I looked up to the ceiling, thinking about the last time I’d seen Amelia. I helped tuck her into bed and had read to her until she fell asleep. It was the first night that Melanie asked if I wanted to read to her and Amelia was so excited that it took almost three books until her eyes finally closed.
“Oh, Jack,” my mom’s voice cracked as she pulled me into her arms and once again, I let the tears fall. I felt each word I’d said to my mom and let it out the only way I knew how.
“I’m so sorry. I don’t know what to say to make this any better, hon.”
“I don’t either, Ma. I woke up this morning and drove straight here.”
She held onto my shoulder, looking me straight in the eyes.
“I don’t know everything about your relationship, Jack, but what I do know is that you deserve more than this. You deserve an explanation.”
“I got one,” I let out a sigh. “She’s scared. She said she can’t lose someone close to her again. That she can’t have someone else in her life die.”
We sat there in silence, my mom looking anywhere but at me. I could tell she was thinking about what I said. I’d thought about it a lot, too. However, no matter what I told Melanie, she’d always have that little bit of fear inside of her but that didn’t matter to me. That’s what I had told her, over and over again last night. I was going to be there no matter what, even if she was scared, I’d be there to help her out in whatever way I could.
Buzzing came from behind my mom and it broke the trance we had created. My mom reached for her phone, answering it with a sour look on her face.
“What?” Her toned was snipped and it had me curious as to who was on the other end of the phone. Muffled tones could be heard but my mom’s facial expression didn’t change.
“No,” She stood from the couch and moved across the room. I followed behind, not caring about privacy. “You cannot talk to him, Max.”
I stopped in my tracks, my mom still walking into the kitchen. I was standing still in the dining room, listening from afar now. I wouldn’t answer my phone for Max earlier and now he was calling my mom.
“Max Wellington. You do not get to call me with an attitude,” my mom’s voice raised and so did my eyebrows. This was not where I thought this conversation was going to go. I figured she’d tell me to call Max back or that she would tell him I was busy. I didn’t expect for her to fight my battle.
“You do not get to call here and demand my son. Not when that woman broke his heart.”
Silence came from the kitchen and I held my breath at what she was going to say next.
“No, Max. I’m sorry but you can’t talk to him right now. I will have him call you when he is ready.”
I made my way back into the living room, taking a seat on the couch. I wasn’t even sure when I would be ready to go back to the real world where I would have to see Max. He reminded me so much of Melanie. And if I saw Alexa, Lilly, or even Erica, I knew they would have talked with Melanie about what had happened. I had no idea when I was going to be ready to see my friends again and it just wasn’t something I was going to worry about right now.
Steps came from behind me as my mom made her way back into the living room, the phone still against her ear.
“Honestly, Max. I suggest you talk to your sister if you’re trying to figure out what happened because I can guarantee you that she has far more answers for you than Jack does.” She sat on the couch beside me and I laid down again, resting my head in her lap. “I just want you to be sure of one thing here, Max. It wasn’t Jack who did the heartbreaking here.”
“I know.”
I barely heard Max’s words through the phone but they were there. My mom hung up the phone, sitting it on the coffee table in front of us, then she went back to combing her hand through my hair like she’d done when I first got there. I hadn’t realized hours had past until I was staring at the dark curtains again and there was no longer sunlight coming through. That meant dad was about to be home, which meant Delilah and Greg weren’t far behind him.
I took a deep breath, ready for whatever was to come next but I closed my eyes, trying to get some sort of peace before the next set of chaos ensued. Before a million more questions were thrown my way.
I couldn’t image what Melanie was feeling though. Max said he knew that it wasn’t me who broke her heart, which meant he’d talked to her. He heard the story of what transpired last night and yet he still tried to reach out over and over again. Melanie had said Max was like that though. He tried to reach out to her after Wade had died and when she didn’t answer, he came to her. I had no idea if Max was going to show up here or at my condo but thinking about that conversation with Melanie had my heart breaking even more.
“Ma.”
“Yes, hon?”
“Do you think this was how Melanie felt when Wade died?”
“What do you mean, son?”
“That she’d never feel happy again without him in her life. That she knew she could do nothing to change the circumstances of what happened and was going to have to learn to live without him?”
“Jack,” my mom pulled me up, placing her hands on my shoulders again, “it’s not the same.”
She shook my shoulders this time, like she was trying to shake the thoughts out of my head.
