Page 31 of Before Forever

“The study of the last good man on earth,” I said with a dramatic gesture. “By Dr. Melody Hart.”

When our laughter died down, I could tell he was hesitant to accept my invitation. I had been so close to alleviating my humiliation, only to make it worse again.

“Oh, come on. I have to do something to make it up to you.”

“You really don’t,” he insisted, pausing as a heavy, awkward silence built up between us. “But sure, I’ll go with you to dinner. Thanks for asking.”

I felt a gush of relief, even if getting him to accept it was like pulling teeth. I didn’t know why I pushed it so hard or really why I even asked at all. I could have just let the whole thing go and went back to our friendly chats over coffee in my kitchen as he came and went. Maybe I wanted to prove to myself that I could make it through an evening with him without throwing myself at him with another foolish kiss.

“Tomorrow night?” I proposed.

He nodded. “Tomorrow night. I’ll see you then.”

He turned and walked towards the front door to leave, and I caught myself staring at his ass in those perfectly tight jeans of his. I quickly shook my head, averting my gaze. What was wrong with me!? Every encounter with this man turned me into a desperate, ravenous, crazy woman who goes around spilling coffee everywhere and thinking deliciously sinful thoughts about him being shirtless…or maybe without clothes altogether.

I couldn’t stop myself from being a bumbling idiot around him, apparently. But I wasn’t going to give up my fantasies about him, no matter how much I knew they could never become a reality. In real life, dinner and drinks would suffice.

17

DEREK

I leaned back against the counter and watched Em color at the kitchen table while we waited on Alyssa to show up to babysit. As I stood there watching the minutes tick by on the clock, I felt the growing urge to cancel our dinner plans. I felt guilty any time I left Em.

Guilt was what got me into this mess in the first place. It was why I invited Melody to the fair, which led to that kiss. And then I felt guilty for letting her kiss me, not to mention I hadn’t told her about the time the job was going to take. I thought maybe over dinner would be a good time to break it to her, but now I was having second thoughts.

“Alyssa will heat up some leftovers for you for dinner, okay?” I tested her, thinking if she showed one ounce of resistance to me leaving, that was it. I’d call Melody and tell her I couldn’t make it.

“You’re not staying to eat dinner with us?” she asked. She still didn’t quite understand that the concept of a babysitter was for the parents to be free to leave the house. In her mind, Alyssa was just a friend coming over to play with us.

“I’ll stay if you want me to,” I replied.

I’d feel a little bad for canceling so last minute, but the more I had time to think about it…this wasn’t a good idea. I knew Melody wasn’t engaged now. In fact, she was newly single and obviously a little vulnerable from everything she’d been through. She had already tried to kiss me once and succeeded at it longer than I should have let her. I was scared about what could happen this time around.

“No, that’s okay,” Em chirped with a shrug. “You’ve seemed happier this week, Daddy. Now that you have a new friend to go play with.”

“Who told you that?” I puzzled.

“No one. That’s what you’re doing, right? Going to see a friend?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

In a strange twist of events, now I had to go to dinner at the request of my little girl. Maybe I had been suffocating her too much lately, and I was sure she could sense my sadness. While she was trying to carry on with her childhood the best she could without her mother around, I was dragging her down with my own grief.

I wanted to be the best possible father I could be to her. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing for me to have a little innocent fun. To enjoy the company of a woman, a friend, as Em said.

Em was excited to see Alyssa when she arrived and the two set right off to play a game together like I wasn’t even there. That made me feel a little more at ease as I slipped out, hopped into my truck, and went over to pick up Melody.

This time I was pleasantly surprised when she answered the door. She had on the same boots as before but no hat this time. And her long flowing floral dress in deep red was much more fitting for a casual dinner than the outfit she wore before. Not only did it do a better job of blending in with the surroundings of Silver Point, but it was also arousing to look at it. The neckline plunged between the tops of her breasts, and the fabric bunched around her waist with a silver belt, and she wore silver bracelets to match. When she moved, I could see the high slit in the fabric that exposed her thighs, which had me biting my bottom lip, trying not to be so obvious in the way I drank in the sight of her bare skin.

Melody still didn’t look like any other woman in town. I didn’t know if it was possible for her to, or that I’d want her to try. But something about the way she looked that night made it seem possible for her to belong here in her own way. Even though I knew she didn’t have any interest in sticking around. That was one safety net I still had to cling to, thank goodness, despite the disappointment I felt every time I remembered she’d be leaving.

“Wow. You look…,” I shook my head. “Stunning.”

“Thank you,” she beamed, turning side to side. “I finally bit the bullet and decided to wear some of the things my mom had lying around.” She fidgeted with the silver bangles on her wrists. “I think she would have wanted me to.”

I felt a surge of empathy for her at that moment. I knew all too well what it felt like to take stabs in the dark at guessing what your loved ones would have thought or wanted after they were gone. My understanding of it sent my hand jutting out, hooking my finger under her chin to raise her eyes to mine so she’d really hear me when I said it.

“She would have. And she would have wanted any man lucky enough to be taking you out to dinner to tell you how beautiful you look,” I said softly.

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