Page 26 of Love Song, Take Two

Micah shook her head and straightened up, turning to face him with a contemplative smile. “After my divorce, I struggled with everything. The balance of raising Emery and finding myself. I was so young when I got pregnant and married, and sure, I had the whole wild college life and did all the things that people at that age do. But I…” She sighed and lifted a hand to tuck her hair away, drawing his attention to the semi-colon inked into the inside of her wrist. “I feel like I didn’t pause to understand myself.”

In a way, Fletcher understood that. He’d been going through the motions for years and even in his own marriage, he’d been along for the ride and never really present. It wasn’t because of any one thing or person, Fletcher and Alice didn’t seem to fit beyond that first year of being together. They stuck it out for reasons he could no longer remember, never really being in love, but not letting go either.

“What does living look like to you now?”

She lifted her head and their eyes locked as she smiled. “Letting my daughter be herself, guiding her along the way when she needs it. Working a job I love, even when it takes a lot out of me. Spending time with my best friends, wearing the clothes I like, singing along to every trashy song on the radio…going out with a man from my past.”

He chuckled at the last point and shook his head. “I feel like the man from your past should have a better title.”

“What would he like to be called?”

Yours, he whispered to himself. But before he could say something a little more subtle, a soft voice said his name. Fletcher turned to the young waitstaff who was blushing as they smiled at them.

“Sorry to interrupt, Mr. Kelley. We’ve got a table open for you.”

“Thank you so much,” Micah told them and wrapped her hand around his arm. “Come on, Mr. Kelley, we’ve got wine flights to enjoy.”

Harriet, their waitress, showed them to a table, handed them a menu and rattled off all the specials. Fletcher wasn’t listening, he was watching Micah as she nodded along and asked a million questions. The moment they shared at the mural played on a loop in his head. Her ex hadn’t seen the incredible woman in front of him and he’d made a mess of his relationship with that brilliant kid. If Micah and Emery were his—even at a time when he didn’t want a family—Fletcher would have bent over backwards to make it work. He would have gone to the ends of the earth to ensure the two of them were loved with every fibre of his being.

“That sound okay with you?” she asked, bringing him back to the present.

“Yes?” He grimaced, because he didn’t know a damn thing they were talking about.

She laughed and looked up at Harriet. “I think we’ll take the surprise flight and go from there.”

“And the standard cheese board?”

Micah nodded, her smile lighting up her face. Once Harriet was gone, her attention turned back to him. “You okay, Fletch?”

“Thinking about how lucky you and Emery are to have each other.”

“Are you still thinking about what I said?”

“Always.”

She stared at him for a long moment and he winced internally, because he might have been too honest. It was true, though. While he might not have thought about her all the time, she had burrowed under his skin and stayed there for the last sixteen years.

“Is your mermaid ink in honor of Sirena Beach?”

Fletcher smiled, turned his arm over and pushed up the folded sleeve of his shirt. Finding her mermaid underwear in his hotel room that night was the first time Fletcher had any interest in mermaids. Then the song happened and Uncle Hank’s invitation to visit followed, now he was staring at the one that started it all.

“Would seem that way, right? I actually got it after our song went platinum,” he told her, eyes fixed on the cerulean tail.

“You wrote the song, didn’t you?”

He hesitated, because never once did he think that he’d be looking the object of the song in the eyes and telling her that it was about her. But maybe this was the opportunity to tell her the truth. Instead, he cleared his throat and nodded. “Yup. Didn’t think it would make it onto the album or that it would do as well as it did.”

“It was one hell of a love song, Fletch.”

“Wasn’t really a love song.” Liar, liar, pants on fire. “Merely a dedication of sorts.”

“She’s a lucky woman, whoever she is,” she said, giving him a ‘if you say so’ look.

“What about your mermaid tattoo?” He leaned back in his chair, pulling his arms off the table and watched as pink spread across her face.

“A double whammy tribute—” she rubbed her lips together, eyes darting everywhere but his face “—for my hometown and your song.”

His heart clenched at the realization that Micah had done it for the same reasons he had. Except, she didn’t know all the details. But before he could say anything, Harriet returned with a tray of wine glasses. She set the drinks on the table and explained each one, but Fletcher was still unable to listen. His mind spun with all the ways he could tell Micah that she was the mermaid. The one that called him out to sea, seduced him and changed his life. He might not have pined for her all these years, but every now and then, his soul craved her company. Especially when the song played on the radio.

---