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“Did you ask her if she wants to meet her mother?”
“She said she did.”
“Then what do you want me to say?” she asks while picking up a bottle of sunscreen and squeezing out a fair amount. She starts rubbing it on her legs, and that is nothing if not distracting. I pull my eyes away and try to focus on the matter at hand
“I want you to tell me that you think it’s a good idea. I want you to help me figure out how to make the meeting happen while causing my daughter the least amount of discomfort.”
“This sounds to me like something you’d want to ask afriend.” She clearly has not forgiven me for saying that I didn’t think we should be friends.
“You’re the only friend I have in Elk Lake,” I confess. “Also, I think you’re the most unbiased of all my friends. You know, because you weren’t around when Sammy and I had to make a go of it on our own.”
Her eyes narrow like she’s about to dissect me. “Are you saying that you want to be my friend?”
“I would like that,” I tell her. “Very much.”
She crosses her arms in an ornery fashion before uncrossing them and turning toward me. “Fine. Here’s what I think you should do. I think you should take Sammy to Chicago, but leave her somewhere while you make the first contact with Beth. If everything goes well, you can set up a time for them to meet later in the day.”
A golf ball-size knot of fear fills my throat. I try to swallow it before admitting, “I’m scared to death.”
“Of what? That Beth’s going to want to see more of Sammy, or that you still have feelings for her?”
“I have plenty of feelings for Beth, but none of them are particularly good.” I’m thankful my sunglasses are on so she can’t see that my eyes are starting to water. The Cure song “Boys Don’t Cry” pops into my head.
“You haven’t seen her since London, right?”
“Correct.”
“And at that time, you were hoping she’d come home with you.” I nod my head, so she continues, “Beth broke your heart, too.”
I nod slower this time.
“Jamie, I know Sammy has been your sole focus, but you have to let yourself work through your own grief.”
I try to speak but my voice box seizes up.
Melissa reaches between our chairs and puts her hand on mine. “It’s been three years since my almost-fiancé died, and I still think about him a lot. It’s not the same as it was when it was fresh, but I still can’t help wondering what my life would be like, had he lived.”
“I always wonder what Sammy’s and my life would have looked like had Beth stayed.”
“Neither one of us can change the past,” she says. “All we can do is accept things the way they are. We need to process our grief so we can create a new future.” She pauses a moment before adding, “On our own. Not together.”
I squeeze her hand before releasing it. “That’s good advice. Thank you.”
“That’s what friends are for.”
“Melissa, I have a serious question to ask you.”
“Yes?” She looks as anxious as I feel.
“Would you … That is to say, would you …”
“Would I what?” she practically snaps.
“Would you consider going to Chicago with us?”
CHAPTERTWENTY-SEVEN
MELISSA
