Page 21 of Ebbing Tides
“Wearegoing out, right?”
“O-oh, right, yeah,” I answered, nodding reassuringly. “I just, uh … I wasn't sure if—”
“Charlie spilled the beans about Stormy's little plan earlier,” Melanie confessed, punctuating the remark with a roll of her eyes. “I was so mad.”
I frowned as a sudden rush of shame worked its way up from the collar of my shirt. Melanie huffed an incredulous laugh as she pulled her leather jacket from the back of the chair she'd just occupied.
“I was actually coming here to threaten you and take back my cigarettes and lighter.”
Amused, I exhaled and smirked. “I see.”
As her arms disappeared inside the big sleeves, she nodded, as if to herself. “Yeah. I had it all planned out too. I was going to ambush you, ask what the hell kind of psycho agrees to take advantage of a lonely widow he only just met, and hightail it out of here before you even knew what happened.”
“I would've been stunned,” I replied, the corners of my lips twitching with amusement. “But not surprised.”
Zipping up the jacket, she asked, “Oh, no?”
“Not at all. A widowed woman raising three boys on her own …” My cheeks puffed out with my exhale. “No, you wouldn't take shit from anyone, especially not some random guy you just met.”
She leveled me with a point of her finger. “You're damn right about that.”
“So, why did you change your mind?” I asked, standing to show her the door. Even if it was a handful of feet away.
I opened the door, and Lido whined from behind me. “Stay, boy,” I said as Melanie passed through the open door.
I closed it behind us to enter a quiet world, laden with snow and specters and the faintest whisper of wind whistling through the blackened branches above. It would scare most people, I thought, but I found relief here. Safety and peace. Things I'd never felt anywhere but in the comfort of my home with Laura.
Could I feel that again with someone else?I caught myself wondering.Could I feel that withher?
“You're not a random guy,” Melanie said, pulling me from thoughts I shouldn't have been thinking.
“Just because we spent a few hours together twenty years ago doesn't mean you know me,” I argued as we approached her car.
“No, I guess that's true,” she conceded, opening the driver's door. “I don't want to interfere with your work schedule, and I want to be able to put my boys to bed. So, do you think you can pick me up around three?”
Without talking to Grace first, I wasn't sure I should commit, yet I found myself nodding and saying, “Whatever works for you.”
In the dim light burning from a single bulb beside the office door, she studied my face for a few resounding beats of my heart before an apprehensive smile tugged at her lips. Her gaze floated to mine before pulling away, and if I thought she'd listen to the words, I would've begged her to look at me again just for the opportunity to stare at her for a few seconds more.
She rolled her lips between her teeth, her eyes aimed at my chest and the badge around my neck. “I just … can't believe it'syou,” she said, her voice barely a whisper. “And I can’t believe you remembered me.”
“I could say the same thing about you,” I said.
She uttered a small noise, hardly a hum, as she nodded thoughtfully, then climbed into the car.
“Wait, what about your cigarettes and lighter?” I asked, bracing my hand against the roof of her SUV. “You want me to run in and grab them?”
She pressed a button that brought the engine to life, then swung her gaze back to mine for a heart-stopping moment. There was a playful glint in her eye, fun and mischievous, and I wondered how a person could convey so many emotions with just their eyes alone. And how she'd managed to remain this beautiful after all this time.
“No, I was right the first time,” she replied. “They're safer with you. I'll see you tomorrow, Max.”
“Tomorrow.”
The word was uttered as a promise. One I couldn't make years ago, no matter how much I'd wished. And as she pulled the car door closed and drove out of sight, I felt truly, overwhelmingly lucky for the second time in my life.
“If things were different,”I remembered her saying.
And now …
