Page 29 of Beautifully Undone

“I’m going,” I said.

She glanced at me.

“Will you go with me?” I asked.

She sucked in her bottom lip and shook her head.

“Mel. I need you to go with me.”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“I miss Ted.”

“I miss him, too. Mel, you can’t just sit around all day, moping. Teddy wouldn’t want you to spend your life that way.”

“You think, by me meeting your brothers, that I might be able to accept the loss of my own,” she spit out in a brusque tone. It hadn’t been a question, just an accusation.

“No. That’s not what this is about. This is about me honoring my mom’s last request and wanting you to be there with me.”

“You’re a big boy, Asher. You can meet your family on your own.”

“You’re my family, Mel. These two guys?” I pointed at the letter. “I don’t know them. But I want to, I want to at least meet them, let them know I exist. And I want them to know you, becauseyouare my true family, and you mean more to me than anyone or anything.”

Losing Ted was hard for me, too. I needed to know that I wasn’t completely alone in this world. If Mel didn’t go with me, I was afraid I’d lose her, too.

I was afraid that what we’d done two weeks ago had ruined our friendship. We hadn’t had a chance to talk about it. She’d gone out with Alex, even though I’d asked her not to, even after we’d made love just the night before. It had crushed me when I’d run into them in the hallway. Then with the news of Ted dying, I hadn’t had the nerve to bring any of that up to her. Not that she would have heard anything I said. But now, at least I’d gotten her attention with this.

“When are you leaving?” She sniffled. I grabbed a tissue from the table and handed it to her.

“I don’t know.” I thought about it for a minute and remembered the promise I’d made to Ted about having Mel join me on stage. “I have a few gigs on the schedule so I need to either wait or clear them. I think I should do at least one of them, and I think you should join me.”

“Join you?”

“Yeah. I think we sound great together, and I would love to have you up there with me on a regular basis. We could be a team. Ash and Mel.” She frowned at me, and I shrugged. “Or Mel and Ash, whichever one you prefer.” I grinned, hoping for one in return, but she rolled her eyes.

“When’s your next performance?”

“Actually, it’s tomorrow night.”

“Hmmm…that’s kinda soon. I don’t know if I’d be ready without some rehearsal time.”

“You’ve played with me enough. You don’t need any rehearsal.”

“What did you have in mind to play?”

“The usual. Nothing you haven’t already played with me.”

She tapped her finger to her lips, and as I watched her, I thought of the way they’d felt against mine. I shook my head.Don’t go there, Asher.

“Okay. I’ll join you on stage. But I’m not going to go with you to meet your brothers.”

“Then I won’t go either,” I said, picking up the letter and crumpling it in my hand before tossing it across the room into the trashcan.

“Ash!” She stood up, walked to the little metal can, and grabbed the letter. “God, you’re such a moron.” She opened it and straightened the paper the best she could before joining me back on the couch. “Here.” She placed it on my lap. “Fine. I’ll go with you. Just don’t be such a pussy about it all.”

I smiled. It was nice to have her back.

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