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Genevieve stood up, her fork rattling as she dropped it from her hand. “Neither am I.”
“You’re more than Melanie will ever be. You’re the closest thing to her mother. If I want to acknowledge that today, then I will!” He stood up as well, his chair scraping across the floor.
“I’m going to visit Melanie today. You and Amelie should come with.”
The determination in her gaze, the tension in her shoulders, the rigid way she stood told him she would not be deterred from this. Hell, he had a feeling if he stepped even an inch closer to her, she’d knock him flat on his ass.
“I pictured this day going a lot different. Amelie and I will be leaving. I ain’t going there. If you insist, then you’re on your own.”
“Lock the door on your way out, please.”
Then she turned around and walked out of the room. Didn’t even spare Amelie a glance.
Well, shit. Definitely not how he imagined the day going.
15
How could undeniable magic the night before turn so tragic the next day?
Genevieve had heard Corey moving around, getting Amelie ready. Within fifteen minutes, he was gone. No good-bye. No last words. No apology. Just gone.
Well, whatever. She couldn’t change how he felt about Melanie, fine. But she wouldn’t compromise her feelings to coddle his. They rarely talked about Melanie, which should’ve given her a clue on how he felt about her. It hadn’t. Talk about being blindsided by an ice-cold cup of water in the face. Brutally painful, sharp, and sending tingling shivers of dread down her spine.
All she could think was poor Amelie. She’d grow up never knowing how amazing Melanie was. Yes, she had been troubled and went down too many wrong paths. But she was also funny and sweet and so outgoing she could strike up a conversation with anyone. Genevieve had no doubt that’s where she had learned it from. She knew all of her neighbors, all of Corey’s neighbors, all the people who worked on the same block as her yoga studio because of her best friend. Because she had pulled her out of her shy shell growing up.
She stopped at her parents’ house, giving her mom her present, and had lunch with them. Brock and Oliver were there as well. Maybe they all sensed her mood because no one asked about Corey and how the wedding went the day before. She could only appreciate how sensitive her family was to her moods. Brock had to leave early for a shift at work. She decided she wanted to wallow alone, in her apartment. Curl up with a container of chocolate chip mint ice cream and watch sappy romance movies that would make her cry.
She said good-bye to her parents and rolled her eyes when Oliver followed her to the door.
“Want to tell me what happened?”
She pretended to tie her shoelace that hadnotcome undone. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I don’t need to see your face to know you’re lying, sis.”
She stood up, grabbed her purse, and clutched it to her side, hating that she hadn’t been able to escape without this third-degree. And from Oliver of all people. He was like a shark, taking bite after bite until he got what he wanted. That’s why he was so good at his job.
“Fine. I had the most amazing night last night with Corey and woke up this morning having a major argument with him. It was a shitty morning.”
Oliver crossed his arms, cocked a brow, and waited for her to tell him the reason why.
She settled for a low groan instead of a scream like she wanted and told him everything they said to each other this morning.
“I can see his point.”
“What?”
“Look, I know you loved Melanie. I get that. But not everyone is a good mother.”
“Ha!” She pointed a finger at him. “At least you admit she is Amelie’s mother.”
“For you, I admit that. For him, what she did, abandoning her like that, he’ll never see her as her mother. The woman,” he cleared his throat, “whatever woman he ends up being with, will be her mother.”
She pressed her lips out in a sort of duck-like face, preventing the tears that wanted to fall. “Are you saying I won’t be that woman?”
“Do you want to be that woman? Because you’re going to have to see his side of things.”
“What about my side of things?” She crossed her arms, mimicking her brother. “Amelie deserves to know about Melanie. The good and the bad and everything in between. She can make her own decisions about how she wants to feel about Melanie.”
