6. Melody #5
He takes both my hands in his, his grip warm and steady.
“But Melody - what if it doesn’t destroy you?
What if this is exactly what it feels like?
What if I’m sitting here terrified of the same things you are, wondering if you’ll forget about me the second you get on that plane, wondering if I’m just a convenient distraction from your pain? ”
I stare at him. “You’re terrified?”
“Out of my mind.”
“But you seem so... sure. So steady.”
“No. The truth is, I haven’t felt like this about anyone in a very long time. Maybe ever. And that scares the hell out of me because I know how this usually goes. I know that distance kills things. I know that real life has a way of crushing the things that seem magical on vacation.”
“So what do we do?”
“I don’t know.” He lifts our joined hands and presses a kiss to my knuckles. “But I know I don’t want to walk away from this just because it might not work. I’d rather try and fail than spend the rest of my life wondering what could have been.”
The words settle over me like a blanket, warm and heavy.
I think about all the times I played it safe with Leo.
All the times I ignored my instincts because the certain path seemed better than the uncertain one.
And where did that get me? Crying in a bar on my honeymoon, married to a man who never loved me.
Maybe certainty is overrated.
Maybe the things worth having are the ones you have to leap for.
“I’m scared,” I whisper.
“Me too.”
“I don’t know if I can trust myself. After everything-”
“Then trust me. Trust me, unless I give you reason not to. At least just for tonight.” He pulls me closer, tucking my head under his chin.
“Tomorrow we can figure out the rest. Tomorrow we can make plans and have hard conversations and decide what this is or isn’t.
But tonight, can we just... be? Can we just have this one night where nothing else matters? ”
I close my eyes. Let myself sink into him.
“Okay,” I say. “One night.”
“One night.”
We lie back down together, rearranging ourselves until we’re tangled up again, my head on his chest, his arms wrapped around me. The ceiling fan turns lazy circles above us, and the moonlight paints silver stripes across the sheets.
“There are things I need to tell you first,” he says after a long silence. “Things that might change how you feel.”
My heart stutters. “What kind of things?”
“Things about who I am. About my life. About-” He stops. Starts again. “About complications I should have mentioned before we ended up here.”
The warmth in my chest flickers, threatened by a cold wind of doubt. More secrets. More things I don’t know. More ways this could fall apart.
“So tell me.”
“Not tonight.” He pulls me closer, his arms tightening around me like he’s afraid I might disappear. “Tonight I just want this. Just you. The complications can wait until morning.”
I should push. Every instinct I have is screaming at me to demand answers, to make him explain before I give any more of myself away. Leo hid things from me. Leo had secrets that destroyed everything. How can I lie here in another man’s arms and accept that he’s keeping something from me too?
But his skin is warm against mine. His pulse is slow and even beneath my cheek, a rhythm I could fall asleep to every night for the rest of my life. And I’m more content than I’ve been in longer than I can remember - maybe longer than I’ve ever been.
Maybe some things can wait.
Maybe I’m allowed to have one night of peace before the world comes crashing back in.
“Okay,” I murmur. “Morning.”
His lips press against the top of my head. “Morning.”
My eyes drift closed. His breathing slows beneath me, evening out into the rhythm of sleep.
Outside the windows, the ocean murmurs against the shore, and the stars wheel slowly overhead, and the world keeps turning without us.
Somewhere out there, Leo is sleeping next to Alexandra.
Somewhere out there, divorce papers are waiting to be filed.
Somewhere out there, my whole life is in shambles, waiting for me to come home and sort through the wreckage.
Tomorrow there will be questions. Tomorrow, there will be truths that might change everything. Tomorrow I’ll have to face the complications he mentioned and decide if I’m strong enough to handle them. But tonight there’s just the sound of Noah’s heartbeat.
***
The phone rings at six in the morning.
I’m barely awake, still curled against Noah’s side, when the sound drags me out of the deepest sleep I’ve had in weeks.
“Ignore it,” Noah mumbles.
“What if it’s important?”
“It’s not.”
But I’m already reaching for my phone on the nightstand. Unknown number. US area code.
Something makes me answer.
“Hello?”
“Ms. Brooks?” A man’s voice, professional and unfamiliar. “This is Henry Patterson, with Patterson and Associates. I apologize for calling so early - I wasn’t certain of the time difference.”
“It’s fine.” I sit up, suddenly awake. “What is this about?”
“I’m calling regarding your great-grandmother’s estate. I sent you a letter several weeks ago about a significant inheritance, but I never received a response. I wanted to follow up directly.”
The world goes very still.
“I’m sorry,” I say. “What letter?”