Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

Charles

The next morning, I woke and went to the home gym. It wasn’t the most up-to-date gym, but it had a working treadmill, and it was on an upper floor. I could see most of the property, including the stables and other houses in the distance. We had fifty acres, and every inch was beautiful.

As I jogged, I watched the stable hand, José, lead some of the horses out of their stalls and get them going for the day. I wanted to ride horses with Melody again.

After I had let her shut the door on me, I’d taken a long stroll around downtown Jewel Cove. Not a lot was open on Sundays, but some restaurants were. Just walking through the area had brought back memories of everything we’d done together growing up, all the Christmas activities we’d participated in.

If only my brothers had stayed longer. On impulse, I pulled out my phone and texted in our brother text thread.

Me: I asked her to get coffee with me yesterday after church and she slammed the door in my face.

Donovan: No, bro!

Sebastian: Never give up .

Liam: That’s tough.

I sent a fist bump. The only easy day was yesterday!

The Navy SEAL motto received a lot of likes.

I felt like a teenager as I added, She said she dreamed about me.

My phone erupted with memes and high fives.

I laughed. It’d been a long time since I’d been excited about dating anyone. Not since my ex-wife. It was strange that she came to mind; I didn’t think of her often. Our marriage had been a hard five years. She hated Christmastime, which had always been weird to me. How could anyone hate all the Christmas cheer?

My thoughts flitted back to Melody. She’d dreamed about me. I smiled. She didn’t want to auction herself off for the charity, but I would buy a date with her.

The truth was, I sometimes dreamed about her as well. When I woke up, it always took some time to brush it away.

It was barely seven in the morning when I hopped off the treadmill, deciding that if Melody wanted coffee early in the morning, she would get it.

Half an hour later, I was outside of her doll shop, freshly showered with two cups of coffee in hand. I’d also grabbed two chocolate muffins. Just in case.

I knocked on the door, wondering if she would be ticked off, but no one answered.

I backed up onto the street, gazing up at the window that used to be hers. Had she switched to the other bedroom? I was tempted to call the store. I hated that I didn’t have her number. There were so many things I wanted to know.

As I stared up at the doll store, wondering why in the world she would choose to live up there, I caught someone out of the corner of my eye, running down the street. It was her.

I took off to intercept her. She was punching in the code when I called her name.

She turned back with a stern look on her face. “It’s not even eight o’clock in the morning, Charles.”

I didn’t falter. “You said you like your coffee early, and I thought, ‘Hey, my friend wants coffee, so I should get it for her.’”

A small grin started to creep onto her face, but she visibly stifled it.

I held up the bag. “Look, it’s just coffee and chocolate muffins. I know you used to love a good chocolate muffin as much as I did. I took a chance and got them.”

She finally grinned. “You are just desperate, aren’t you, Charles King?”

It was something she’d said to me when we were teenagers, and I couldn’t help but laugh. “I guess I am. I want to talk to an old friend, but she has all of these stipulations.”

She shook her head. “If I recall, you used to only drink pre-sipped coffee.”

I held out both coffees. “Go ahead and sip both of them for us.”

She huffed out a laugh. “No.”

“Hey, you brought it up.” I beamed at the sound of her laughter. I hadn’t heard something so beautiful in a long time.

Giving me a reluctant look, she reached out and took one coffee. “I won’t pre-sip yours. I’ll just take one for me. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

She took a sip of the coffee.

I was glad she’d accepted something from me. “Can you talk?”

She sucked in a long breath and then let it out slowly. “I have a few minutes before I need to start getting the store ready. If we go back to the bakery and chat for a few minutes, as friends , will you leave me alone?”

I had no intention of doing so, but I nodded. “Okay.”

We fell into step as we walked to the bakery. I grimaced at the nerves fluttering in my gut. We were both … much older and had lived full lives. Maybe that was the problem. It had taken me a lifetime before I could talk to the woman who had turned me down in a very major way.

We got to the bakery, and I opened the door. “Ladies first.”

She walked through, and I followed. The scent of a plethora of baked goods washed over me, but the best was the chocolate.

She slipped into a booth with a window overlooking the ocean. I slipped onto the other side, relishing the fact that we were here together.

She took a sip of coffee and then met my gaze. “What are you thinking about?”

I shrugged and took both muffins out, sliding one toward her. “Nothing. Just how grateful I am an old friend will have coffee and a muffin with me.”

“Now you’re lying. Either you tell me what you are really thinking, or I’ll leave.”

I snorted and leaned back against the side of the booth, putting my feet up. “This is what you always did, Harris : add to the list of rules right in the middle of the game.” I used her maiden name like we used to.

She smiled a tight-lipped smile and then mimicked my position. We’d always done that growing up. She ate a bite of muffin, then looked out the window. “I’m Paine now.”

“Right. Sorry.”

She shrugged.

“What are you thinking about?”

She sighed. “I haven’t decided if I’m going back to Harris or not.”

I could tell the topic made her sad, so I said, “Do you really want to know what I was thinking when we first got here?”

She took a sip. “Of course.”

“I was thinking about how I was nervous.”

That got me a smirk. “Really?”

“Don’t be so happy about it.”

She gestured to the muffins. “Are you going to eat, Mr. Pre-sipped Coffee?”

“Yes.” I grinned and took a bite.

“I haven’t had one of these muffins since I’ve been back.”

I removed the wrapper from mine. “I haven’t either, and I’m regretting it, because I should have one every day while I’m here. I always miss them when I’m gone.”

Melody took another bite and closed her eyes. I’d missed seeing her little looks like that. I wanted to watch her look like that every day.

I quickly pushed those thoughts away. No putting the cart before the horse.

She flashed her eyes open and pointed at me. “Okay. Now you have to tell me what you’re thinking.” She chomped a couple more bites of muffin and sipped some coffee. “The truth.”

I would not tell her the truth—that I really enjoyed seeing how much pleasure she got out of a muffin. No way. I took a sip of coffee and grinned. “I was thinking about how you look different and the same.” A half-truth.

She held my gaze, looking doubtful. “Is that good or bad?”

I nearly coughed out a bite. “Good, of course.” Was she fishing for a compliment? She’d never been the type to need compliments, but it’d been nineteen years. Was that a blush on her cheeks?

“How long are you in town?”

I shifted in my seat, suddenly uncomfortable. She’d always asked that question. Toward the end of our relationship, she’d told me she hated asking and that it had led to us growing apart. At least, that was what she’d told me. She’d gotten tired of just seeing me at summer or Christmas. Well, she wouldn’t talk to me after that last Christmas, so I really didn’t know why she’d ended things. She hadn’t answered that question when I’d tried to interrupt the wedding. No, sir, I wouldn’t bring that up. “Not sure.”

“Hmm.”

I shifted the conversation. “How is the doll business?”

Her eyes flashed, and I could swear that meant she was worried. She shrugged. “It’s great. It’s the holidays, and there’s been an uptick in business. Which is good.”

I had a feeling that wasn’t the whole truth. “Good.”

“How is your business? Or rather, your businesses.”

That was not at all what I wanted to talk about. I was more interested in every detail of her life, since she’d told me she wouldn’t see me any longer. “It’s good. I’m working on a commercial deal right now in Boston.”

“You’re an attorney, right?”

“Right.”

She nodded. “I think my mother mentioned that you had gone to law school.”

How many other things had her mother mentioned? “Yeah, so it works. And my schedule is flexible, and I can work in Jewel Cove during the summer and sometimes at Christmas.”

“So you kept up with your summers and Christmases. How convenient.”

There was a sharp edge to her tone, and I didn’t want to go down that road. It had been so long. Why reunite only to fight? I took a bite of my muffin. “These are the best.”

She allowed the subject change and let out a long sigh, finishing her muffin. “I can’t believe I haven’t had one since I’ve been back.”

“I can’t believe it either.”

She cleared her throat. “How are your brothers?”

“Good. I just saw them a couple days ago.”

“You saw all of them?”

I grinned, thinking about how crazy they were. “Yep, and before you ask, they are the same.”

She wrinkled her nose. “I thought I heard that Sebastian got married. To some supermodel?”

I scoffed. “Yep. Kim was a supermodel and once she figured out that Sebastian would only win a bronze in the Olympics, she told him she only wanted to be with a gold medal type.”

Melody winced. “Are you serious?”

It was easy to gossip about my brothers. I nodded. “Kim wasn't the easiest person to live with. I think she is in Europe somewhere. I honestly have no idea. My brother never talks about her, and we never ask.”

“That makes sense. I mean, I've only been divorced a couple months, and I don't like to talk about him.”

I wasn't thrilled she had brought up her ex, but at least she was talking to me.

She cleared her throat. “How is Liam?”

“He is great. He prides himself on doing his own real estate deals, outside of our family, and he’s built himself quite the real estate empire. It’s cool.”

“Really?” She took a sip of coffee. “He never married, right?”

It felt so easy and so strange to be catching up with her about my brothers. “Right. The SEALS will forever be his family. I mean, we are all close as brothers, but he takes being a Navy SEAL to the next level.”

“He was always so competitive.”

“We all were.”

Her lips curved into a smile. “True. And how is Donovan? Does he still have that motorcycle you all used to ride?”

I was surprised she remembered that. “Of course. It’s in the back of Grandmother’s garage. We all like to ride it when we come visit.”

She nodded. “It was fun. I remember feeling so free and…well, never mind.” She blushed.

I loved the fact she was blushing, remembering riding that motorcycle with me. “Good times.” I wanted to ask about her ex-husband and her son, but I kept to safe topics. “What are your plans for Christmas?”

She stiffened and then stood. “Gosh, where has the time gone? I really do need to get back to the store.”

I blinked. “What? Already?”

She picked up all her trash and moved toward the door. “Thank you. Seriously. This was great.”

I disposed of my trash and followed her out. She wasn’t getting away that easily. I fell into step beside her as we made our way down the sidewalk. “Why are you always running away from me?”

She shrugged. “You mean, why do I have to go to work? I can’t do mine from anywhere. I must do it at a doll shop.”

I kept following her. “Will you go to dinner with me?”

She didn’t answer, and we turned the corner of the doll shop.

“Melody, did you hear me? What about going to dinner tomorrow?”

She punched in the code and then swung back and glared at me. “Look, I don’t know what you’ve heard, but it was a rough divorce. I really am not looking for anything.”

“Just as friends. Will you go to dinner just as friends ?”

She closed her eyes for a second, like she was steeling herself to deal with a repulsive salesman. “Charles, I can’t. I’m sorry.” She marched inside and shut the door.

I stood there for a long moment, hoping she’d change her mind and open the door to apologize, but she didn’t. Finally, I turned and walked down the alley, letting my feet carry me down the street that ran alongside the beach. My heart was heavy, and not just because she’d told me no to dinner. It seemed like her life hadn’t worked out the way she’d wanted it either. Whatever I’d said about Christmas plans had clearly triggered something.

I hadn’t dwelled on her a lot over the years. Okay, maybe that first year she’d been married, and then after my divorce. I’d always wondered what would’ve happened if she had left the wedding with me. If we had spent our lives together. How many kids would we have had? How many times would we come to Jewel Cove in the summers and at Christmas?

I found myself standing in front of the path that led down to the beach. There weren’t a lot of tourists out, although there were some runners. I liked Jewel Cove in December because it was quieter, with fewer people. Taking off my shoes and socks, I walked out onto the cold sand just like she had done the other night. I put my feet in the freezing water and watched the ocean.

I needed more answers. I had no idea how I would get a chance to talk to her without looking like a complete stalker, but I would figure out some way. I had to. Not because I needed closure, but because I needed answers. I always had, and she’d never given them to me. She wouldn’t talk to me after that Christmas, then she’d gotten married. Why?