I held it together and walked toward my room, wanting to distance myself from the memories of that kitchen. I closed the door, my bed calling my name, wanting to help me forget everything that had happened.
I would have to embrace the chaos but not until the morning and the first thing to take on was the open ring box I left sitting on the kitchen counter.
Eighteen
The breeze feltlight against my hand while I drove down the empty highway. I road with no more than a few cars on it in the middle of the day. Everyone was at work, where I should be, but instead I woke up, got dressed, and hopped into my truck. I didn’t grab my laptop, sketchbook, or even thought to call work.
I had one thing on my mind still and it was Melanie. Last night she’d walked out, saying that we could no longer be together, that she could never love me, that she was scared. I couldn’t get her to stay, no matter what I’d said. I’d given myself completely to the woman I loved and even though I hadn’t been expecting anything in return, what I got wasn’t what I was expecting at all. We’d been building a relationship. Melanie had brought Amelia into this and now she was the one taking not just herself but Amelia out of this.
I slammed my hand down on the side of the truck as my foot hit the gas, jutting the truck forward. I continued to speed to my mom’s house, the only place I could go where I wouldn’t be questioned with what happened last night. My head was still trying to process it all but every time I did, the tears started to well in my eyes.
The Helen exit sign came up on my right and I exited toward the town, knowing good and well that my mom would be home alone at this time in the afternoon. Dad would be at work and both Delilah and Greg wouldn’t be to the house until much later in the day for family dinner. I reached for the phone in my pocket, clicking the side button, seeing that I had five missed calls from Greg and ten from Max.
I still felt no inkling to contact them, even though I knew Max would have my ass the second he got me on the phone. I had deadlines to meet but right now, nothing seemed that important. I felt no urge to jump onto a computer and work on graphics. I felt no drive and that wasn’t something I was used to. Right now, I wanted to curl up on my mom’s couch and not care about the outside world.
I pulled up to my parent’s house just outside of Helen. It was away from the big city of Atlanta and that’s why I loved coming here. I hadn’t been to family dinner in a few weeks but when I did come up here, I tried to stay for as long as I could. The atmosphere was great for working in and today it would be great for sulking in.
“Jack?” My mom’s voice boomed in the empty forest the surrounded their cabin home. I jumped out of the truck, meeting her half-way across the lawn. Her arms wrapped around me and my head rested on top of her. “What are you doing here so early, son?”
She pulled away and the way she looked up at me, I lost it.
The tears that had filled my eyes last night and, on the drive, over, the same one’s I refused to let go of, finally broke free. They streamed down my cheeks, letting out the pain that Melanie had inflicted on my heart.
“Oh, honey!” My mom grabbed my hand, dragging me inside the house. I followed as close as I could, the tears clouding my vision. I let my mom do as she needed, placing me on the couch, grabbing for more pillows and blankets. She finally took a seat next to me and placed my head in her lap as I continued to let the tears fall freely. Her hand combed through my hair, trying to sooth something she had no idea about.
“What happened?”
She asked the one question that I didn’t want to answer. The one questioned that I had been running away from. In my heart though, I realized this was exactly why I’d come to my mom’s. Not because I was running away from the question but because she was the only one that I wanted to tell. The only one who would know what to do to heal my broken heart.
“She left, mom.” A sob broke from me, finally letting the words spill from my mouth. The words that made it all too real.
“Melanie?” She questioned, her hand still combing through my hair. My mom had always been there for me but the last time she had to do this was what I didn’t get accepted into my dream college. She’d told me that it wasn’t meant to be and that it meant I was supposed to do something else. That’s how I ended up at the same college with my brother where we met Max and Chase.
“Yeah.”
“Jack,” her words were soft, “tell me what happened.”
I whipped away a few tears and placed my hands under my head. I was staring at the front window that had dark tan curtains covering them but they weren’t the distraction I needed.
“I told her I loved her, Ma.”
“What did she say?”
“She didn’t say anything at first.” I sat up, tears having dried in my eyes and on my face. I knew I probably looked like a mess but I didn’t care. “Then she got defensive and pretended like she didn’t hear me.”
I watched as my mom’s eyebrows scrunched together. From what I’d told her, she knew how closed off Melanie was and what had happened to her. I could tell she was just as confused as I had been last night when it was happening to me.
“She wouldn’t acknowledge what I had told her,” I continued, sitting up straighter on the couch as I recalled all the event from last night. “Not until I practically yelled at her.”
“You did not!” My mom’s attitude shifted from sympathetic to overprotective. She swatted at my arm, scolding me.
“Ow!” I pulled away, rubbing where she had hit. “She wouldn’t listen, Ma!”
“That doesn’t give you the right to yell at her!”
“It does when she told me that she could never love me and did it with a straight face like she was saying something completely normal, Ma.” Tears started to well in my eyes again and I watched as my mom’s expression changed once again. Tears formed in her own eyes now.
“Then she told me that I could never see Amelia again. She threw my words back at me, saying that they were a package deal.”
