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“What a great epitaph for my tombstone.” I let out a laugh dripping with sarcasm. “Melody Hart. She was a hard worker. If you had PR problems, she was the person to call.”
His brow furrowed. “Are youreallythinking of staying here?”
“Maybe I am. Either way, it’s no business of yours,” I said firmly.
He shook his head, refusing to accept it. “No. No, we’re not finished yet. The past few months were all one big mistake. I know you still love me. You’ve just forgotten what we have, what we lost.”
He lunged forward and pulled me in, forcing my lips to his. I was screaming inside. Part of me felt a rush of relief. Finally, he came back for me. He knew he had messed up the best thing that ever happened to him, and he was fighting for me the way he should have from the start.
But the rest of me knew it was too late to go back. He wasn’t what I wanted anymore, and neither was my old life in New York. I may have second-guessed myself for the briefest second, but I quickly jerked back.
My fingers flew to my parted lips with a gasp. I was just about to go off on Evan when I saw someone walking up the road. Derek’s figure emerged from the darkness. The look on his face made me hate myself, but it made me hate Evan even more.
“Derek,” I murmured, wondering if that one second of slipping back into my past had ruined my entire future.
28
MELODY
Derek spun around and started marching back off in the direction he came from. I took off after him, shouting his name. “Please! Wait!”
He stopped and slowly turned with a pained laugh. “I, uh, got back home and realized I forgot my wallet. And you know, as much of a pain as it was to come all the way back…I was actually excited to see you again, even if it was only for a second. I…I thought you felt the same way.” His eyes darted to Evan over my shoulder. “But I can see I was wrong.”
“Please, it’s not what you think. I know that sounds cliche, but you just walked up at the wrong time,” I struggled to explain.
“Right, if I had walked up any later, who knows what I would have seen,” he sneered.
“Derek, you know I would never….”
“No, I don’t know!” he shouted. “I feel stupid because I really don’t know you at all except that you’re not from around here, and I guess I was foolish to think you could learn to call this home. That you might want a life here with me.” He looked at Evan again, who was now watching the whole thing go down with a smug smile. He was pleased with himself for the trouble he had caused.
“That’s him, isn’t it?” Derek asked with a new wave of hurt washing over his face. “The fiancé you supposedly lied about?” He shook his head and laughed. “I should have known that was my first sign not to even think about getting close to you. What happened, Melody? You cheated on your fiancé and kissed me, then instead of telling the truth, you made up a whole other lie to cover yourself? Have you been with him this whole time?”
“What!?” I shrieked. “No! God, no. Of course not! How could you even….”
“How could I not?” he cut me off. His voice was too calm and even, full of resolve. It scared me. Everything I wanted was slipping through my fingers.
“Derek, he just showed up here. I swear. I didn’t know he was coming and….”
“Have a nice night. And a nice life, for that matter,” he barked, storming back off into the darkness.
I called out and ran after him for a moment, but reports of me crying and chasing after Derek in the middle of the night, was the last thing I needed the town to be gossiping about. And I couldn’t very well follow him all the way back to his house, bringing all of this drama to the doorstep of his home where Em was sleeping.
Finally, I gave up and walked back home. I was filled with rage when I saw Evan waiting for me on the porch.
“What is wrong with you!?” I seethed. “It wasn’t enough that you threw away our whole life together for some bimbo, but then you had the nerve to show up here and ruin everything good I’ve managed to find since then too!?”
“Give me a break, Mel. Let him go. I’m glad things happened this way. You don’t belong here, and you sure as hell don’t belong with a guy like that. Come home with me. We can find someone else to finish everything up here and….”
“No,yougo home, Evan!” I fired back. “Thisis my home now! And if I do decide to come back to New York, it won’t be with you, and it certainly won’t beforyou. We’re over. Forever. The end.”
He didn’t budge as I stormed past him into the house. Just before slamming the door shut, I added, “If you’re still on my porch in five minutes, I’m calling the cops.”
As I locked the door and leaned my back up against it, rolling my face up towards the ceiling with remorse, all I could see was the look on Derek’s face. It haunted me as I paced through the foyer. The washstand he had surprised me with earlier that night was just one of so many things that made me feel like I was sinking into a deep, dark pit of no return.
I did what I always did in moments of panic and raced to my phone to call Katie. I took deep breaths while the phone rang and rang and rang. There was no answer.
“Come on. Don’t do this to me now,” I pleaded under my breath, quickly dialing her again.
