“Right.” His expression softened. “You regretting that now?”
She sucked in a breath. “I don’t know. They needed me then, and I did love those kids, even when they were putting me through the wringer. Their mom had died. They needed love, even if they didn’t want to admit it. I thought I was investing in my family for the long term. So looking back on it, maybe I should have focused a little more on myself, but...”
“Your heart was in the right place,” he supplied.
“It was,” she agreed. “But I’m starting up my own business now. I did some decorating for charity events during my marriage, and I decorated and redecorated our houses in Denver and Vermont... I have experience and taste. But I’ve never had a full-time position in decor, and I’m not exactly up-to-date anymore... It’s something I started before I met Adam, and everything changed. So I guess I feel like I owe it to myself to try again.”
And this time, she wasn’t going to let her own ambitions get derailed by another guy. Being a martyr for other people’s needs was stupid in the long run—she wasn’t doing that again.
“I’m sure you can do it.”
“I’d better be able to,” she replied. “Because I’m on my own now.”
“With your ex-stepdaughter,” he added with a teasing smile.
“With Tilly...” She rolled her eyes, her thoughts going back to the teenager who drove her crazy. “Tilly told me she wanted her father to give her the lake house.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. What Tilly wants, Tilly gets. That’s how it always went, at least. Then Adam gave me the lake house in the divorce—probably to avoid giving me the house in Vermont—and Tilly’s furious.”
“Did you want the house in Vermont?” Logan asked.
Did she? She might have been the one who’d left, but she’d been a heartbroken mess, and she hadn’t actually been looking at how much she deserved to get out of their union. “I don’t suppose it matters anymore. Adam had a whole team of better lawyers. Besides, I’d have to be able to maintain the house in Vermont. It was more than I could afford on my own.”
Logan smiled. “I guess we both grew up.”
“It happens to the best of us,” she replied with a shrug. They were quiet for a moment, then she shot him a questioning look. “Did you find your dad yet?”
“I know he’s not dead,” Logan said bluntly.
She choked on a laugh. “Okay...”
“He was listed as having survived Dot in her obituary three years ago. And there was no obituary for him since. So it looks like he’s still around.”
“Your half brother would know where he is, wouldn’t he?” Melanie remembered Junior. He’d been a few years younger—just starting middle school when they’d been in high school. “Or your half sister?”
Logan didn’t answer, but he chewed the side of his cheek.
“If you want to find Harry...” she said, softening her tone “...Junior is a place to start.”
“Yeah, I know. I’m just not real keen on meeting up with my dad’s other kids.”
“Even now?” She frowned.
“We’ve spent the last two decades studiously ignoring each other,” he said. “Harry’s family was happier pretending I didn’t exist. That didn’t change.”
“Are you going to keep trying to find him?” she asked.
“Yep.”
There he was—the rebel she remembered. It was the same grim smile from when the principal accused him of cheating on his math final. He hadn’t cheated, but apparently a dusted-up kid from the wrong side of the tracks had no right getting a grade that high. Logan never had shied away from a fight until now.
“If you track down Junior, he can at least tell you where Harry is.” Melanie put up her hands in mock surrender. “That’s all I’m going to say on the matter.”
He met her gaze, and for a moment, he stared into her face, his own expression granite. What was it about that dark stare that could still make her breath catch? But she was older now, and wiser. While a stony reserve used to be mysterious, she knew better. She didn’t like not being able to read a man she was involved with. But after twenty-three years, Logan might count as a friend.
“I should probably get going,” she said. “I need to get some groceries in the fridge.”
“Sure.” Logan nodded, and that granite expression finally cracked, revealing a deep well of sadness. Her heart gave a squeeze.
“What are you doing tonight?” she asked, before she could stop herself or think better of it.
“Not sure,” he said. “Why?”
“Why don’t you come for dinner?” she said.
“What about Tilly?” he asked.
“I don’t know what to say. I’m not looking for privacy with her.”
“Don’t let her chase you off, either,” he said.
“Easier said than done with this kid.” But Melanie smiled. “Come for dinner, and you can update me on your search for Harry, and I’ll at least have distraction from my ex-stepdaughter who can’t stand me.”
“How can a guy resist that kind of invitation?” Logan said with a low laugh.
“I know, right?” She laughed. “This is what I’ve come to.”
“What time?”
“Say...six?”
“I’ll be there.”
Melanie pushed back her chair and rose. She was feeling more optimistic already. She’d get some groceries, and then she’d go back and face Tilly...like she had any choice. But at least she could have an ally in Logan—he’d come back to Mountain Springs about as gracefully as she had, complete with unresolved personal issues.
There was comfort in that. She wasn’t the only one.
CHAPTER FOUR
LOGAN LOOKED OVER his shoulder as Melanie disappeared out the door. Coming back to Mountain Springs, he hadn’t anticipated talking to her this intimately. He’d figured he’d walk these streets, find his dad, pass over that box and leave again. And in the meantime, maybe he’d relive a few memories, but Melanie—in his head, at least—was going to be focused on her own life. He didn’t think they’d hang out...or that he’d still find himself drawn to her. In another life, this
