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“That’s why you aren’t just dating me,” she said. “You’re marrying me.”
“One of a million reasons why.”
After dinner they headed across town to see if Amanda had returned home. Melanie was holding several to-go trays in a large plastic sack, the remnants of her meal. When they pulled into Amanda’s drive, her lights were on and, for once, her car was there.
“I was starting to think she’d moved out of the country,” Gabe said as he switched off the ignition.
A curtain near the front door moved, and then the lights inside immediately went off.
“I think she’s avoiding you,” Melanie said.
Even so, Amanda was in there, and he wouldn’t leave until she talked to him or called the cops to have him removed from her property.
“Probably, but I’m not sure why she would,” he said.
“Do you want me to come to the door with you? Maybe you’ll look less threatening if I’m there.”
He turned his head to stare at her in astonishment. “You think I’m threatening?”
“I don’t, but if I didn’t know you well and you showed up at my door after dark, I doubt I’d open it.”
“Amanda knows me. I first met her at Jacob’s wedding more than five years ago.”
“Well, maybe she forgot who you are.”
“Uh, I saw her backstage last week. She hasn’t forgotten.”
Melanie grinned at him. “You are pretty unforgettable. So should I go with you?”
“I’ll try on my own. If I need you, I’ll wave. I think she’d be less likely to talk in front of you, to be honest.”
Melanie shrugged. “Whatever works for you. I’m easy.”
“Just a little,” he teased before kissing her. He slid out of the open truck door before she could slug him.
Cicadas chirruped loudly as he walked the path to Amanda’s front door. He contemplated his options, trying to figure out how to get her to talk to him. He did know her, but they weren’t exactly close, and she’d likely have to betray her own sister’s trust to tell him what he needed to know. She might be okay with that, though. As much as he and his siblings squabbled, their rivalry came nowhere close to the discord between the Lange sisters.
When he knocked on the door and rang the doorbell, there was no answer. Not that he was surprised. On his second attempt a small cat came to sit in the windowsill near the front door and stared at him with large amber eyes.
“Amanda,” Gabe called, knocking a third time. “I know you’re in there. I saw you turn out the lights.”
“Maybe they’re on a timer,” she said, followed by, “Shit!” After a few seconds she said, “What do you want, Gabe? I’m not up for company.”
“Did you hear about the band breaking up?”
“And I suppose you think it’s all my fault because I broke him.”
He heard her sniff through the door.
“I didn’t mean to break him.”
So she had broken Jacob’s heart. Jacob had hinted to as much when Gabe had seen him the afternoon before he’d declared the band split and abandoned the tour bus. But Jacob had been through heartache before. It wasn’t likely that he’d destroy his career over any woman, no matter how much he loved her.
“So you broke up with him. Big deal.” Gabe tried to play down Amanda’s role in Jacob’s undoing. “Why is he back with your sister? That’s what I want to know.”
“I said terrible things to him, Gabe. I even insulted his intelligence. You know how sensitive he is about his lack of education.”
“Will you open the door?” Gabe said. “I can keep talking loud enough to wake your neighbors, but maybe you don’t want them hearing this.”
She didn’t say anything for a long moment. A light switched on, and the curtain in the window near the door moved again. The curious cat was scooped off the sill by a feminine hand.
“I don’t know anything,” she said. “Just leave me to mourn in peace.”
Gabe’s heart skipped a beat. “What are you mourning? Did something happen to Julie?” That seed that Owen had planted about Julie’s possible illness had apparently sprouted and taken root.
“I’m mourning the loss of the man I love—have loved for years. I can’t believe he fucking went back to her,” she shouted at the other side of the door.
“Wait. I thought you broke up with him.”
“I did. Not because I wanted to.”
He heard the door unlock, a chain slide in its track, and then the creak of the door hinges as she opened the heavy slab of wood about a foot. She had the cat securely in her grasp, but strangers apparently spooked the fur ball, and it struggled to be set down. As soon as its paws touched the floor, it sped off deep into the house.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
Amanda looked like hell. Her clothes were crumpled, her dirty-blond hair was actually dirty, and her eyes were bloodshot above tear-stained cheeks. What was worse was that she had the same misery in her eyes that Jacob had shown the last time Gabe had seen him.
She shrugged and hugged her arms around her body, rubbing her arms. “I didn’t die,” she said. “Just wish I had.”
Gabe squeezed her shoulder. “If the two of you were meant to be together, you’ll end up together.”
“Tina won’t let me see Julie,” she blurted. “She says it’s to keep me away from Jacob, but I offered to take my niece to the park, the way I do—did—almost every day since she was born and . . .” Her hands were shaking as she wiped away fresh tears. “If I had just kept loving him from afar as I had for all those years, then . . .”
Gabe’s heart couldn’t stand seeing a woman in tears. He had no choice but to pull her out onto the front step and into a comforting embrace. The truck door slammed behind him, and hurried footsteps came up the path. Amanda pulled away, using the hem of her rather grubby T-shirt to wipe her face.
“Hi, Amanda,” Melanie said. “I’m not sure if you remember me.”
Amanda nodded miserably. “Melanie, right?” At Melanie’s nod, Amanda added, “Excuse me, but I need to go inside.” She turned to look longingly into her cozy little cottage.
“Can we come in?” Gabe asked. He still didn’t have the answers he wanted. Amanda said she hadn’t wanted to break up with Jacob, and she was obviously as confused about Jacob returning to his ex as Gabe was, but there had to be some piece to this puzzle that Amanda knew and he didn’t. Luckily for him, Amanda’s ingrained Texan hospitality wouldn’t let her turn them away.
Amanda opened the door all the way and said, “Yeah, come on in. Forgive the mess. Would you like some coffee? Tea? Tequila?” They followed her into the house, and she muttered, “Actually, no. I finished the tequila this morning. I might have some cheap wine around here somewhere.”
Gabe had only been inside Amanda’s house a few times. He found the short ceilings and small rooms a tad claustrophobic with their country-style furnishings, yet at the same time, each room was quaint and homey.
“Please,” Amanda said. “Have a seat.”
He and Melanie sat side by side on a loveseat while Amanda ventured further into the house. Her small calico cat peered out at them from beneath a chair in the corner.
“Here, kitty,” Melanie said, extending her hand in the general direction of the cat. Her gesture of goodwill was completely ignored.
“Do you like cats?” Gabe was a dog person through and through. He preferred cats that were the outdoorsy type and kept rodents in check.
