“It wasn’t your fault, Tilly,” she said. “We were adults, and our marriage was our business. That had nothing to do with you.”
Melanie headed for the door and went outside. The tears started to fall before she had even pulled the door shut behind her. There were some apples on the ground underneath the tree, and she thought of the pies she wanted to make, the cobblers, the apple sauce...and she didn’t have the heart for it anymore. What did it matter?
She’d chosen to put Adam and his children first—for better or for worse—and she’d thought it was the virtuous thing to do. She’d made a home for them...and this was the result.
Melanie centered the heel of her shoe over an apple and crushed it, the tangy scent of broken fruit tickling her nose. Then did the same to another apple and another.
Blast it. The kids had known.
CHAPTER NINE
LOGAN HAD NABBED a table by a window overlooking the lake. There were some loons swimming on the smooth water, and the sunlight shimmered. A man and woman kayaked closer to shore, their paddles dipping into the turquoise water. Just a couple enjoying a morning together, making memories. It was so easy to take that stuff for granted. He and Caroline had come to the lake that summer they’d helped his mom move out to Denver. A few months later Caroline would get her first cancer diagnosis. She beat that one, but when the cancer came back the second time, she hadn’t been able to.
Last night, he’d sat up with his mother’s bracelet in his hands, mulling over the past. Mountain Springs hadn’t changed a whole lot. Even the family dynamic around here felt pretty similar. Junior was still strangely protective of their father. Logan was still considered the danger to all things civilized. His father was still distant even when he was trying to connect. They were all the same people with the same issues, the same defense reflexes. And somehow, he was still drawn to Melanie in a powerful way. Was it just this town, that feeling of everything being the same, or was it something deeper?
He turned from the window and noticed Melanie come into the dining room, her stepdaughter just behind her. Melanie wore a pair of tan linen pants and a gauzy white top. Her gaze moved around the room, and when she spotted him, she smiled.
His heart skipped a beat, and he smiled back. He had to stop this—he’d only get his heart mangled in the process.
Melanie and Tilly came up to the table and Logan stood up as they chose their seats.
“Hi,” he said, shooting Melanie a smile. “How are you doing?”
“Not too badly.” She smiled back, and the fine lines around her eyes crinkled. He liked that—evidence of a thousand smiles.
“I’m glad you came, Tilly,” he said, turning to the teenager. “Are you hungry?”
“I guess,” Tilly replied, and she eyed him with that distrustful scrutiny of teenagers. “What’s with the formality? The standing, and all that?”
She must have come across a few formal manners in her upbringing within a wealthy family. Logan glanced at Melanie, but she didn’t blink.
“It’s polite,” Logan said. “You are ladies, and I’m showing you some respect.”
“People don’t do that anymore. We aren’t in a black-and-white movie,” Tilly replied.
“I do it,” he said. “And maybe you should expect a few people to show you some old-fashioned manners.”
Like that twit she was dating that Melanie had told him about.
Tilly rolled her eyes. “It’s ridiculous. But just don’t start dancing and singing, and we should be fine.”
Logan chuckled. And maybe to her it was nuts, but looking at that blonde girl who looked so much younger than she seemed to think she was, he wondered what she faced out there on her own. How did people treat this girl? Not half well enough, he’d guess. Money didn’t always equal respect.
The waiter came by with menus and glasses of water.
“So, Melanie says that you guys vacationed here a lot?” Logan asked. “I grew up in this town. Like Melanie did.”
“Right...” Tilly glanced over at Melanie. “She used to tell us that—about her old friends and stuff. Dad used to say that Mel’s life was a constant vacation living in a place like this.”
“Not exactly a vacation,” Logan said. “She worked hard. She got good grades, made extra money working at a Dairy Queen.”
“Beside a lake,” Tilly said with a smirk. Yeah, this kid had no concept of what regular people lived like. Had Tilly ever worked?
“I lived in a house in town,” Melanie said. “There was no lakeside anything for me. Except when I came to the lake in the summer on a day off. More like an afternoon off, because I was busy saving for college.”
“Well, there’s a lake now,” Tilly retorted.
Melanie didn’t answer. This sounded like an old conversation. He cast Melanie a sympathetic look and she shrugged.
“But remember how you used to complain about things?” Tilly said, turning to Melanie. “You were all princess and the pea. Remember that? Dad used to tease you so much!”
“About what?” Logan asked, trying to sound casual, but his hackles were up.
“Like...everything. She hated it when we called her Melanie instead of Mom. And she had this thing about Dad not answering her calls. Like, he’d be in a meeting or driving or whatever, and not pick up, and she’d get all offended. And Dad said it was just a pea, and it was proof that she grew up spoiled rotten.”
Tilly laughed and turned back to the menu, scanning the page. Melanie’s cheeks had gone pink, and she looked away. So that was how she’d been treated in her marriage. And the kids had joined in on needling her. How many meetings could the guy have possibly been in? And how many of those “meetings” had been something else entirely? He felt his anger rise at the very thought. That had been Melanie’s life for the last fifteen years. She’d deserved
