Page 182 of The Spider & the Storm

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Melanie welcomed me into the place where my parents had brought me home from the hospital nearly thirty-nine years ago.

“There's so much I have to tell you,” she said, and I agreed.

There was so much I needed to hear—and so much I had to tell her too.

But first, I returned to the car to retrieve someone she needed to meet.

“What's going on?” Stormy asked, her eyes trained still on the house and the open front door.

“I want you to meet someone,” I said eagerly, grabbing her hand and pulling her from the car.

Stormy eyed me suspiciously as she climbed out. “You know who she is? Is she your brother's wife?”

I wiped my hand against my forehead and looked over the car at the house, reality resting against my shoulders with a strange but comfortable weight. As if an old puzzle piece had been found and put back into place. As if everything—well, almost everything—was once againright.

“It's Melanie,” I said, shaking my head with disbelief.

“Melanie? Your brother's ex-fiancée?” Stormy sounded as shocked as I felt. “They got back together?”

“I … I have no idea. I mean, obviously, but … I don’t … she was going to tell me everything, but I came to get you first.”

I held her hand as I began to walk back to the house, but she stayed put. I turned to find an unsure expression on her face, her brows pinched and her teeth digging into her bottom lip.

I tipped my head and asked, “What’s wrong?”

She shrugged before replying, “Are you sure you want me here? It's … so personal, and …”

“What do you mean?” If I wasn't mistaken, she seemed uncomfortable. “Why wouldn't I want you here?”

“Because this is between the two of you. You'refamily, and she's so … she's sospecialto you—”

“There isnobodyon the planet more special to me than you,” I assured her, squeezing her hand. “And after I just spent the past few days with your family, I want nothing more than to welcome you into what's left of mine. Please. I don't want to go in there alone.”

Her chest dropped with her exhale as she looked up to my eyes and nodded. “Okay, Spider. Let's do this. Introduce me to your family.”

***

The living room had been rearranged, the carpet had been ripped up to reveal the hardwood floor hidden beneath, and the walls had been dressed up with a fresh coat of paint. But otherwise, the ground floor of my childhood home had remained the same, and that was both a comfort and a curse.

Everywhere I looked, I saw Luke. I saw myself. I saw our childhood, and I saw the years alone. I saw the blood I'd dripped to the floor that Halloween night five years ago, and I saw Tommy's unconscious body being removed on a gurney. Melanie and Stormy could sense it, too, as I eyed every corner with apprehension and cautious nostalgia. The two women hadn't even shared formal introductions yet, but as if by an unspoken agreement, they said nothing while I slowly walked through the living room, sweeping my gaze overhead as I approached the dining room.

“I tried to keep things as much the same as I could,” Melanie finally said as I ran my hand over the stone mantel above the fireplace, where I wasn't sure my parents had ever burned a fire.

I knew I hadn't.

“It looks good,” I said and meant it, even if the melancholy in my tone made it seem like a lie.

“Are you sure? Because I didn't know if I—”

I glanced over my shoulder to see her standing by the couch, timid and eyeing me warily. “Melanie, this isyourhouse. You don't need my approval.”

She dropped her gaze to the area rug beneath the coffee table and shook her head. “No. It's not. I … well, Luke and I … we always assumed I'd live here for a while, but we didn't know for how long. And if you …whenyou came back, you'd want to move back in, and we'd find a new place to live, so …”

There were so many questions to ask, and I didn't know where to start. So, as I stuffed my hands into my pockets and turned to face her, I asked the first one that came to mind. “Who'swe?”

Melanie swallowed, her gaze volleying between Stormy and me. It dawned on me then that she was a stranger to me now, and I, to her. We shared a history, we shared an old, mutual love, and those memories and emotions would outlast both of us. But I didn't know who she was now, and she couldn't predict how I'd react to … well, anything.

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