AllFreeNovel
Share Us
CHAPTER 40
Hank
Iknew that I needed to deal with my unexpected visitor, but leaving Skylar and Luna felt wrong. Especially when I’d seen the look on Skylar’s face when I walked out the door.
“I saw you drive by.” Melody stood up as I stepped out of the truck. She put her hands in her back pockets and looked down. “I thought maybe you were avoiding me.”
She was nervous. That was clear to see.
“I wouldn’t do that.”
I couldn’t count the number of hours I’d spent wondering what it would be like to see Melody again, after all this time. It was different than I’d thought. It was like no time had passed at all, and at the same time it felt like I hadn’t seen her in a lifetime.
She was both a stranger and a close friend.
I stepped beside her to unlock the door and when I did I smelled the floral scent of her favorite perfume. I’d forgotten it, but as soon as it hit my olfactory nerve, memories rushed back to me.
Her lying in my arms under a blanket of stars in the back of my pickup and hair tickling beneath my nose.
Her sneaking into and out of my window in the middle of the night and strands of her hair brushing against my face.
Her resting her head on my chest as we slow danced at formals during high school and me kissing her on the top of her head.
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d thought about those moments. I’d avoided them at all costs. For years, they were too painful to remember. Every time one of them would surface, my chest would ache with hollow misery.
But now, instead of feeling any sort of discomfort, all I felt was nostalgia.
I had no idea when that shift had happened or if Skylar had played a part in the healing process, but I was grateful that the reunion with Melody was happening now when my response to seeing her wasn’t painful at all.
When we got inside I shut the door. “Do you want something to drink?”
“No. I’m good.” She looked around the house and I wondered if memories were coming back to her like they had for me.
“Do you want to sit down?”
“Sure.” She lowered down onto the couch and I sat in the recliner.
“I saw the Netflix special,” she began. “And I just want you to know I didn’t leave because of the curse.”
I stared at her, not sure what she was talking about. I hadn’t mentioned her at all in the interview I’d done.
Her head tilted to the side as she explained, “You know because everyone said I did.”
I still had no idea what she was talking about.
“You haven’t seen it, have you?”
“No.” And I had no plans to.
“Oh, well, they did a bunch of interviews with people. Miss Shaw, Nadia, Clyde, and…well a bunch of people. And they all said that I left because of the curse.”
I wasn’t sure why she was here, or what record she was trying to set straight, but I wondered if she forgot that I was there when she broke up with me. She’d told me that she didn’t want to ‘tempt fate.’
She must’ve seen from my expression where my mind was going. “I know that’s what I told you. But I just used it as an excuse. I never believed in it. Your mom and dad were married for over a decade and had four kids.”
Technically, they had three. But I wasn’t going to mention that.
“And I know it wasn’t perfect, but what relationship is. Your dad loved your mom, and I know that your mom loved him, too, despite his issues. That’s a lot more of a happily ever after than most people get.” She took a deep breath and placed her hands on her thighs. “I left because of how you reacted when I told you I was pregnant.”
