“What am I supposed to do, Bray?” I ask, completely broken. “You’re right, I do love her, but it’s not what it used to be. It’s actually deeper now. Back then, it would have been easy for me to run into her arms to help me forget about Alyssa, but now, I feel like I would be disrespecting them both if I do that.”
Braydon makes his way into the kitchen, rummaging until he finds the leftover spaghetti. While he waits for it to reheat, he starts a pot of coffee. Probably a good idea because what was already looking to be a long night just got longer.
“First of all, Alyssa would understand,” Braydon reassures me. “If shit went down differently, I would agree because we all know how Alyssa felt about ‘that evil bitch that hurt you’,” he says, forming air quotes around the words my wife often used to refer to my ex. If he’s trying to make me feel better, he’s doing a shitty job because now, I feel bad for allowing the two women to meet the day Melanie showed up at my door. “But they were friends. She got to know the real Mel, and honestly, we all met the real Mel when she came to help with Alyssa. She’s not the girl you used to live with. She’s strong and I have no doubt she’ll put you in your place when you fuck up.”
We both chuckle at the truth of his statement. Yes, Melanie hasn’t had any problem telling me when she doesn’t agree with me. She no longer turns her eyes to the ground when I speak, she squares her shoulders confidently and stares me down with those huge mocha eyes.
“Here’s the thing,” Braydon says, pouring me a cup of coffee. “You can’t change what happened. But you can make sure Jacob has what he needs in his life. And seeing as you love her and I know she loves both of you, I think you’d be doing everyone, Alyssa included, a disservice to ignore that because of your own hang-ups created by the past.”
I hate my brother right now. He makes it sound as if it should be simple to convince myself that not only would Alyssa condone what he’s proposing, but she would actually encourage it. I sit on the stool next to my brother, watching him shovel food into his mouth as if he hasn’t eaten in a month. I don’t want to be sitting here next to him, I want to be in the bedroom with Jacob and Melanie, but I have to trust that she’ll come out when she’s ready. Until then, I will give them this time together. Alyssa asked me to trust Melanie to help with Jacob, so that’s what I need to do.
Braydon hangs around for almost two more hours, talking to me about anything he can think of to keep my mind off what might be going on in my son’s bedroom. As I walk him to the door, I notice Melanie’s keys sitting on the dining table. I grab them, figuring it’s a pretty safe bet that Brody is wondering why he’s home alone at this point. She’s taking care of my son, I’ll take care of hers.
“Man, you’ve got it bad,” Braydon laughs when I follow him out of the building. “And I take it back, I’ll bet that you two are living together by the time little dude starts kindergarten.”
“Don’t push it,” I sigh. While I might be willing to think about seeing where things lead with Melanie, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to race to the altar any time soon. For all I know, she might not even be interested in trying to make anything between us work after how things ended the last time.
“Just sayin’…” He folds himself behind the wheel of his Jaguar XF, waving as I make my way down the sidewalk between our buildings.
Brody rushes to the door as soon as he hears the key in the lock. He might be tiny, but the way he’s jumping at me and yapping as I enter the apartment, you’d think he’s the biggest, baddest guard dog out there. “Easy, boy,” I say, crouching down so he can sniff me. After clipping the leash to his collar, I snag his toy bag off the floor, relatively certain he’s going to be at my place for the night.
Melanie still isn’t out of Jacob’s room by the time Brody and I are done taking our middle of the night walk. It was longer than the dog needed, but knowing that Jacob was in good hands, I decided to take a little time to clear my head. Not only does Braydon have me thinking about Melanie being part of my life for the long haul, but he also proposed a solution for my desire to stop traveling so much for work.
Financially, I know I can swing it, but I’m not sure the hours I would have to work are much of an improvement over what I’m doing now. And I worry that, if I do this, the day will come when I have to make a decision between Melanie and the club. She might have been one of the best VIP bartenders Braydon has ever had working at Artemis, but I know how much she hated it. She never hung out with the other girls who worked there because they were greedy, desperate whores who would do anything to get ahead. Her words, not mine.
Dim light from the kitchen streams through the small opening in Jacob’s bedroom door. What I see somehow manages to crush me and bring me to life at the same time. Melanie is now laying down in Jacob’s bed with her back pressed against the wall and my son nestled against her chest. I tip-toe through the room to cover them with a blanket, choking back the tears wetting my eyes.
Chapter 15