Chapter 17
M elanie had put off talking to Carly when she had gotten home that morning because she’d still had to shower and dress and then get to work on time. Plus, it was so much easier to tell her stories one time rather than twice. After she finished her last morning class, she took a few moments to herself, something she hadn’t had a lot of the last few days and she danced.
Unlike the dancing she did when she was mad or annoyed, this was happy dancing.
Logan loved her. Like really loved her.
And in her mind, nothing could be better.
She was bent at the waist, catching her breath, when both Carly and Leah walked in.
“Oh hell, she’s dancing again,” Carly said. “Am I gonna have to kill my own cousin? Cause seriously, Aunt Alice is gonna be pissed.”
Leah slapped her arm. “Is everything okay?”
“Everything’s perfect, but if it’s cool with you Carls, I’ll keep your offer to kill Logan on the back burner, in case I ever need it.”
Carly saluted. “Deal.”
Mel grabbed her bottle of water and took a long drink, sliding against the mirror, to sit on the floor. Leah and Carly joined her, each sitting on one side of her.
“I take it, last night went well?” Leah asked.
“It was nice. Fun even.”
“Nice. Fun. That’s how you describe a date.” Carly was shaking her head. “I seriously don’t know who you are sometimes.”
Melanie laughed. “What the hell do you want me to say? It was nice and fun. Isn’t a date supposed to be those things?”
“I think, what Carly is trying to say,” Leah said, “and doing a very bad job with it is, was it more than nice and fun?”
“Ding, ding, ding.” Carly spun her finger in the air. “We have a winner.”
Giving in, Melanie said, “Dinner and a movie got switched to dinner with his mom and dad. And yeah, I know that doesn’t seem like an ideal date, but I love his parents and was totally cool with the switch.”
“Awe, he wanted you to meet the parents so to speak,” Leah said.
“She’s known them all her life,” Carly said. “Nothing to get all excited about it.”
“It was kinda like that, I think, and also, he had something he wanted to tell all of us and he wanted to do it all together.”
Carly rubbed her hands together. “The plot thickens. What was it?”
Melanie rolled her eyes. “Get this...he wants to open a gallery here in Cedarville.”
“An art gallery?” Leah asked.
“Yeah.” Melanie said. “Do you think that’s crazy?”
“By the sound of things, you do,” Carly said.
She gave her a dirty look. “I just think that he will hate it. That his photos belong in bigger, better galleries.”
“Who’s to say that a gallery in Cedarville won’t be a big deal?” Carly asked. “Logan knows a lot of people and my guess is that he is planning on using those connections to get some amazing art in his gallery.”
“I’m not saying it won’t be a big deal, I just hate to see him waste his talents.”
“It seems to me that you are saying he can’t do it and I’m not going to sit here and let you bad mouth my cousin.” Carly stood angrily and stormed out.
“What the hell?” Melanie looked at Leah. “She’s in a fucking mood.”
“Ignore her,” Leah said. “I’ll deal with her later, but now we are talking about you.”
“I’m not saying that Logan isn’t capable of making a gallery in Cedarville successful. I just don’t want him to give up on his dream.”
“How do you know that this isn’t a dream of his?”
“Until yesterday, I had never heard about it.”
“I never knew that this town was my dream or Brandon. But as soon as I got into town, I knew this was where I was meant to be. And Brandon...well, he was a dream I never knew I had until I met him. Dreams can change, Mel and it can happen in the blink of an eye.”
Mel sighed. “You make it really hard to argue when you are right all the time.”
“I just want you to see all sides of things.”
“I just love him so much and I want the best for him.”
“Have you told him that?”
“I accidentally let it slip last night and thank God he said it back or else I would be hiding in a closet right now.”
Leah was looking at her like she had two heads. “What’s wrong?”
“Logan and you said you love each other?”
“Why do you seem so shocked, when you are the one who asked if I told him?”
“I was asking if you told him that you wanted the best for him.” Her voice had gone all squealy.
“Oh.” Mel really needed to pay attention more.
“Oh my God,” Leah shouted, “I just thought of something. If I marry Brandon and you marry Logan, we will be sisters-in-law.”
“You’re getting a little ahead of yourself there, don’t ya, think?”
“Pfft,” she waved it off. “I for one know that I am marrying Brandon and if he hasn’t asked by Christmas, then I’ll ask. As for you and Logan, your relationship is already further along than mine and Brandon’s. You had to have thought of that.”
She slowly shook her head. “I didn’t.” That thought had never even crossed her mind. Well, that was a lie. Of course she had dreamed of marrying Logan, but that was years ago. Or at least months ago.
Oh who was she kidding, it was last fucking week.
But she had never thought it would actually happen. Leah was right though, they were starting a relationship when they already knew each other.
“I didn’t mean to freak you out,” she heard Leah say.
“You didn’t,” she said but at Leah’s look, tried again. “Okay, you did, but only for a second.”
“Love can be scary, but it can also be amazing. And in my opinion, the amazing always trumps the fear.”
Melanie hoped like hell that Leah was right. Because at that moment the fear was trying its hardest to rear its ugly head.
“Do you think I should give up my quest of trying to find galleries for Logan?” For two days she had worked her ass off calling all her contacts and her friends’ contacts to get Logan into another gallery. And she still thought it was a good idea even though he had his plans of opening his own gallery in Cedarville.
“I think that’s a decision you have to make. Or better yet, maybe he needs to make.”
“I just feel like I need to have something set in stone before I go to him and tell him. It needs to be a real option not just a possibility.”
“Then I’d say you’ve already made up your mind.” Leah stood and Melanie followed suit. Before they could walk out of the studio though, Leah put her hand on her arm. “What are we going to do about Carly?”
Mel was wondering the same thing especially now that she had pitched a fit and stormed out. “Something is going on with her, that’s for sure.”
“She’s always blunt and to the point but now she just seems angry.”
Melanie opened the door to the hallway. “Let’s go find out.”
They found Carly, sitting at her desk, knees pulled up to her chest on her chair. She didn’t look like she was working, instead just staring into space.
“Hey,” Mel said when they walked in. Carly still didn’t move or say anything. It was like she hadn’t heard her.
“Carly,” Leah said and touched her shoulder. Carly jumped at Leah’s hand on her shoulder.
“Okay, that’s it,” Mel said. She grabbed her chair and slid it so that she was face-to-face with Carly. “What the hell is going on?”
“Nothing,” Carly said but her eyes told a completely different story.
“You’re lying to us,” Leah said from behind her.
Carly sighed heavily and dropped her feet to the ground. “I just have a lot on my mind.”
“A lot of what?” Mel asked.
“Just stuff. I do have a life outside of you guys. It’s not like you know everything about me. Jesus.” She stood and grabbed her bag. Without saying goodbye or even fuck off, she left the office leaving both Mel and Leah shocked and staring after her.
“Umm, I don’t even know what just happened.” Leah looked at Melanie who was also confused.
“I’ve never seen her like this.”
Leah sat down at her own desk. “We actually have.”
Mel came to the same realization. “Her mom.”
Leah nodded. “It has to be, right?”
“I’ve never wanted to murder anyone in my life, but that woman makes me rethink my morals.”
“Do you remember how emotionally fucked up Carly was after she found out about her mom? She was like a completely different person.”
Mel did remember and it had been horrible. Finding out that your mom was cheating on your dad was one thing. But finding out that the person she was cheating with was your very own boyfriend....well, that had to fuck a person up.
“Why do you think she won’t talk to us?” Mel asked. “We are the only ones who know the real story.”
Leah shrugged. “Carly likes to do things on her own, you know that. She has to work this out in her head before she will be ready to talk to us.”
“I just wish I could help her. She’s been my best friend since I was born.” Mel and Carly had been through so much together. First days of school, training bras, first boyfriends, fights with parents, first love, college and everything else. They had been there for each other for all major milestones and all problems. Mel wanted to continue to be there for her friend but this time it looked like she’d have to wait until Carly was ready.
“Want to grab lunch?” Mel asked Leah.
“You go ahead. I need to finish these enrollments.”
Melanie left Leah to her work and walked to the center of town to pick up some food. When she saw the empty building that Logan was looking at for a gallery, she made a last-minute decision and crossed the street. She was examining the outside of the building and noticed a light on inside. Trying the door, she found it unlocked so she went in.
“Hello,” she called out. The place was dusty and smelled like it hadn’t been aired out in centuries. She walked further into the building, sidestepping, debris and old wood.
“Melanie,” she heard Logan’s voice and turned.
“I hope you don’t mind, I saw the lights on and the door was unlocked.” For as well as she knew him, she wasn’t able to decipher the look that was on his face.
He didn’t move and neither did she. So they stood, staring at each other, twenty feet apart.
“I can leave, if you want me to?”
He blinked several times. “No. No, I want you. Here. I want you here.”
She took a slow step toward him. “This place is,” she looked around, “huge.”
His silence was back and it was starting to give her a complex. “Seriously Logan, I can go. You’re acting weird and I’m not sure –” Her words were cut off when he took three large strides and latched his mouth to hers. If he hadn’t been holding her, the force of his kiss would have knocked her to the ground. It was powerful and all-consuming, driving her to drop her bag and hold on for dear life. She wasn’t sure what had come over him, but there was no way she was going to complain when she reaped the rewards.
The intensity calmed and he eased back from her, his breathing heavy and his eyes closed.
She lifted an arm, and stroked his cheek, making his eyes open. “I guess you aren’t mad that I’m here.”
He gave a slight shake of his head. “When I walked out and saw you standing there, it hit me that I could have this every day. Every day you could come by between classes or I could come to your studio. And since seeing you is the best part of my day, I figure all my days, from here on out, will be amazing.”
His words pierced her heart. A heart that, if he wanted it and it seemed he did, already belonged to him. “I love you.” The words rushed from her mouth. “I know I said it last night, but I didn’t really say it. It just kinda slipped out but now, I want to say it. I NEED to say it.”
He cupped her face in his hands and leaned his head against hers. “You don’t know how much I needed to hear that. I didn’t want to push, I didn’t want you to say it again until you were ready.”
“I’ve been ready since I was eighteen, at least part of me has. But the other part, the part that had to grow up and learn what love really was...that part of me just caught up.”
“It took you long enough,” he said against her lips. “I love you too. So fucking much.” Their lips met again, in another combustible kiss, each of them giving the other everything they had. His hands stayed on her face and her own, found their way around his back, pulling him as close to her as she could.
When she felt his hardness press into her, she gasped into his mouth. She either had to stop this right then and there or they were about to christen his new gallery.
Practically ripping her mouth from his, she put her hand on his chest. “We should stop.”
“My brain knows you're right but my heart, and more importantly my dick, think you are very, very wrong.”
“Your dick can have me anytime he wants but for some strange reason, he's refusing.”
“Wicked, wicked girl.” He pushed past her hand and nipped her bottom lip. “Soon.”
He stepped back leaving her so hot and bothered that she thought she was going to explode.
“Want a tour?”
Clearing her head of the heat, she nodded.
“I know it’s hard to picture this as a gallery, but I think it has a ton of potential.”
“You don’t have to try and convince me, Logan, I’m on board.” And she was, surprisingly. When he’d said that they’d be able to see each other every day and her being the best part of his day, those things had immediately changed her mind about trying to get him into other galleries. He seemed to know what he wanted and if what he wanted was her, who was she to argue?
He took her hand. “I really want this place. The more I picture it, the more I know it’s what I should do.” They walked past a counter where he had a camera sitting. He picked it up, looping the strap over his head.
“It’s pretty open,” he said as they walked around. “I figure I can keep the office where it already was and then with this wall right here,” he touched the wall that divided the room, “I can keep it so that maybe we can separate different types of art or if one artist has a lot of pieces, they can all be together.”
She could envision what he was saying, and it all made complete sense. “You know what I love? I love the glass windows in front. Everyone walking by will be able to take in the pieces and hopefully, it’ll bring them in.”
He smiled. “I thought the same thing.”
She let go of his hand and walked around the wall. She was admiring the space when she heard the click, click, click of his camera. She was so used to it, that it barely even registered, but she turned anyway.
Face partly obscured by the camera, he tracked her and kept clicking away.
“Seriously...why do you need more pictures of me?”
He lowered the camera a few inches. “That’s like asking why I need to breathe.”
She felt her cheeks flush. It was weird. She'd had this man’s dick in her mouth and yet, him saying that embarrassed her.
Love, it seemed, was the only thing that made her awkward.