27. Melanie #2
“Of course not,” he sputtered. “I wasn’t thrilled she showed up tonight, either.
As far as I knew, Nora hadn’t seen her since their wedding.
” Henry meant DD’s wedding, of course, because even though they were best friends, DD had claimed she was too plagued with morning sickness to make it to George and Nora’s wedding last year.
Melanie had been relieved to be spared meeting her then.
Henry raked a hand through his hair, annoyance coming off in waves.
“And what was I supposed to say? The girl I had a crush on in high school is pretty? So what?” Henry pulled her close.
“You’re the one I want. The one I married.
You’re the one I love.” He kissed her tenderly, but all too briefly, before going down the hall to their bedroom.
After she took a shower, she joined him in the bedroom, the one place they never argued.
Sliding into bed, she curled up next to him, ready for the makeup sex that always made everything better, but he was asleep.
At the Independence Day Parade the following day, she and Henry sought shade under the awning of the Clover Lake Cafe from the sweltering sun.
“Henry, you know what would be nice? A twist cone from the cafe.” No response came.
Usually he jumped at the chance to make her happy, but he acted as if he hadn’t heard her.
“Henry,” she repeated, but still couldn’t get his attention.
She followed his line of sight across the sea of bodies lining Main Street, awaiting the start of the parade, but saw nothing of interest. “Henry!” Melanie spoke sharply, frowning when he finally turned to her.
“Can you run in and get me one of them twist cones I love?” She batted her eyes extra hard, hoping he would smile like he usually did when she flirted.
Eventually, he did, but it didn’t broaden the cleft in his chin, so she could tell he didn’t mean it.
“Be right back,” he promised, slowly moving through the crowd.
When the parade started, she still had no ice cream, so she walked up the ramp to look into the cafe’s picture window to see what was taking him so long.
They couldn’t go anywhere in this town without him getting sidetracked by someone wanting to talk cars, which always annoyed her to no end.
She put her hands next to her eyes and peered in the window, but no Henry, so she turned around.
From the top of the ramp, her view changed.
At the intersection of Main and Wallace, there was her husband, standing next to none other than DD, holding her baby on his hip.
As Melanie gaped at them, DD rubbed Henry’s upper arm, infuriating her even more.
DD had her own sexy husband, so what was she doing touching hers so intimately?
And why was Henry allowing it? Fuming, she stomped down the ramp.
So much for being the one Henry wanted; he’d forgotten about her entirely.
No wonder he didn’t stay awake for sex last night.
He was probably dreaming about another woman.
Battling tears as the first parade float drove by, Henry appeared at her elbow, holding only a vanilla cone and not the twist she’d requested.
“Sorry, they were out of chocolate.” Was that all he had to say to her?
He should be telling her he was sorry for taking so long…
sorry for letting DD paw at him…sorry for holding another woman’s child.
She didn’t care one whit, really, about the chocolate.
Taking the cone, she turned her back on him. “Sure took you long enough,” she grumbled. “I was beginnin’ to think you ran away.”
Without meeting her eyes, he said, “I saw some old friends.”
She snorted. “Old friends? You mean your ex-girlfriend?” That got his attention, and his eyes held truths she didn’t want to see.
“What are you talking about? She’s not my ex-girlfriend!”
“Sure didn’t look that way to me, not with the way she was touchin’ you. I’d like to know what her husband thinks! Where was he, anyway?”
“Mellie, please, it wasn’t what it looked like.
I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to make you upset.
She was waiting for Nathaniel to bring their car around and needed me to hold Euphemie for a minute.
They’re going back to Spearfish today. Sounds like her parents were not only nasty to Nathaniel but also to Euphemie.
” Maybe if Henry’s eyes had been on her while he was explaining this, she would have been more understanding, but his head was facing the opposite direction, where DD was getting into a busted-up station wagon.
The hurt on Henry’s face told her everything she needed to know about the state of his feelings for the other woman.
After that, Henry was a different person, withdrawn in a way he’d never been.
She flirted, played dumb, cajoled him, used every trick she knew to bring him to heel, but nothing earned her even the smallest smile.
When she asked him outright what was wrong, he remained stubbornly silent, not even complaining when she served TV dinners two nights in a row or frozen pizza the third night.
In bed, he didn’t touch her or pull her close, like he usually did, and she swore she heard him say DD’s name in his sleep once, but he denied it the next morning.
She felt poorly the following week, but knew it was because she was sick of this place, of being a nobody, of Henry’s family everywhere, of Henry not paying her the least amount of attention, and told herself that maybe it was time for a change.
Time to put herself first for once. Henry clearly didn’t love her enough to leave so they could build a new life together somewhere that allowed them both to make their dreams come true.
Convincing herself in the early morning dawn that she had saved enough money to make it on her own, she hauled a suitcase out from under the bed.
A wave of nausea hit, and she swallowed hard against it.
More nausea fought its way up her throat, and she made it to the bathroom just in time.
Three more attempts at packing ended the same way, with her vomiting as if her life depended on it.
Muttering into the porcelain, “Lord, please help me,” she thought about the last time she’d been this sick.
A worse feeling came then, as she considered the time three years ago at the Grand Canyon.
No…she couldn’t be pregnant…not now. Surely she just had a stomach bug?
Melanie slumped on the bathroom floor, tears of rage filling her eyes.
She didn’t want to be stuck any longer in this one-horse town, married to a man in love with another woman, in a family where everyone hated her.
Gathering up her courage, Melanie rode a bicycle down to the Clover Lake Clinic, past the drugstore, where people stood waiting to get on the bus taking them out of this hellhole.
After she peed in a cup, the county health nurse took some blood while Melanie wondered about the people riding that bus—where were they going?
What were their plans? If she were on it, she’d never look back, not for anyone.
Before long, Melanie got the news she dreaded: pregnant, and in her second trimester.
This time there was no Fleetwood Mac playing.