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“I never said a word because I didn’t want to mess up your friendship. I assumed that mattered more.”
“It did for a long time.” He swallowed. Admitting his mistake to his parents wasn’t pleasant. “And then I got desperate.”
“Desperate…how?” his dad asked, picking up on TJ’s tone.
He ducked his head, too ashamed to meet their eyes. “I may have created a fake dating profile and connected online with her…and she fell for it—and me.”
“Tyson Jeremiah Halverson!” his mom exclaimed, face aglow with righteous indignation. “What a terrible thing to do! I raised you better than that.”
He winced.
Dad removed his glasses and rubbed his nose. “What gave you such a hair-brained idea?”
“It was me,” a new voice announced, and Lucy plopped into the loveseat adjacent to the couch, snug in a faux-fur-trimmed parka. “It was all me.”
Now his parents were staring at her, and TJ huffed. “Ever heard of giving a guy privacy for an embarrassing conversation with his parents?”
She waved a dismissive hand. “We’re approaching thirty. Get over it. Besides, I wasn’t eavesdropping. The rehearsal dinner finished, and I happened to hear you fessing up as I walked in the door. Since itwasmy idea, I thought you’d appreciate my support.” She gave him a tart look that said he ought to be grateful.
“Lucy Anne, you better have a very thorough and reasonable explanation for why you would have planted such a rotten idea in your brother’s head.” Mom’s voice was sharp, and she rarely used that tone with Lucy. TJ felt a jolt of shock when Lucy’s eyes began to glitter with tears. She’d been broken when she showed up at home last year. But she had never cried.
“Because TJ has loved her forever, and he’s so loyal. Melody had no idea what she was missing. She had no idea how rare that kind of love is.Ican’t find it. You don’t know—Anyway, I didn’t want to see TJ’s love go to waste.”
They were all quiet. She hadn’t been willing to share with any of them exactly what had happened with her ex. But clearly, it had cut her deeper than TJ had realized. She still wasn’t over it.
Mom reached an arm to rub Lucy’s knee. “Well-intentioned. Poorly executed. No harm done, I trust?” She looked at TJ with a smile. “I saw the way you kissed her on stage. She didn’t seem to mind.”
“She didn’t know then that I’m the guy she’s been talking to online.”
“Oh, dear.”
“I told her last night. And I told her I love her and always have.” He swallowed the gumball-sized lump of pain blocking his throat. “She won’t talk to me now.”
His dad sucked air through his teeth, and Mom shook her head, now switching to pat his leg. “Sweetheart, I’m proud of you for finally being honest. But don’t you think you waited a little too long?”
Obviously. “I learned a hard lesson. I can safely say there won’t be a repeat mistake like that. But I’m afraid it’s too late for Melody and me. We can never be friends after this.” His voice broke with a pitiful crack as he realized he truly may have lost her. For good. “I don’t know what I’ll do without her.”
“Oh, Sweetie.” His mom leaned over, surrounding him with her arms. “Don’t give up. Let’s pray, shall we? God has a million ways we don’t know of.” Together they knelt, the four of them, praying by turn, for him and Melody both, and TJ knew what an incredible blessing it was to have a good and godly family.
The next morning the hurt part of his heart wanted to languish in bed and sleep away the pain of rejection. But by ten o’clock, the determined part—the part that was choosing faith over fear—got him out from under the covers. Perhaps if he showed Melody that he truly knew her and loved her, she would see that not only was she enough for him—she was absolutely perfect for him.
He showered and shaved, ate a quick bowl of cereal, and headed out the door. Silver Lake City had a small mall, and he wasn’t a frequent customer, but today he had a long list and a short timespan for shopping if he wanted to make it to his cousin’s wedding promptly.
Three hours later, after several more stops, he settled down at his desk with a sheet of paper in hand. Then he did what he’d always done best. He wrote.
My dear Melody,
I want to respect your wishes, so if you want me to stop pursuing you, you’ll need to tell me directly. Otherwise, I’m not giving up. Do you know why? Because I love you. I love you in a way I didn’t realize existed as a kid. Even in high school. I loved you then, but I had no idea how much stronger my love would grow with time. I had no idealast weekhow much stronger my love would grow—with knowledge.
Creating Jeremy was stupid. Very stupid. And I have asked both you and God to forgive me. I know he has, and I hope you meant it when you said you did. But even in our mistakes, God works. God let me see more and more of you via Jeremy. And Melody, let me tell you, I love what I see.
It would be easy to say I love youin spite ofwhat you’ve been through. But that would be wrong. That makes it sound like you have baggage we’d both be better off without, but I accept it because I must in order to have you. And that’s simply not true.
No. Melody, I love youbecauseof what you’ve been through. Because even though your mom has mistreated you, again and again, you are not bitter. You have chosen to be one of the kindest women I know. Because even though you struggled with your grades, you persevered, you overcame, you did whatever you had to, no matter how hard, to succeed. Because even though you don’t understand the rules of writing, you still write with your heart. Because even though you fear failure at every turn, even though you constantly worry about letting down others and yourself, you don’t hold back your talents. You put yourself out there because music and theater are who you are. It is who God made you. And because even though you gave your body away when you were young and other times since, you kept your heart for someone special.
I want to be that someone special. Let me say plainly, I love and accept everything I have ever known about you, everything I recently learned, and everything I could learn in the future. You, Melody Reed, are the best thing that happened to me as a kid. You are the best thing that happened to me now. I loved you then, and I love you now, and I always will. Nothing can change that.
With Love,
