‘I’d love to say no, but that would be a lie. Rhys doesn’t know when to give up on something,’ she said miserably.
‘He’s a bad loser then?’ Lettie gave her a knowing look.
Melody sensed a kindred spirit. ‘I get the feeling that you know how it feels to have a partner like that.’
Lettie nodded slowly. ‘Not one as nasty as Rhys, I’m relieved to say, but I do have some experience in the controlling partner situation.’ She stroked Melody’s arm. ‘Have you been berating yourself for getting involved with him in the first place?’
‘Is it that obvious?’ Melody asked, embarrassed.
‘Only to someone who has punished herself about doing the same thing. My ex – Scott – and I parted ways because I found his controlling behaviour too much to deal with. It was more obvious somehow when he began working at the same firm as me and in the end I couldn’t ignore it. I think sometimes you need to experience this sort of quiet, coercive behaviour to understand it.’
Melody sighed, relieved she wasn’t the only one, although hating that her friend had also experienced an unhappy relationship. ‘Thanks, Lettie. I was beginning to feel very frustrated with my lack of ability to judge someone’s character.’
‘These people who say all the right things do it to cover up for their shortcomings,’ Lettie said quietly. ‘You weren’t supposed to see his true personality.’
The thought troubled her. ‘So how will I know whether to trust my instincts in the future?’
Lettie nudged her. ‘I have to admit I suspected there might be something between you and Callum and I was a little surprised when I saw that you and Zac had become close.’ She rested her hand on her heart. ‘Not that my brother isn’t a great guy, because he is and I can see he has feelings for you, too…’
Melody couldn’t help smiling. Zac was wonderful, she mused, a warm feeling flowing through her. ‘Callum is very good-looking and good company.’
Lettie laughed. ‘If he’s so perfect, why did you two only go out on a couple of occasions? If you don’t mind me asking.’
‘Of course I don’t. I did like him, but I think I knew within the first five minutes of our first, and only,’ she added with emphasis, ‘date, that although he’s an amazing man, and a kind one…’ Melody suspected a dreamy look had crossed her face ‘…he’s not Zac.’
‘He’s not,’ Lettie agreed. ‘I’m happy for you both. My brother hasn’t had an easy time of it either,’ she said half to herself.
Melody decided that now might be the perfect time to ask about that. ‘Lettie, I’ve been wondering about something.’
‘Go on, what is it?’ Lettie tilted her head slightly to one side, looking at her curiously.
Feeling a little unnerved for a moment, Melody almost changed her mind. She should be asking Zac about anything personal to him, but worried that if she did he might be concerned about telling her. Deciding that if she was hoping for some kind of relationship with Zac, she needed to know more about him regardless of how upsetting it would be to hear it. She had had enough of hearing others who knew him well, like his sister and Kathleen, refer to things in his past in vague terms, and needed to know more.
‘I was thinking about something Kathleen mentioned the first time I met her,’ Melody began. ‘About Zac. He’s such a good man and always seems to want to make everyone happy, but Ican’t help thinking there’s something…’ She struggled to find the exact word to describe what she wanted to say.
‘Sad about him, do you mean?’ Lettie suggested, looking unhappy herself at the thought.
Melody nodded. ‘Yes, sad.’
Lettie gazed ahead of her and thought before speaking. ‘Zac hasn’t been in a relationship for a couple of years,’ she said. ‘Oh, I’m sure he’s seen the odd girl, but nothing serious in that time.’ She looked at Melody. ‘Are you sure you want to hear this?’
Melody wasn’t sure how she was supposed to decide when she had no idea what she was about to be told but reasoned that if she was to continue getting closer to Zac, especially after her dreadful relationship with Rhys, then she needed to know as much as possible about him. ‘Yes. Go on.’
Lettie pushed her hands through her hair and folded her arms. Melody could see she was uncomfortable and struggled between telling Lettie not to worry about telling her and wanting to know more about Zac.
‘It’s fine, if you’d rather not tell me,’ she said, her conscience getting the better of her.
‘No. I think you should know. I’d want to know this if it had happened to Brodie, and I can see that my brother seems happier than I’ve seen him look for a long time. Although…’
Melody knew where this was leading. ‘You’re not sure how it will work long-term because I have to return home shortly.’
Lettie sighed heavily. ‘He’s going to be devastated when you do leave.’
Melody hated to think of Zac being upset, but what could she do? She would also stay here if things were different but they weren’t and that was all there was to it. At least until she had sorted out her divorce.
‘The situation isn’t ideal,’ Melody said quietly. ‘But it’s early days yet and who knows what might happen.’ Aware they wouldsoon have to get to work, Melody said, ‘You were telling me about Zac’s previous relationship.’
‘Yes, right. Well, Zac was on tour. It was his biggest tour yet and he was incredibly excited about it. At the time he was seeing a girl called Jazz. They met each other on their first day at university and just clicked. They were really cute together,’ Lettie said wistfully.
