Mel didn’t answer right away. Amanda could tell her words hadlanded hard. What she couldn’t decide was whether they were sinking in or ifMel was putting together her counterpoint. Eventually, she said, “I don’t thinkof you as just some consumer. I love you.”
Amanda sighed. “I know. I love you, too. As the parent of mychildren and the first person I ever really fell in love with. But we can’t betogether. Please, please believe me when I say that.”
“You’re a very stubborn woman.” Mel put a hand on Amanda’s cheek.
Finally, she’d managed to convince her. Amanda leaned into itslightly. “Thank you.”
The next thing she knew, Mel’s mouth was on hers. It caught herso by surprise, she stood there for a moment, stunned.
“Oh, my God.”
Cal’s voice yanked her back to the moment. She pulled free andtook a giant step back. “Not what it looks like.”
“So, you weren’t kissing?”
“So, maybe it was a little bit what it looked like,” Mel said.
Amanda glared at her. “You are not helping.”
Because things weren’t bad enough, Daniella appeared in thedoorway. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” she said, but it was drowned out by Cal’s reply of,“Our moms were kissing.”
“Oh.” Daniella seemed neither bothered nor surprised.
“Your mother and I have been seeing each other,” Mel said.
“No, we haven’t.” Her tone was sharper than she would have likedbut, seriously, what the hell was Mel thinking?
Mel didn’t miss a beat. “Okay, perhaps that’s a little bit of anexaggeration.”
Cal stuck both hands out in a show of confusion. “Well, youeither have or you haven’t.”
Amanda blew out a breath. As much as she did not want to behaving this conversation with Mel, she wanted to be having it with her kidseven less. Especially as a party—a party she was hosting no less—went on merefeet away. Still. She didn’t trust Mel to do the explaining. “We had a moment.Maybe a couple of moments. But one of us came to our senses and ended it beforethings got out of hand.”
“Out of hand?” Cal asked.
“Moments?” Mel and Daniella said, both in disbelief.
Oh, dear God. Could this get any worse? “Yes. And it’s over anddone and we all need to accept that and put it behind us.”
She glared at Mel, who finally seemed to be getting the picture.“I’m sorry,” she said.
Amanda closed her eyes for a second. When she opened them, Mellooked both sad and defeated. “I think you should go.”
Mel nodded. She sighed. She offered Cal and Daniella what seemedlike an apologetic look. And then she was gone.
Chapter Twenty-eight
Amanda remained in the room with Cal, who still looked moreconfused than anything else, and Daniella, who seemed to be on the verge ofthrowing something or crying. She started with Daniella. “Honey—”
“Don’t honey me. I can’t believe you won’t give M another chance.She left Bella for you.” Daniella’s tone was sharp.
“I can see you’re really upset by this, but I’m not sure whatgave you the impression we were—”
“She told me, okay? She told me you got together the night of myconcert and she told me she still had feelings for you.”
“What?” Cal sounded even more bothered by that than the fact sheand Mel had hooked up in the first place.
Daniella planted her hands on her hips. “She still loves you,more than she ever loved Bella.”
She was pretty certain Mel mostly loved what she couldn’t have,but she wasn’t about to say that to Daniella. “But there’s a reason we brokeup. Probably a hundred or more reasons. Those don’t just go away because enoughtime has passed.”
Daniella lifted her chin, defiant. “Some of them did. M gottenure. You’re not working as many crazy hours as you used to. And Cal and Iaren’t needy little kids taking up all your time.”
“You were never needy little kids.” She looked at both Daniellaand Cal, hoping they didn’t doubt that for even a second.
Daniella sighed. “You know what I mean.”
“Honey, I’m sorry if Mel telling you about us made you thinkthere was some chance we’d end up back together.” Apologizing for Mel’sbehavior while at the same time wanting to throttle her felt like a cruelirony.
Another sigh, this one laced with a groan of frustration. “It wasmy idea, okay?”
Even without knowing exactly what Daniella meant, she knew itwasn’t good. “What was your idea?”
“The dough sheeter, the grand gesture, everything. I convincedher to go for it.” Her voice cracked at the end and she swiped away tears withthe back of her hand.
“Oh, Daniella.” Her frustration with Mel remained, but her heartached for her daughter.
“It was stupid. I get it. You’re in love with Quinn now and Mdoesn’t stand a chance.”
For as mature as Daniella was when it came to a lot of things,her take on love and relationships and her parents wasn’t one of them. At leastnot yet. “It wasn’t stupid. It’s perfectly reasonable to want your parents tobe together.”
Daniella shook her head and rolled her eyes. “I thought I wasover it, you know? Like, I haven’t spent the last ten years pining to be afamily again. It’s just, I don’t know. When it seemed like there was a chanceit might happen, I guess I got excited.”
This was exactly the reason she didn’t want to tell the kids inthe first place. But of course Mel wouldn’t see it that way. For as much as sheloved her children, her own needs and desires always came first. “I’m sorry.”
“It doesn’t matter. It’s too late.” Without waiting for a replyor anything else, Daniella shook her head and left.
Amanda was torn between chasing after her and giving her space.Since Cal remained—looking completely shell-shocked—the latter won out. Sincethe first apology had been directed at Daniella, she decided to lead with, “I’msorry.”
He shook his head. “I don’t get it.”
“It was a bad idea, but sometimes we get caught up in things andwe don’t make the best choices.” This one might top her all-time list ofterrible decisions.
“But I thought you were with Quinn. I thought Quinn made youhappy.”
“She does.” It struck her how much Cal had picked up on that,especially given the extent to which Daniella refused to.
He
