As Logan pulled up to Melanie’s lake house, he noticed that Tilly’s little red Audi was still parked there. Had she come back, or had she left her car behind?
He knocked on the door, box under one arm, and when Melanie pulled it open, she was on the phone. She angled her head, silently inviting him inside.
“...she’s seventeen, Adam,” she was saying. “One more year, and she’s a legal adult. What was I going to do, wrestle her the ground?”
Logan smiled at that and followed her into the bright kitchen. Logan leaned back against the counter, putting the box down next to him.
“I don’t like him, either, but unless you toughened up on that relationship in the last year, I don’t remember you ever telling her that.” Melanie rubbed her free hand over her face. “And yes, he’s a real little jerk. He was complaining about her gaining weight with the pregnancy—already!”
Logan could hear Adam’s elevated response to that, and Melanie cast Logan a smile.
“Look—she said for you to call her. That’s all I can tell you. And her car is still here, so she’ll be back.” A pause. “Of course, and I told her she could call me if she needed me... Yeah...yeah... Uh-huh. She’s not an idiot, Adam. I think she’ll come to her senses, but as long as she’s fighting us—” She sighed. “Look, I have someone here, so I should go... Right... Yep... Call her, Adam! She’s your daughter.”
When Melanie hung up, she shrugged apologetically.
“Sorry about that,” she said. “Adam is still in Japan, and he’s worried.”
“I’ll bet,” Logan said. “So what happened?”
“When I got home this morning, Simon was here, and they were about to take off together. I asked her to stay, and she wouldn’t.” She licked her lips. “Simon makes me nervous.”
“He was commenting on her weight?” Logan asked with a frown. That was the part that had snagged his attention.
“He doesn’t want her getting fat, he says.” Melanie’s lips curled in distaste. “He’s a pig, that kid. I don’t like him, and the last thing she needs is her boyfriend making her feel self-conscious about eating.”
“Yeah, no kidding.” He frowned. “Have you called his parents?”
“No. I’m leaving that up to Adam. I know she landed here, and... I raised that child, but I never officially adopted the kids. Without their dad, I’m not a part of this. And Simon’s parents know it.”
“Fair enough.” He met her gaze. “Is Tilly okay?”
“She’s fine for now,” Melanie replied. “This is more of a long-term worry than a short-term one. She’s pregnant, and he’s going to undermine her sense of self-worth because her body is doing something that—” She pressed her lips together.
“That what?” he asked quietly.
“That not all of us got the chance to do,” she said, and her eyes misted. “But this isn’t about me, it’s about her. That boy is emotionally abusive, and I’ve had enough friends and family members who’ve had babies to know that pregnancy is a really delicate time for a woman, emotionally and otherwise.”
“I agree wholeheartedly,” he said. “And I’ve got to say, I don’t have warm thoughts about this kid’s parents, either. Someone should have been teaching him better.” Logan’s son was a little older than Simon, but Graham had been raised to respect women. He and Caroline had made sure of it.
“His father is busy, his mother volunteers a lot and Simon was raised by nannies, none of whom he really respected,” she replied. “What he needed was someone to kick his butt a whole lot sooner than this.”
“Should we go after them?” he asked.
“Go where?” She spread her hands. “No, we wait. Or we let Adam get back from Japan and deal with his daughter. I think he’s the one she’s been baiting all this time, anyway.”
Logan nodded. “I could see that.” Silence fell between them, and she seemed to deflate before his eyes. “Tough morning, huh?”
“Yeah.” She nodded toward the box on the counter. “You got it back?”
Logan glanced down at the glossy box. “I saw my brother, and he brought it along. He figured I’d want it.”
“How’s he doing?” Melanie asked. “With your dad’s passing, and all.”
“He’s okay,” Logan replied. “We had a really good talk.”
Melanie smiled faintly at that. “I’m glad. Did you find some common ground?”
“Yeah, a bit,” he admitted. “And he wants me to speak at the funeral.”
Melanie’s eyebrows went up, and he smiled ruefully. “Yeah, I’m not sure that’s a great idea, either, but I guess Junior wants to include me as...a brother.”
“It’s only fair,” she said.
“Even if it’s a bit late,” he replied, then sighed. “I’ll have to find something nice to say, or just pass on the honor, you know?”
Melanie nodded. “You might find that you have more to say than you think.”
But if he started talking, what came out might not be palatable to the rest of the family.
“Look, I was wondering if you might want to come to the funeral,” he said. “You can say no—I should have started with that. But Junior has his wife and kids, and everyone else is going to have their own memories of my father, and if you came along...”
It might be a comfort for him alone. But he didn’t want to say that out loud.
“Sure,” she said. “When is it?”
“Saturday at noon. And I have to head back to Denver to pick up my son from the airport Sunday morning, so...it would be a chance to spend some time with you.”
“I’m not sure I’m the important relationship here,” she said quietly.
He didn’t answer that. Maybe his family relationships had been messy and scarring, but this time with her mattered. She quickly was becoming an important relationship in his life, even if he didn’t how to put it into
