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He shrugged. “At a party. We had a few mutual friends. Actually, her best friend and my best friend were both 1L’s in law school at the time.” He coughed a harsh laugh before he continued. “They dated casually. Their schedules made it impossible to make it anything more. But after I saw Melissa, I knew I’d find a way to make it work. And I did.” Pausing and draining his cup, he cleared his throat then gestured to Rose. “Did you want another one?”
She blinked then shook her cup. The coffee sloshed around inside, confirming she’d barely drunk any of it. When she declined, he got himself another cup from the machine.
While she waited for him to return, she sipped the now lukewarm liquid, contemplating what he’d told her so far. What had happened between them to cause him to say they broke each other? He sounded like he still cared a great deal for her, if the wistfulness in his voice was any indication.
When he returned, he slid into his chair and grimaced. “So, Melissa and I dated throughout my fellowship and her master’s. After we’d completed our programs, we discussed where to live. At first, we got a place in Baltimore, and she got a job at a small publisher while I did a residency at Mercy Hospital.
“But she wasn’t happy, and one day, she asked if I would consider leaving the city life for something quieter.” He raised an eyebrow at Rose. “I didn’t realize how quiet she meant until she brought me down to meet her parents.”
“So she lives here?” Rose asked. Have I ever met her before? She racked her brain, but she couldn’t remember any Melissa from the people she’d met since moving to town.
He shook his head. “A few towns over, but this was the closest hospital.”
“Did her parents not like you?”
“Oh no, that wasn’t the problem. And my parents loved her.” His eyes grew sad, and he sighed. “I guess you could say I took a long time to adjust to small-town life.”
“It can be a big change,” Rose said, her heart going out to him. “I’m used to living in a city too. But I don’t know, Cedar Haven has kind of grown on me.”
“That’s the thing. I asked her to move here.” He brushed his dark hair off his forehead and gazed intently at Rose. “We had rented a little place near her parents, which was quite the hike to the hospital, especially in an emergency.”
“She didn’t want to?”
“Her father became ill, and she wanted to stay nearby so she could care for him and help her mother.”
Rose rested her chin on her hand. “What did she do? Was she still working at the publisher?”
He shook his head. “No. She had decided to pursue writing full-time, so she was working on a novel, which was the other reason I was frustrated she didn’t want to move. She had no commute, and I’d already made sacrifices in turning down a lucrative job in Baltimore to move here.”
“So, did you move?”
Hunching his shoulders, he nodded. “Briefly. We found a place not far from the hospital.” He gave another bitter laugh. “I actually still live there.”
“Then what happened? Did she go back to her parents?”
At first, he didn’t respond, and Rose wasn’t sure whether she should say something comforting. But then he took a deep breath and pushed his coffee cup away.
“As her father got worse, she spent more and more time over there. It got to the point where we barely saw each other.” His mouth pressed into a thin line. “Between caring for her dad and comforting her mom, she didn’t have much time for me.”
“Did you consider moving back closer to her parents?”
He leaned back and nodded. “But I also sat her down and had a long talk about the importance of taking care of her health. She’d become a ghost of her former self. She’d even stopped writing, devoting all her time to her father.”
“I’m guessing he didn’t make it?” His story was beginning to sound eerily familiar.
Shifting in his seat, he folded his arms on the table. “He did not. She was a wreck afterward. She moved back in with her mother and basically shut herself away.”
Rose narrowed her eyes. “And what? You broke up with her?”
He sighed. “Of course not. I tried to talk to her, to pull her out of the depressive funk she was sinking into.” Gulping down more coffee, he grimaced. “But she was angry with me for taking her away from her father in the first place, when we’d moved closer to the hospital. And then I couldn’t bear to watch her wither away as she poured everything she had into a hopeless case.” His eyes shot to Rose’s face, and he bit his lip. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that the way it came out.”
She gave him a weak smile. “I know.” Then she shook her head. “That’s awful.”
Leaning forward, he pushed her coffee into her hands and gave her a meaningful look. Dutifully, she raised it to her lips. The cool liquid did little to enliven her as it slid down her throat, but she hoped the caffeine would kick in soon.
“There’s a reason I’m telling you this story,” he said.
“What’s that?”
