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“A wet t-shirt contest with all you firefighters. There has to be a fog machine and loud pulsing music. You all have to dance around on stage and take your shirts off. The crowd will go wild and start throwing all their money at you. I know I would.” I was turning myself on just talking about it.
A mischievous gleam sparked in his eyes. “If I knew you had a fetish for firefighters, I would have shown up to your place in my uniform a long time ago.”
“Oh really?”
His lips brushed mine again, more urgently this time. I was getting the dizzy, weak feeling his kisses always gave me when suddenly, I heard a woman’s voice coming closer. I ignored it at first, but quickly realized she was talking to Derek.
“Look at you!” she giggled. “I’m glad to see you’re taking my advice about getting Em around some more female role models in her life. I didn’t mean you had to take it this far.”
I had no clue who the lady was or what she was talking about. Derek stiffened up and put a safe distance between us.
“Mrs. Gardner,” he smiled tightly. “You snuck up on us.” I could hear the annoyance in his voice, but she seemed oblivious to it.
“Sorry to interrupt you two love birds,” she offered, not really sounding sorry at all. “Where is Em this weekend anyway? I haven’t seen her around. I had hoped she’d come by the face painting booth earlier.”
“Em?” I asked no one in particular, scrunching my face in confusion. I wasn’t sure if I actually said it aloud or only to myself.
Derek looked even more tense than before, nervously scratching his chin. “Uh, she…she’s with her grandparents. Rebecca’s Mom and Dad…obviously.”
“Oh, well, I hope she’s having fun. She better not miss this next year, though!” The woman took a closer look at me and was somehow oblivious to the dumbfounded look on my face. “How rude of me. I’m Mrs. Gardner.” She came over to shake my hand. “I’m Emily’s teacher. She didn’t tell anyone at school that her Daddy here was seeing someone special, but I’m sure she just adores you.”
My throat and mouth were suddenly dry as sand, and I was finding it a little hard to see straight as my brain sifted through the shocking bits of information that had just been thrown at me. Em…Emily. Whoever she was…she was Mrs. Gardner’s student, and…Derek’s daughter!?
“Excuse me,” I rasped. “I have to…I have to go.”
Derek called after me, but I stormed off without looking back. I could hear Mrs. Gardner saying to him, “Oh dear. Did I say something wrong?”
No, Mrs. Gardner. You didn’t say anything wrong. You were the only one to say something very right. Something that Derek should have told me from day one.
24
MELODY
My heart was racing so fast it made a cold burn in my chest as tears welled up in my eyes against the wind. My angry footsteps sounded more like stomping horse’s hooves. Between that and the ringing in my ears, I was glad I had something on my side to drown out the sound of Derek chasing after me, calling my name.
It all made sense now. The pieces clicked together in my mind so perfectly now, with startling clarity. I should have known the moment I found out he wasn’t married. It had to be something. I just never imagined he would have a child he’d somehow forget to mention.
But it couldn’t have been an accident. This was a very calculated move. It had to be. All the times he left in a hurry, always needing to be home early or rushed back to his house for dinner, never once inviting me along even though we were sleeping together. To think I made such a fool of myself by getting jealous over his own daughter, but how was I supposed to know?
“Melody, please!” His footsteps got louder as he caught up and grabbed my hand. “Stop and listen to me for a minute, will you?”
I jerked my arm away and turned on him with a fury I hadn’t felt since I found out Evan was cheating on me. “I’ve been listening to you! I’ve listened to every word you said since we met, and you know what never once came from your lips!? That you have a kid! How could you, Derek!? How do you keep something like that from someone you see almost every single day?”
“I know. It seems a lot worse to me now than it did as it was happening,” he told me, staring off with regret.
“How did it not seem every bit as bad as it is!? Random strangers at the supermarket have shown me pictures of their kids! And you couldn’t even bother to mention you had one at all! You didn’t think that’s something I should know!?” My voice cracked with anger, but I tried to hold back the tears, stopping for a moment to catch my breath.
“Was this whole thing because of what Mrs. Gardner said?” I asked in horror as I remembered her words. “Oh god. Did you just rope me into spending time with you because you thought I could be some kind of female role model for your kid?”
“No!” he said vehemently. “Absolutely not. That couldn’t be further from the truth.”
“I have no idea what the truth is with you anymore,” I fumed. “First, you waited all that time to tell me about your wife. Now, this?”
“Hey, let’s not forget you told me you had a fiancé when we first met,” he defended.
He said it in seriousness, and there was nothing funny about any of this. Maybe it was just the adrenaline, but something made me melt into laughter. I finally felt my brain unscramble long enough to consider what was really happening here.
Derek had a daughter. It was still shocking to say to myself. But it wasn’t exactly something I could be mad at him for. The not telling me part was extremely messed up, but then again…What did I know about kids or marriage? Losing your spouse in a car accident? I hated the way people around town judged me for never coming here with my mom and letting the lake house rot away while she stayed in New York just to be near me when they had no idea how I felt inside or why I did what I did.
