Page 66 of Before Forever

I made a point to look at the floor as I talked to her, not making eye contact for a second longer than what felt absolutely necessary. “Hey, yeah…So, our job here is finished. I just need to walk you through everything and then have you sign off on it.”

“Okay, great. I’m ready if you are.”

She followed me through the house as I gave the final rundown on everything we had done over the past few months. I tried to treat it just as I would with any other customer or job and pretend as nothing had ever happened between us. I held that up for as long as I could until we ended the walk-through in her kitchen. We stood on opposite sides of the kitchen island, just as we had done for so many previous mornings and afternoons we spent chatting. But now, of course, everything had changed.

She scribbled her signature on the paperwork, page after page, until the last one was done. I cleared my throat and tried to gather my thoughts, knowing it was now or never.

“Listen, Melody,” I started slowly. “All this stuff between us aside, Em’s been asking about you. I know I made a mistake in inviting you into her life, considering the circumstances. But I can’t take that back now. I think it’d mean a lot if you could visit with her before you go.”

“I would love to see Em again,” she nodded eagerly.

“Good. Okay,” I shook my head, anxiously scratching my chin. “I’ll have Keith give you a call so he can work out a time to bring her around.”

“Oh. Keith. Sure, okay.” Her face dropped in disappointment.

I started to say that covered everything and I should be on my way when she started talking. Our words fumbled over each other for a minute, followed by a nervous laugh.

“Derek, before you go,” she tried again. “I know you may not be ready to hear what I have to say yet. But since this is it, I just have to say this much, at least. I promise I didn’t lie to you. I had no idea Evan was going to show up here like that, and I swear I had zero desire for him to lunge at me and kiss me like that. If you hadn’t walked up when you did, the only thing that would have happened differently is that I would have had the chance to slap him across the face. I don’t feel the same way about him anymore. Not now that I’ve…that I’ve felt what it’s like to be with a good man like you. You’re the one I’d be with, if I could. I just…I wanted to make sure you knew that.”

I forced myself to stand there and listen to her. It felt like my heart was being pulled in two directions. On the one hand, I should have never opened Em and myself up to being hurt again. We were better off on our own. Whether she was telling the truth or not, I obviously just wasn’t ready.

Then there was the part of me that told me I was being an idiot. Of course, she didn’t want to kiss that jerk. I should have punched him myself for stalking her and showing up like that. It wasn’t a good enough reason to throw away everything we had been building between us.

But then I looked down at the signed paperwork in front of us and remembered none of that mattered. Melody didn’t belong here, and now she would be going back to the city. That was for the best, wasn’t it?

Before I could muster up a reply, the doorbell rang.

“That must be the realtor,” Melody said. “Can you give me just a minute?”

“I really should get going,” I argued.

“No, please. Just wait one minute, Derek. This won’t take long, and…,” she stammered for a moment. “I have one more question for you. About the house.”

I groaned and stepped out into the hall so she could meet with the realtor. I was ready to get out of there, but now she was holding me hostage.

I overheard Melody answer the door, and the realtor lady immediately erupted into a spiel about how great the place looked. She said everything was approved for the historic registry, so they’d be able to bump up the asking price and start getting offers in no time. The woman talked a mile a minute, but finally, it dawned on her that something was off. Melody stood in the doorway, carefully guarding the house. She didn’t ask the woman to come inside.

“Aren’t you going to invite me in?” she laughed awkwardly. “The photographer will be here any minute, and we have a lot to go over.”

“I’m sorry for the trouble you’ve already gone to,” Melody answered slowly. “But I won’t be selling the house.”

“Excuse me?” the woman gasped incredulously.

“I won’t be selling the house,” she said again. “There’s too much here for me in Silver Point to walk away from. Maybe not all of it’s figured out and set in stone yet, but it’s worth the risk to stay and see what happens.”

The realtor was shocked, tripping over her words for a minute. Finally, she managed to say, “But you can still sell the house and stay in Silver Point. You’d make an absolute fortune and….”

“No,” Melody said firmly. “This is the house that I want. This is my home now.”

The lady looked infuriated, but with Melody’s mind made up, all she could do was accept it and leave. “Fine. But you should know I will be billing you for the time I’ve put into preparing to make this listing.”

“Please do,” she chirped, waving her goodbye before slamming the door shut.

I watched Melody close her eyes and let out a big sigh. When she opened them, she saw me standing there.

“So, you’re sticking around then?” I asked, finding it hard not to smile.

“I am. And I hope that even if you never come around to believing me, you’ll still let me be a part of Em’s life. Maybe it sounds crazy, but I feel a special connection to her. And I think she needs a friend like me in her life.”

---