The whisper was exactly what I was dreading. I pulled Melanie into my arms, wrapping her in a hug, and then let her go. She stood in front of me, a different woman. She wasn’t just the woman I wanted to get or even Max’s sister.
No.
The woman standing in front of me was my future.
“Let me give you my number,” I offered.
“Here.” Melanie opened her phone and clicked around before handing it to me to put in my cell number. I handed it back to her and it felt like the final goodbye of the night and I hadn’t realized until I looked up and saw the time on the wall that it was late into the night, being almost ten.
“I’ll message you.” Melanie pushed away from me, giving me space I didn’t want. “I need to head home to Amelia.”
I leaned down, placing one last kiss on Melanie’s cheek.
“Get home safe, please.”
“I will.”
With that, she left almost like what had just happened in this cafe didn’t affect her as much as it had me. Maybe she was just good at hiding it. Either way, I’d gotten to kiss Melanie finally and I knew that was only just the beginning for us.
This time, the ball was in her court.
Melanie had my number and would have to make the next move. And man, I hoped she made it sooner rather than later.
Seven
Silenceand a dark condo were what I’d come home to the last three nights. It’d been two days since I saw Melanie. Tonight after getting home from family dinner and getting hounded by my mom again about why I had a huge grin on my face, I either needed to hear from Melanie or drown myself in a bottle of whisky.
“Alexa, turn the living room light on.”
The dim lights came on, lighting up just enough of the room for me to see where the couch was. I plopped down, pulling my wallet and phone out of my pockets, and threw them on the coffee table.
I hadn’t turned on my phone since I’d left my parent’s house, so I powered it on, and waiting to see if I got any messages from Chase. Erica was supposed to have a photo shoot today for a promotional packet with one of Alexa’s clients. I was excited to see the shoot and start working on ideas for a cover and teasers for the author.
We’d mostly worked with traditional fiction and fantasy over the years but once we added Alexa’s romance division to The Ink Well, it changed the game of my graphics. Working with actual couples for covers and teasers added a layer of realness to each book that I hadn’t known I was missing in the work I did.
When my phone finally lit up, it wasn’t a missed call from Chase but from an unknown number. Normally, I would ignore it but this one left a voicemail. I put it on speaker and pressed play, leaning back onto the couch and closing my eyes to listen to it.
“Hey, Jack. It’s Melanie.”
I shot up on the couch and grabbed for my phone, turning the speaker all the way up.
“I really have no idea why I’m calling you but I thought I’d let you know I had a great night the other night. I wouldn’t mind having coffee with you again. I mean, it doesn’t just have to be coffee, we could do lunch or something. It’s still not a date. I would like to see you though.”
I laughed at her rambles, picturing her talking into her phone as she walked back and forth trying to figure out what to say with her lip between her teeth and her hand playing with a loose strand of hair.
“Anyways, I’m going to let you go before I say something stupid and have to start this all over.”
I waited a few seconds but it sounded like the line was still on.
“Okay, I’m going to hang up now.”
Click.
A bellowed laugh escaped me as I contemplated if I should call Melanie back or not. It was late and she’d called me two hours ago but something felt right in pressing the call button.
So, I did.
It rang once before Melanie’s voice came through the phone.
