life, it felt as if it was ending.

A black cloud hung over it all, and there wasn't anything that was going to make it better again.

Yet it happened.

Slowly, I started going out with my friends again,I started laughing and smiling, and eventually went out on a couple of dates.

But I never found anyone who trusted me or touched me like she did.

And now that she's back, all I really want to know is if we still have that chemistry, and if maybe, just maybe there's a possibility we can pick up where we left off, provided I can forgive her and she can explain what the fuck happened because I refuse to be left again.

"I'm going to go take a shower," I tell her. "It was a long, cold day, and I'd love to warm up."

"Of course." She drags a rag across the table, before straightening up. "Is there anything else I need to do to clean up? Are you one of those people who has to do their dishes every night, or do you wait until the dishwasher is full?"

Another thing we don't know about one another, but I give her this. At some point I've got to stop blaming, and instead offer an olive branch. This is it. "I wait until the dishwasher is full."

She grins slowly. "Cool, I'll remember that."