Page 66 of Melody

Kyle, however, was stirred up. “And I don’t know why you give a shit anyway. When I’m not earning money with the band, I’m working full-time at Burger King. I’m a shift lead, so I’m making better than minimum.”

“Watch your language.”

“But you couldn’t care less about anything I accomplish, because I’m not your sweet baby Cassie or your precious Liam.”

A hush descended over the room, and Melody knew that if Mariah Carey could have, she would have stopped singing as well. For her part, Melody wished she could hide under the table, because the atmosphere had gone from awkward to way fucking uncomfortable in short order.

Cassie’s face expressed hurt at her brother’s words but she didn’t say anything. Linda placed her napkin on the table and stood. “What did you say?”

Kyle also stood, reassuring Melody that she could, in fact, feel even more tense. “You heard me.”

“First off, I want you to apologize to your brother and sister.” Kyle’s jaw set in defiance of his mother while she continued talking. “I don’t care if you apologize to me, but you hurt your sister’s feelings and you’re speaking ill of the dead.”

“I didn’t say anything to hurt them, mom. I was talking aboutyou—about how you treat them like you love them more than anything else in the world, and it’s pretty damn clear you don’t care about me at all. You will never be able to forgive me for what happened to Liam.”

“That’s not true, son, and you know it.”

“Then what’s the deal?”

Linda let out a long breath and walked over to the other side of the table where her son stood. “Yes, it’s been hard and Ididblame you for a long time. Not just you. I blamed Liam too. I was angry at you both…and with him gone, there’s a big piece of my heart that died and it will never grow back.” She swallowed, and Melody tried not to watch—but it was difficult considering she wasright there. “But you and Cassie are also part of my heart. Son…I know you didn’t kill him. I know he chose to do what he did and there’s nothing I can do now that will change it. But I’ll never be the same.”

“Liam wouldn’t have wanted that.”

“Well, Liam’s not here to do a thing about it.” Linda took Kyle’s face in her hand, and she looked in his eyes. Although Melody felt like she was a peeping Tom, it wasn’t like she could leave without making a scene. Meanwhile, Mariah Carey’s voice continued wafting into the space, discordant with what was happening. “I’m hard on you, son, because I don’t want to loseyou too. I wasn’t involved enough to know what was going on with Liam, and you don’t let me in, son—so I assume the worst. And if I have to lose you too, then I’m going to try to wear some armor so it doesn’t rip another chunk of my heart out—‘cause I don’t think I can take it.”

She began sobbing and Kyle pulled her close. When he said, “I love you, mom,” Melody could hear the tears in his voice as well—and then Cassie got up and joined their embrace.

Melody had never felt so out of place in her life.

She was relieved for Kyle’s sake, though, because it seemed like he was patching things up with his family. Or was he? She had no real way of knowing, considering this was the first time she’d visited. For all she knew, this was a regular song and dance.

It reminded her of the only time she’d met Tommy’s mother—it was at a Fourth of July party, and not only did she and her kids argue, they got physical with each other, punching and grabbing and threatening to bite. This evening had been too similar to that.

How could she have been so blind? Kyle might not have looked like Tommy and Linda didn’t look like Tommy’s mother, but Melody had the feeling they were the same flavor of dysfunction as the Nogales family.

Clearly, Melody couldn’t trust her own judgment. It was flawed and it had been ever since she’d lost her dad and then her mother.

When Kyle and his family loosened their embrace, clearly having experienced some sort of cathartic moment, they all apologized to Melody for the outburst. Although she smiled and put on a happy, empathetic face, she was starting to question everything.

Merry freaking Christmas.

CHAPTER 23

Just a couple of days later, Kyle and the band were practicing in The Apothecary, just like they’d done consistently since deciding one day a week was enough. Wolf and Hayley had written a new song together, a ballad, and even though it was much slower than the music they usually played, the whole band seemed to be having a hard time getting it down.

“I don’t know what the fuck’s wrong with my fingers, dude,” Pedro said after their seventh time through the song. “They can’t go the speed limit.”

Wolf laughed. “You’ll get it down. Just like everything else, we need—”

“To practice. Yeah, yeah. I know. It’s just frustrating.”

“What about everyone else? How are you feeling about it?”

Adrian stood and stretched. “I gotta say I’m loving it. It kind of gives me a little break from the usual.”

Hayley said, “That hadn’t been our intent but, as we kept writing it and playing it on our own, we thought it might giveallyou guys a little break.”

Although he wasn’t feeling as talkative as usual, Kyle felt the need to add his own two cents. “Yeah, and if we feel like we’regetting a little rest in the middle of a show, maybe we could play longer. Once we have a bigger repertoire, that is.”

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