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Melody felt warmth wash over her at the soft touch from his hand. Open honesty from a man? Was that possible? ‘Deal.’
‘So…’ He gave her hand a little squeeze before releasing it. George settled back in the chair. ‘You mentioned you studied in Parramatta?’
‘Yes.’ Melody smiled. She told him about growing up in that area, about the way her family appreciated vintage cars and her brothers had been over-protective, especially during her teenage years.
George raised his hand and chuckled. ‘I understand completely.’
‘Hey, you’re supposed to be on my side.’
He shook his head. ‘As a brother of twin sisters, I’m a card-carrying member of the over-protective brother club.’
‘Great. Then you’ll get on wonderfully with David and Ethan.’
‘I’d like to meet them sometime.’ George’s words flowed easily from his lips but as he said the words Melody’s spine prickled with apprehension.
‘Does that mean you’re planning on staying in touch after you leave?’
He nodded before shifting in his chair. ‘This is why I’m here tonight. To get to know you, to become better friends with you. I don’t know what this is, Melody, but I do know it doesn’t happen every day.’
‘Did it feel that way with—?’ She stopped, the question about his wife forming before she’d had time to process it.
‘With Veronique?’ At her nod, he thought for a moment. ‘We were colleagues, then friends, then more than friends, then dating, then engaged, then married.’
‘Where are we on that scale?’
‘I think we’re definitely in the “more than friends” bracket but also in the “friends” and “colleagues” brackets as well.’ He stood and walked over to the wall, where there were several pictures of her family as well as framed copies of her medical degrees. ‘You and I—we’re not doing things in the right order.’ He turned to face her.
‘I think that’s why it’s so confusing.’
‘Did things happen in the right order with your ex-fiancé?’
‘Yes. Colleagues, friends, more than friends. We didn’t quite make it to the marriage part.’
‘Because he cheated on you?’
‘Yes. Several times. With several women, women I still see around the hospital, and there are probably more I still don’t know about and don’t want to know about.’ She sighed heavily.
‘It still hurts deeply?’
‘Being betrayed? Yes.’ Melody angled her head to the side, feeling a wave of emotions she’d thought she’d dealt with rise to the surface. ‘With Ian, he flat out lied. He was married, didn’t tell me. So that was lying creep number one. A while later, enter lying creep number two who wanted to marry me but with the understanding that he didn’t want children.’ She sniffed and shook her head slowly from side to side. ‘I spent a lot of anxious and soul-searching nights wondering if I could be in a marriage without children and eventually I decided that I could. I could accept that Emir didn’t want children, that our careers, the care we had for our patients would be enough.’
‘You mentioned he moved to Germany to be with the woman he’d impregnated.’
‘Yep.’ Tears welled in her eyes. ‘It made me realise it wasn’t that he didn’t want children, it was that he didn’t want them with me.’ She spread her arms wide then let them drop to her side dejectedly. ‘He didn’t want me.’
‘He really was dead in the head not to want you.’ George’s words were filled with desire and when she looked at him through her tears she could see by his expression that he meant it.
‘Thank you.’ She took a tissue from the table and dabbed at her eyes. ‘Heartbreak isn’t easy but somehow we do survive it.’
‘The heart mends. Amazing, eh,’ he stated rhetorically.
Melody was quiet for a moment before asking softly, ‘How did you feel when you learned of Veronique’s death?’ George clenched his jaw at the question and Melody quickly held up a hand. ‘You don’t have to answer th—’
‘I felt like dying.’
Melody clutched her hands to her chest, her eyes wide with empathy.
‘When I heard the news, I…’ He shook his head. ‘I wanted to die as well.’
She wanted to go to to him, to hold him, but she stayed where she was. ‘I’m very glad you didn’t. Think of all the people you’ve met during the past year. Think of how many lives you’ve touched, how many people you’ve helped, how many lives have been improved. You’ve empowered surgeons around the world to be able to save their patient’s lives. That’s an amazing legacy, George.’
