Page 69 of Only in Your Dreams

“Melody Woods, server extraordinaire,” Summer says, appraising me as I wipe off my cheek with my apron.

“Terrifying adults and kids alike with her many scowls.” Parker taps at his phone. “I’m sending this picture to Mom. She didn’t believe me when I told her you picked up some shifts here.”

I smooth out my skirt, picking up a bar rag to dab milk splatters off the counter. The Sheffield’s lunch crowd is already dwindling, leaving most of the peach-colored bench seats empty.

“I don’t blame her. If there’s anything to make you feel like you’ve gone backwards, it’s having to default to the job you left at eighteen.”

Parker pockets his phone. “You haven’t gone backwards, Mel.”

“I’m back here, aren’t I?” I make a show of looking around. “I also spent six years ignoring the red flags of my relationship. Spent the past few days purging my closetbecause Boyfriend Dearestpaid for all my stuff, to the point where I’m now working two jobs just to afford my own place and a new wardrobe. Wearing my brother’s oversized sweaters and too-small dresses our parents kept from my high school wardrobe in the meantime.”

I suck in a breath, trying to center myself. I wish there was a roadmap for this stuff, color-coded and precise goal posts to get me through the next few months.

I’ll get over being manipulated through a six-year relationship by then. Will forgive myself for falling for my ex’s bullshit by then. Will trust myself not to make the same mistakes by then.

“You’ve got this, Mels,” Summer says kindly. “You should really be proud of yourself, you know. You could easily be hiding out at home feeling sorry for yourself, but here you are putting in the work.”

Oh, I’ve done plenty of greasy-haired wallowing. But I’ll keep that secret shame where it belongs: between me and the four walls of Parker’s guest bedroom.

And Zac. Zac and the way he let me cry very wallow-y tears into his shoulder, in the middle of his work day.

Summer’s right anyway. Maybe I’m mourning the loss of my free time now that I only have one day off a week, but I am pretty proud of myself. Zac’s playbook idea lit the kind of fire under my ass I haven’t felt in a long time. Maybe ever.

“Between this and the Great Closet Purge of Oakwood Bay, you’re really kicking ass,” Parker agrees with Summer. “Before you know it, you’ll be dating again.”

Yeah, that would be a resoundinghell fucking no. I won’t be jumping into anything until I have my life entirely in order. Lessons have been learned over the course of this breakup, thanks very much.

Given the look Parker gives me, I seem to do a poor job of keeping the revulsion off my face. “Come on, let me set you up with someone,” he insists. “I’ll use our special twin powers and find you the love of your life, you’ll see.”

Over by the register, Wynn calls out for a tray of waters and coffees that I dutifully start pouring.

“I don’t know, Park. If the love of my life lives here, wouldn’t I have met him by now? This town doesn’t exactly have influxes of newcomers our age. I know everyone there is to know, and none of them ever showed interest when I lived here.”

Parker waves away my words as I pass Wynn his tray of drinks. “That was because of the Hands-Off Melody Woods Rule. Things are different now.”

Summer frowns at my brother. “The what rule?”

“The Hands-Off Melody Woods Rule,” he says again, picking at a piece of lint on his shirt. “To preface this, I’m not proud of it. But I did spread it around with the athletes at school that they weren’t allowed to go near you. Either of you, though I don’t think my threats had much bite behind them when it came to you, Sum.”

Summer and I exchange a look. “Why the hell would you do that?”

“Because I was also an athlete. I had a first-hand look at the way they’d talk about girls in the locker room. At the things they’d get up to at parties, the way they’d fuck with their heads. I didn’t want that for you.”

You have got to be kidding me. It’s all dancing through my mind. A whole freaking conga-line of high school boys who’d never look me in the eye, even when I’d say hello.

“You do realize Summer and I exclusively hung around athletes because of you and Zac, right?”

Parker blinks. “What’s your point?”

“My point, you absolute jerk, is that I was single until I made it to college. No wonder no one came near me—I always thought there was something wrong with me!”

Parker’s face falls, and he rubs the top of his head thoughtfully, rumpling his hair in the process. “Interesting. I thought maybe you didn’t want to date.”

I try to whip him with my bar rag, but with a whole counter between us, it’s not even close. “I went to prom alone! I almost skipped it—I cried for days leading up to it!”

“Is this awkward for anyone else?” Summer mutters, looking around as though we have a full audience.

“You ended up having fun at prom!” Parker says defensively. “Zac didn’t have a date either. You were fine!”

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