12. Melanie
melanie
The bell chimes merrily as I step through the front door of Frothy Cakes, the sugary scent of warm baking filling my lungs. I’m pretty sure that one hit is all it takes for it to pile on my hips, but I don’t care today.
The place is busy, which isn’t surprising for a Sunday morning. The line moves quickly. Within ten minutes, I’m face to face with Jamie, who grins at me, a streak of pink icing in her short dark hair.
“Morning,” she says brightly. “Two mornings in a row! Love that for me.” Jamie makes a show of peering over the counter, brow scrunching when she doesn’t see Oakley. “Where’s my friend?”
“He’s having a playdate with Nell,” I explain. “So I figured I’d come and treat myself.”
“Love that for you.” She grins and leans forward, eyes darting around as she lowers her voice to a whisper, “You came in at the best time. I’ve been experimenting with cronuts.”
I blink rapidly, whispering back, “What the hell’s a cronut?”
She gasps dramatically, pressing a hand to her chest. “Seriously?” She pins me with a solemn look.
“You had such potential, Mel, but I don’t know if I can be friends with someone so blasphemous.
” I lift my brows, staring back at her, and she huffs out a laugh.
“It’s a donut and a croissant all in one.
The perfect flaky pastry, with all the sugary goodness of a donut. ”
“Okay, so it does sound good. What’s the experiment?”
Her green eyes twinkle. “Custard and jam filling.”
My mouth waters. “Okay, I’m sold. I’ll take two. And…” I flick my eyes up at the menu. “A mocha today. Let’s mix it up a bit.”
I swipe my card to pay and find a table outside on the pavement, with a cheerful yellow umbrella sheltering me from the morning sun. I leave my phone in my bag, knowing Oakley will be fine with Rosie and Nell, and needing a breather from…everything.
I exhale softly, rolling my shoulders out and tilting my head back.
I spent the night tossing and turning, sleep always hanging just out of reach.
My mind kept jumping from Davis to Cale, the house, and the idea of selling, especially after just getting everything replaced and fixed—not that Garth ever actually gave me the invoice for the repairs.
I ended up staring at the dark ceiling, feeling hopeless, wondering when it’s all supposed to get easier.
Because just when it felt like Oakley and I got used to our new normal as a family of two, something else happened to send our world rocking under our feet, the edges crumbling away bit by bit.
When I finally dragged my exhausted body out of bed, I’d shaken off the defeatist attitude, pinning a cheerful smile on my face as Oakley trudged out of his room, hair mussed and face sleepy.
A young barista comes out and sets my mug and pastries on the table in front of me.
I murmur a thank you before she disappears back inside, lifting my drink up, and inhaling the rich scent of coffee and chocolate, thinking about yesterday and whether I made the right move by ending things with Cale.
I know I surprised him. It came seemingly out of nowhere, but after facing Davis with all his poisonous demands and threats, I just…
shut down. Cale stood behind me, supporting me as he snarled at Davis to back off.
It has been so long since anyone had stood up for me, and I appreciated it more than I could say…
But I also knew who he was to me. And who he wasn’t.
We might have been sleeping together, but he wasn’t mine.
Everything crystallized in my mind. It was never going to end well if Davis started causing drama. And the look on his face when Cale appeared behind me told me that it was coming.
Cale didn’t sign up for any of that, especially when there were no real ties between us, and if I wanted him to remain as a friendly figure in Oakley’s life, I needed distance.
I can handle my ex on my own.
“Melanie,” a cheerful voice calls out, and I look up just as Jaz comes to stand next to my table.
“I’ve been meaning to call you so we can get that coffee.
But here you are! The universe is obviously looking out for me and my procrastination habits.
” She jokes, her brown eyes gleaming. I hold her gaze for a second before looking away, the resemblance to Cale too striking.
She’s already got a takeaway cup in her hand, and I gesture for her to take the empty seat across from me.
“It’s nice to see you,” I say as she sits down, not surprised that I mean it. “How’ve you been? How’s Lanie?”
“I’m good. Lanie…” She trails off, the corners of her eyes going tight. “She’s having trouble with a kid in her class, but she seems happier in Sterling Creek. Better than before, anyway. So we refuse to let one silly prepubescent boy ruin that.”
My lips twitch. “Is that her saying that, or you?”
She lifts a shoulder, her expression wry. “Both of us, obviously.” There’s a pause before she adds, “Don’t tell Cale. He’s pretty protective of Lanie when he wants to be. The last thing I need is him marching down there and yelling at this kid.”
I open my mouth, but then snap it closed with a click, unsure how to respond. She doesn’t seem to notice as she sips at her drink.
I clear my throat. “Cale and I aren’t friends like that,” I say stiffly. “We don’t exactly talk, you know?”
She looks over at me, her lips curled upwards and her expression sly. “I know, but I don’t really need to know the details.”
My cheeks flame hot. “Oh my god.” I slap my palms against the heated skin, trying to hide them and cool them down in one move. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
“I get it, I get it,” she rushes to tell me. “Look, I don’t see it”—her nose wrinkles up like she smelled something bad—“but I know my brother is objectively attractive.”
I shake my head until my head spins. “We’re not…We aren’t…” The words keep stumbling over each other, and I clamp my lips shut, averting my eyes from hers.
She reaches across the table, touching the tips of her fingers to the back of one of my hands.
“Mel? You okay?” she asks quietly. “We don’t know each other well, but you seem…” She casts around for the words. “Out of sorts, I guess.”
I can’t tell her about my mixed feelings for her brother, regardless of if she knows something is going on or not, so I latch onto the next best reason. “My ex-husband is causing me problems.”
She shoots me a sympathetic look. “I know how that feels,” she mutters grimly. “Is there anything I can do?”
I let out a rough exhale, slouching in my chair.
“No,” I murmur. “Thank you, though. I just wish he’d pick a lane and stick to it. Either be in Oakley’s life in a positive way, or just leave us alone completely.”
She taps her fingers against her cup, her expression thoughtful.
“My husband—ex-husband, as soon as he signs the papers—is a little like that. He never showed much interest in Lanie when she was growing up. Always one of those who was more focused on his career, you know? I was working, too, but my job was also parenting our kid.” She smiles sadly.
“It’s why we only ever had Lanie. He pushed me for another baby, but I wouldn’t back down, knowing it’d be another kid that he just left to me.
All I ever wanted was a marriage like my parents’ and a family like the one I had growing up.
Instead, I got an asshole with a penchant for assistants with short skirts. ”
“Cheating Husbands Club,” I declare, lifting my mug out to her. She taps her paper cup against it with a crooked smile. “Not a club I ever wanted to join, but here we are.”
“Forced membership, given to us by selfish assholes who only think with their pecker.”
“You’re not wrong.” I eye her over the rim of my mug, fighting the urge to ask, but the words fall out anyway. “So, you wanted the picture-perfect family.” She nods. “How did you and Cale turn out so differently? He acts like he’s allergic to any kind of commitment, let alone marriage.”
She hums thoughtfully. “My brother is…” She shakes her head.
“A moron, really. He does have his reasons, even if he doesn’t think he does.
” She purses her lips. “His high school girlfriend cheated on him, and while I don’t think he actually cared all that much, it was an easy excuse to latch onto.
It was even easier when he finished his third tour of duty and finally decided he was done. ”
“Three?” I frown, wondering if I’d known that. “That’s a long time.”
“It is,” she agrees softly. “It was hard on all of us, knowing it was what he wanted to do but always wondering if his luck was going to run out.” She paused, the silence weighty.
“He doesn’t think that time affected him.
I think he saw a lot of things over there that he wishes he hadn’t.
Maybe even did some things that he can’t take back.
Our mom thinks that’s why he’s so set on staying on his own.
” She shrugs. “I don’t understand him, and I never have. ”
Memories of him pulling both my son and me into his arms, acting as a shield after our home had been broken into.
The smile on my kid’s face when they played Mario Kart or Cale taught him how to mow the lawn or throw a baseball.
Or yesterday, how he was angry at me but still stayed for the entire baseball game, cheering Oakley on, his proud grin wide and unmistakable.
I think of the man who calls my son Killer, the two of them sharing a secret smile every single time. And who fell asleep two nights ago with his body curled around mine, his arms squeezing me so tight like he was worried I might disappear on him if he didn’t.
“Melanie?” I jerk at my name, watery eyes flying to Jaz, finding her watching me with a pinched expression. “You okay?”
I scrub a hand over my face, blinking the tears away. “Yeah, sorry. Just tired. I didn’t sleep well last night.”
She slouches in the chair, a short sigh escaping. “Your ex? Or my brother?”
I swallow thickly, unsure how much I should be telling her. “Is both an acceptable answer?”
She chuckles softly. “Yeah. It is.” She tilts her head to the side, her eyes creased with sympathy. “My brother is a good guy.”
“I know.” And I do. I see it in the way Oakley idolizes him, his grin brighter than the sun whenever Cale shows up.
The time they’ve spent together the last couple of months has brought my kid back—the one who disappeared right around the same time his father did.
Yesterday, it was Cale who turned Oakley’s day around when Davis showed up and ruined it.
Regret swells in my chest, making my breath catch. I didn’t handle it the best, shutting Cale out and giving him the cold shoulder. But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t the right move.
In the last few months, he’s become a friend.
Our friend. He’s become someone important to Oakley, and I refuse to be responsible for another man being taken away from him.
Because Cale isn’t a commitment guy. He has never pretended otherwise.
And if I continue to sleep with him, I have a nasty suspicion he is going to dig his way into my heart, and that…
That would only end in heartbreak.
For me and Oakley.
Better to end it now before that happens and hope that Cale will still be there for my kid, showing him how to be a man in ways that I can’t, and in ways that Davis won’t.
And if it seems like my feelings might already be involved…
Well, that is my problem to deal with.