24. Melanie #2
“I bet you just want someone to help you bathe,” I murmur, trying to break up the tension a little as I gesture to his cast under the table.
The look on his face tells me that he knows I’m trying to deflect, and my smile wavers.
“I do know. Davis left just over a year ago, but he started pulling away long before then. I always thought it would get better, that I just needed to keep trying. If anything, it all just made him pull away more.”
In the months before Davis confessed to cheating, it was as if he’d already left.
He didn’t talk to me, barely looked at me, and every time he was late, it felt like our family photos were mocking me from the walls.
It had been so incredibly isolating, especially when it felt like I couldn’t talk to anyone about it.
Once he officially left, I was…relieved.
It was contradictory. In one moment, I was glad he was gone, and the next, I grieved the family we had built together and lost. That pain only seemed to magnify the lack of comprehension over why Davis destroyed our family like that, or how he could continue to keep hurting Oakley.
“What’s the second reason?” I ask, more to get out of my own head than anything else.
Harrison’s eyes glint with humor as he leans closer.
“My mother has been threatening to set me up on blind dates. According to her, she already has a list of her friends’ daughters,” he says laughingly.
“I figure going out with you gives me another few months of grace before she follows through.” He sits back with a boyish grin.
“You’re using me as a shield to your mother, Harrison?” I gasp loudly. “Frankly, I am shocked and appalled.”
His grin doesn’t drop, completely unrepentant. “So, do I get a second date?”
I can’t stop my laugh, and I open my mouth, ready to say absolutely when a voice interrupts.
“Well, this is cozy.”
Brittle ice stabs into my chest, stealing my air. I can see the newcomers just out of my peripheral vision, but I keep my eyes on Harrison, who’s already scowling.
“Unbelievable, Mellie,” Davis snaps, not bothering to lower his voice to a discreet volume. The tables closest to us immediately go quiet. I close my eyes, wishing the ground would swallow me whole. “Where is our son right now?”
I ignore him, clenching my teeth until my jaw aches. If I engage with him, I’ll only cause a bigger scene than he already has. And that’s probably exactly what he wants, especially after Bettie shut Marcy down last week.
“You guys like getting your asses handed to you?” Harrison asks shortly, pushing to his feet.
He plants one hand on the table, careful not to put his whole weight on his broken leg.
“Why would you approach us like this? What could you possibly achieve aside from making yourselves look like assholes?”
I catch Davis’s taken aback expression. He probably thought he could march over here and ruin my evening, scaring away my date, but it’s Marcy who gasps dramatically. “We’re showing concern for a child. How dare you stand here and curse at us!”
The sheer audacity of her words has me shooting to my feet, despite my decision not to engage.
“Where’s Clarissa?” I demand, taking satisfaction in the way Marcy’s eyes bulge. “If you’re so concerned about my son, you must have Clarissa with you, right?” I make a point of looking around. “So where is she?”
Davis’s eyes go pinched and mean. “This isn’t about the children,” he whisper-hisses, far too late when over half the restaurant is gaping at us. “This is about you. If you want to walk around being a whore, that’s fine. I won’t have my son subjected to—”
A large hand lands on Davis’s shoulder, gripping him tightly. His eyes flare with shock, and then he’s being forcibly spun around as a deep voice rumbles, “You’ve got a big mouth, huh, Dean?”
I gape at Cale, my son standing right behind him, both wearing matching scowls as they glare at Davis. “What—” I breathe. “Oakley?”
“My name is Davis!” my ex yells, but there’s a tremor to his voice that was missing when he called me a whore.
“Hi, Mom.” Oakley looks at me, his expression concerned. “Are you okay? We had this big plan, but Cale heard Dad being mean and got real mad.” He only seems mildly put out that Cale ruined their plan with his temper. The look he levels on Davis is ferocious.
“What are you doing here?” I ask weakly, shocked at the turn of events and struggling to keep up. “You’re supposed to be with Jaz.”
“We’re breaking your date.”
“Crashing her date, Killer,” Cale tells him, his fingers still clenching down on Davis’s shoulder, who winces. “It looks like we didn’t get here first.”
“Get your hands off him!” Marcy demands, stepping forward and reaching out like she might sink her claws into Cale’s arm and yank him off.
I round the table quickly, getting in between her and my—Cale and Oakley.
“Don’t you touch him!” My voice is loud, done with trying to be discreet when everyone else is intent on putting on a show.
Marcy freezes as I glance at Harrison. “Can you get Oakley out of here? He doesn’t need to be part of this. ”
My son immediately protests. “No, Mom! I need to—”
“You need to do nothing.” I give him the firmest look I can muster. “You’re already in enough trouble, kid. I wouldn’t push right now.”
Harrison is already grabbing his crutches from where he set them against the wall. “Come on, Oak,” he says cheerfully. “This calls for ice cream.”