Chapter 56
Melody
Melody pulled open her purse and rummaged around for her phone while she waited for the elevator that would take her up to her apartment.
When her fingers finally found purchase on her cellphone case, she pulled her phone out of her bag and clicked on her messaging app.
For a moment, she just stared at the screen.
She still needed to answer Nolan. She just wished she knew what to say.
Text wasn’t always the best way to communicate and convey sentiments, but it’s what she had at the moment. Biting down on her lower lip, Melody tried to marshal her thoughts and at least reply with something. What to say, though?
After a few more moments of thought, Melody decided she was overcomplicating things. She took a deep breath and started typing a response to last night’s messages.
Melody: Hi, Nolan. Thanks for reaching out. I’m happy to hear your schedule is settling. That must be a relief after such long hours. Just let me know when you’re free and we’ll see when we can arrange a friendly get-together.
Melody bit back into her lip and gave it a nibble she imagined might leave it looking pinkened. Her response wasn’t perfect, but she hoped it wasn’t too bad.
She sighed and rolled her shoulders in an attempt to release some of the tension she had stored there.
She didn’t want to lead Nolan on, but was there a good way to say that since she’d gone out with him and his friends, she’d tumbled into a whirlwind romance and found herself falling hard and fast for another man?
Melody would make sure Nolan knew she was now only available for friendship, but surely that would come across better if expressed in person?
Maybe? Hopefully? She really wasn’t sure.
Surprise lit her insides when a response came in.
Nolan: Hey, Melody! It’s great to hear from you. Would you be free to meet tomorrow at 1 pm? How’s The Daily Grind on N. Wells St?
That would work well. It was both a good time and a short walk from The Winchester.
Nerves made her heart rate accelerate, but she forced herself to type.
Melody: That sounds great. See you there.
Nolan’s response was a broadly smiling emoji.
Deciding she’d done what she could for now, Melody started to put her phone away. She was just about to drop it back into the cavernous bag before her phone chimed with a notification. Maybe Nolan had additional details to convey?
Pulling her phone back up to eye level, she clutched her chest and let out a startled gasp when she took in the news article filling her screen.
“Hometown Hero or Deadbeat Dad?
It looks like the Challengers’ newest acquisition, homegrown favorite Benjamin Logan, isn’t as wholesome as his previous reputation would have us believe.
According to Cynthia Hargraves (pictured below), who reports having met Mr. Logan soon after he relocated to Chicago at the beginning of the season, the newest member of Chicago’s great hockey team got her pregnant after an evening of “mutual enjoyment” and has been “ducking her calls” ever since.
According to Ms. Hargraves, she has reached out multiple times since her doctor confirmed the consequences of their interlude, but Mr. Logan has maintained radio silence, unwilling to so much as acknowledge her overtures to connect . . .”
Melody’s hand moved involuntarily to cup her abdomen. Her stomach roiled in a way that made her fear her breakfast might be threatening to make a reappearance.
Her eyes lost some of their focus, bypassing a few paragraphs to focus on the picture.
And there it was. A picture of Ben with his arm draped around the shoulders of a young woman with a cute ash-blond bob and a star-struck smile.
Ben’s head was tipped down, as though he was waiting for her to speak.
Melody started to shake. Had her father been right? Was her relationship doomed before it had even truly begun?
A feeling of numbness overtook her and her phone slipped out of her hand. Melody felt as much as heard the screen shatter when it connected with the patterned concrete flooring. The sound was a perfect echo of the fractured feeling currently taking place in her heart.