Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen

Melody

I lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling. Never in all my imagination could I have guessed I would be thinking about Charles King and the way he’d kissed me only half an hour before.

After he had taken me back here, he’d kissed me deeply and told me he’d see me tomorrow. I had informed him that there was one day before Christmas Eve. In reply, he had told me that he would still see me tomorrow.

I turned onto my side and felt nervous jitters, just like I used to when Charles and I had dated when we were young. How was I in this predicament? Memories of us washed over me: reuniting on the beach every summer, hanging out with our beach crew and his brothers, going back to his grandparents’ home and swimming or riding horses …

I didn’t know how long I’d been lying there thinking about all of that when I heard my phone ding. At first, I was concerned. The neon clock radio on the nightstand said it was almost one in the morning. Would it be Will?

I grabbed my phone and couldn’t help but feel another bout of nervous jitters. It was Charles.

He texted, Are you awake?

I laughed and texted, No.

Instantly, the phone rang. I picked it up and said, “What would you do if I was asleep?”

“I wouldn’t have called you.”

I laughed, another round of giddiness surrounding me. “Your text would’ve woken me up. I always keep my notifications on in case Will tries to get a hold of me.”

“Oh no. I didn’t know that. I’m sorry.”

I lay on my other side and wanted to ask him where he was in his house. I imagined he was lying in his bed, but I didn’t want to think about that. I might end up saying something creepy like, What are you wearing?

Why was I thinking that?

“I really didn’t mean to wake you up.”

“It’s okay. What did you want to talk about?”

“I don’t really know what I wanted to talk about. I just wanted to talk to you.”

I giggled.

“Did you just giggle?”

I giggled again. “Stop making me giggle.”

He laughed. “Well, Ms. Paine .”

“Why are you calling me that?”

“You told me not to call you Ms. Harris .”

I scoffed and turned onto my other side. “Why don’t you just call me Mel?”

“I can do that. So, Mel , I just couldn’t quit thinking about you. I was hoping that you were thinking about me as well.”

I giggled again. “I was actually almost asleep, Mr. King .”

He grunted. “I’m sorry about that.”

“You know I’m lying. I wasn’t asleep. I may have been thinking about this guy that I was on a date with earlier.”

“Oh yeah? Well, you’ll just have to tell this guy that you’re dating someone. And this someone is due.”

“Sure.”

“I mean it. I’m serious about you.”

I couldn’t help but sober up a bit. “How serious are we?”

For a second, he hesitated. Then he said, “I’m as serious as they come, Mel. I tried to break up your wedding.”

I wasn’t sure why, but his comment sent me into giggles again. “That was the craziest day. You have no idea how much Peter resented that you showed up.”

“I’m sorry.” He sounded a bit subdued. “Did I make it hard on you?”

I sighed. “Looking back, Peter was the one who made things hard on me. He was a very punishing type of man.” I didn’t know why, but suddenly so many emotions hit me that I started to cry. I didn’t want him to hear that, so I just sucked in a breath.

“Mel?”

I didn’t respond. The pain pierced my chest and moved up into my throat.

“Mel.”

“Yeah?”

“What’s going on?”

The sincerity in his tone made my eyes sting. “I don’t know.” My voice broke.

“Mel? I’m coming.”

“No. Don’t worry about it. I’m fine.”

“You’re sad because of something I said. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry for everything.”

I hated that I was crying like this. “It’s not your fault.”

“It really is. It’s all my grandfather’s fault. I should’ve come home that Christmas. I should’ve been there for you.”

I hiccupped another sob. “I’m crying because of my ex-husband.” My thoughts raced. I didn’t want to get into all of this, but I couldn’t stop it. “You don’t want to hear this.”

“I want to hear anything that you want to tell me. I would listen to a horrible crime podcast if you wanted me to, and I hate crime podcasts.”

It was so ridiculous that I choked on a laugh. “What are you talking about?”

He snorted. “My ex loved crime podcasts, and everywhere we went, we would always have to listen to them. I will not even tolerate a second of that now. But if you wanted to listen to one, I would listen to it for you. Even though it reminds me of her, and I don’t like that crap.”

I laughed again. “I don’t like crime podcasts.”

“Good. I’m glad that you’re laughing a little. I hated that you were crying. Talk to me.”

“About what?”

“Anything.”

“What?”

“Hmm…anything.”

“Last Christmas?”

“Sure.”

“Ah, no, you don’t want to hear that.”

“I want to hear anything you want to tell me.”

I hesitated. “I…my ex called recently and asked where the Christmas villages were.”

“Oh.”

I sighed. “It ticked me off because he never cared about Christmas or the villages or anything. That was all me.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Ugh. It’s fine.”

“What else?” he whispered. “Just tell me what’s bugging you.”

“Mom passed last November. We had her funeral and then I tried to get as much as I could sorted so I could be back to Colorado by Christmas. I wanted to be there so Will could come home and spend his Christmas break with us. I also wanted to put on a Christmas party at our home, just like I’d been doing for eighteen years for our neighborhood. I had a million Christmas villages, and there were all these traditional things that I would make, and I really loved the sense of community that I’d worked so hard to build. When my ex came home from work, I was in the middle of baking cookies for the party. He told me he wanted a divorce. Christmas Eve, he tells me he wants a divorce. He had divorce papers already drawn up.”

“I’m so sorry,” Charles said quietly.

I sucked in a long breath. “It’s okay. I feel stupid because I worked so hard to build this tradition for us. To make a home. To have a community. To have this for my son and for me and for Peter. But he didn’t care. Of course, he blamed the whole divorce on me being gone so much that past year. Being with my mother. Later, I discovered he had countless affairs. So many women came out and told me. I found emails. It was just a crap show.”

“What?”

“I look back now, and I realize that he was right. We had grown apart. I had just been so committed to my vows that the thought of having an affair honestly never crossed my mind. I wouldn’t do that.”

“Of course you wouldn’t.”

“Not that I’m a saint. I just felt so stupid and na?ve when it all happened. It was like a punch to the gut. You probably don’t want to hear this. How stupid I was.” All the sadness was suddenly replaced with bitterness.

“That is infuriating. Seriously, it just sucks.”

I couldn’t quit talking. “And the dumb thing is that I’m still waiting for him to send me half of his 401(k) so I can pay the bills for the stupid doll shop. I should just sell the place and move into my mother’s house.”

“Why don’t you?”

I sighed and felt another round of tears coming. “I can’t. It’s like if I do, somehow, I will be admitting that she’s gone. When I say it out loud, it sounds stupid.”

“It’s not stupid.”

“Charles, you should get away from me now, while you still can. I’m broken.” I let out another sob. “I’m sorry. I have to go.” I hung up on him.

I stared at the phone in my hand and broke down completely. Maybe this was the first real break I’d had. Before this, I’d just been trying to keep it all together, do the next thing. Keep it together for Will, for myself, for … I didn’t know.

I didn’t know how long I’d been crying when I heard banging on the back door. My phone buzzed with a text from Charles. Please let me in.

I checked the time; it was almost two in the morning. I cursed and threw the covers back, growling to myself. This man would not be deterred. I trudged down the stairs and flung the door open.