Page 43 of Sing Your Heart Out

“I... I am crazy about you too,” Smith murmurs. He doesn’t say he loves me, which stings. But he does reach out and draw me in close.

When he kisses me, it’s so intense that I shudder. By the time I come up for air, we are both breathing hard again. He looks at me, his face close to mine. He brushes back strand of hair, tucking it behind my ear.

“My ex-girlfriend stole a lot of things from me,” he whispers. “Money, clothes, even a car. She also took the words I want to say to you… she stole them.” He swallows thickly, his gaze direct and intent. “But I feel that way, too. I want you to know that.”

Tears form in the corners of my eyes. I smile and lean forward, giving him a brief kiss. “I knew it,” I whisper. “I’m not crazy.”

He laughs, pulling me on top of him. We kiss for a few more minutes until we are rather rudely interrupted by the growling of my stomach.

I make a face. “I’m starving,” I confess.

“Well, we have been in here for half a day.” His lips tip up at the corners. “We should probably go downstairs anyway. Since this is our last weekend in this house, I would be remiss if I kept you all to myself.” He sighs. “There is Mellie to think of, isn’t there?”

Smiling, I sit up and push my hair back out of my face. “You’re right. I’m really going to miss her when we are out of this house.”

I am careful not to mention that I will miss him too… it’s not the time to bring that whole ball of wax up right now.

We get dressed and head downstairs. As expected, Mellie is there, listening to music on her headphones. When she sees us, she pulls her headphones off.

“Hey,” she says, nodding to us. “It’s a little weird here with just us four left, don’t you think?”

Smith nods, heading to the kitchen. “Yeah. Definitely. It’s a ghost town.” He pauses, screwing up his face. “A ghost house, I guess.”

I slide into a seat at the kitchen island, turning toward Mellie. “We were just talking about what we feel like we accomplished in the last three weeks. It seems like no time has passed… or maybe a thousand years has gone by. One or the other.”

Smith pulls a plastic container of hummus out of the fridge, then a bag of baby carrots. “Yeah, time works oddly in this house.’

Mellie nods, moving to the island. She stands up on her tiptoes, grabbing a carrot and dipping it in the hummus. “Yeah. I keep calling my house in San Diego, trying to FaceTime with my kids. My partner has made it abundantly clear that this is my only shot at being away from her and the kiddos for a whole month.”

She crunches on the carrot. I’m a little surprised to hear her say that much.

“You have kids?” I ask.

Mellie nods. “Yeah. Four and seven. Both girls. When I met my partner, she told me on the second date that she wanted to raise kids. I love her, so I will happily do anything she wants.” She smiles and shrugs. “Now I wouldn’t know what to do with myself if I didn’t have them. You want to see pictures?”

“Yes,” I say. “I demand it.”

She grins, pulling out her phone. She shows me pictures of both of her girls and her partner, looking proud as she swipes through them. Her love and affection definitely shows through.

Her sheer happiness makes me happy to be around her. I grin.

“It’s nice to see this side of you.” I grab a carrot, pointing it at her. “I had no idea it existed until this moment.”

“A lot of her songs seem to be about someone she loves,” Smith cuts in. “I would have been surprised if it turned out she didn’t have someone at home.”

Mellie rolls her eyes and puts her phone away. “Smith is right, you know.”

Dwayne comes into the room, looking around at us. “Do you guys want to order some food? I’m starving.”

“Yes!” I chime in.

“That’s what we came down here for,” Smith says, shrugging.

“Great. If somebody wants to go light the fire pit outside, I’m going to order a pizza. Then we can enjoy it while the sun sets. Sound good?”

Forty five minutes later, I am sitting down in a folding camp chair, taking my first bite of pizza. It’s hot and salty, the grease glistening on the slice still.

I would normally be finicky and soak the grease up with napkins first, but I’m just plain too hungry right now.

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