Gayle smiled. “Look at you, indeed.”
“I think that’s great, Renata,” Melanie said.
“I agree,” Belle echoed. She took a sip. “It’s very mature of you.”
“Thank you for noticing,” Renata said with a low laugh. “Ivan called me childish and manipulative.”
“Nah,” Gayle said. “He wanted time with his kids. Now he can choke on it.”
Melanie chuckled. “Oh, it’s good for all of them.”
Dads mattered. Tilly needed Adam right now. Even Logan had spent his life longing for that connection with his father. At the thought of him, tears prickled her eyes.
“I miss the kids already,” Renata said, her smile slipping. “I’m not used to all this freedom.”
“I know you want sympathy here,” Gayle said. “But the freedom will grow on you. Trust me.”
Melanie couldn’t help but smile past her own raw emotions, and she took a sip of her white wine.
“So what’s the update?” Angelina asked Melanie. “You sounded...momentous.”
“I’m keeping the lake house,” Melanie said. “I really thought that Adam was too much a part of this place, but when he came to pick up Tilly today, I realized that he’s not. He was never here...not often. This is mine. All mine.”
“That’s powerful,” Angelina said with a slow smile. “I’m glad. This is a pristine property. Are you starting up your own business, then?”
Melanie nodded. “I am. Tomorrow I’ll enroll in a design course, and come September, I’ll be a student again.”
“You okay?” Renata asked, fixing her with a perceptive look. “You seem...really sad. Is it just the adjustment? You said you saw Adam today, right?”
“I did, but it isn’t that. If anything, seeing Adam helped matters.” Melanie swallowed. “I’ve been spending a lot of time with Logan, and we started feeling more for each other than was wise. We called it off today.”
The women fell silent, and for a moment, all that could be heard was the music from inside and the chirp of insects down by the water.
“Feeling more than was wise...” Belle repeated. “Did you fall in love with him?”
“I didn’t say that—” She didn’t want to admit to it, at least.
“You didn’t have to,” Angelina said quietly. “You two always did have a spark.”
“A spark isn’t enough,” Melanie replied, and her chin trembled.
“A spark is something quite extraordinary, though,” Gayle said. “It’s something some of us spent years and years without.”
Melanie couldn’t deny that. Whatever she and Logan seemed to share was rare and beautiful...just doomed. And her heart couldn’t take any more battering. She’d been through too much. The candles flickered in a gust of breeze and Melanie moved one closer, looking down into the flame.
“I just can’t do it,” Melanie said woodenly. “I’m tired. I need to be on my own.”
There was silence for a moment, then Angelina said, “We don’t have to be with men to be happy. Realizing that is why we’re all here, I think.”
“Amen to that,” Belle said, lifting her glass.
“A house on a mountain lake, a group of good friends and plans for the future,” Renata said. “If we can’t find the good in this...”
“It’s a good life,” Melanie said. “My stepdaughter needs to see me do this—build a life of my own, find joy in the little things, get excited about my own career—because she’s going to have to be stronger than she ever thought possible. A baby is coming, and her boyfriend is the kind of man who sucks a woman’s soul dry. So this second start is for her, too. Sometimes you have to show the next generation how to fall down and get back up again.”
“Yes,” Renata said quietly. “Exactly that.”
Melanie had gotten over Logan before, and she could do it again, this time with the wisdom of her life experience behind her. But Melanie’s heart was still heavy. She was tired of trying, of throwing her back into her relationships. There were times when trying wasn’t going to change a thing.
LOGAN PULLED INTO his garage on the cul-de-sac in the west end of Denver where he and his son lived. Logan and Caroline had bought the house together when Graham was all of five.
They’d been catching up on the drive back from the airport, so Graham had already heard all the pertinent details about his grandfather, his uncle and aunt and cousins. It felt good to be able to tell his son about this—some kind of connection to his side of the family.
Logan got out of the truck and heaved his son’s suitcase from the truck bed. Graham came over and grabbed it.
“I’ve got it, Dad. But thanks.”
Graham looked more mature—a few weeks abroad had changed him. Funny how life did that. It wasn’t in a physical aging process, just an emotional one that could be seen in the slant of his shoulders and the glint in his eye. He’d matured.
“You know, I was thinking,” Logan said. “I can take you to see your grandfather’s grave, if you want. I wouldn’t mind seeing it, myself.”
“You think your brother will even talk to you after that speech?” Graham asked.
“I figure he might.” Logan smiled ruefully. “It was honest, but not mean. So, what do you think?”
Graham shrugged. “Yeah, maybe.”
Graham carried his suitcase into the house and Logan followed. Graham didn’t need a trip back to a grave—Logan could tell. His son was being polite, trying to be supportive, but he’d never met his grandfather and hadn’t seemed to suffer without him. Logan had made sure of that. He’d never wanted his son to feel a lack of love from his relatives. There was a whole family out there who had never even brushed against Graham’s life. But did it have to be that way?
Logan had never made the rest of their family a priority. He had let them
