“Melanie.”
The simple name slipped from my lips, like I had been saying it my whole life.
“Melanie?” My mother took another sip of her drink, her brow furrowing with concentration. I knew she would remember Melanie once I explained who she was but I knew she wanted to try to figure it out first. “I’m drawing a blank, Jack.”
“Melanie Wright, Ma.”
The way her face changed would have been comical if it wasn’t for the sheer fact that the imaginary lightbulb burst the second it lit up.
“As in the same Melanie who I interviewed five years ago, who moved out to California with herhusband?”
If I thought the look on Mom’s face when I got in trouble as a child was terrifying, right now she looked like she could kill me with one flick of the wrist.
The last word falling from her mouth was what should have done me in but after already having talked to Max and knowing what was going on with Melanie, I had the upper hand.
“She’s no longer married, Ma.”
“What?” Her face went soft and I knew her brain was trying to work around what I was saying.
“Her husband died about a year ago.” It was Lilly who spoke up this time. Her voice tender toward my mom. Even before Lilly and Greg got married, she had been a part of this family for years. She was like a second sister to me, my first being Delilah, who luckily, wasn’t here tonight because she would be eating this up as much as mom was. “He had a heart attack at home. ”
“But he was so young.” Mom had a hand placed over her heart as she hung onto every word. I sat on the edge of my seat, as if I hadn’t already heard this exact same explanation from Max. I knew with what Lilly was saying and how sad she looked, she got it directly from Melanie, so what else did she know?
“Apparently it ran in the family but they just weren’t expecting it to come for Wade so soon.” Greg placed a hand over Lilly’s, trying to comfort her. “Melanie took it hard but she picked herself back up fast, needing to be there for her daughter, Amelia.”
“They had a daughter?” Mom gasped and a tear escaped her eye.
“She’s five now but she can remember a few things about her father.”
“Why did Melanie decide to move back to Atlanta?” The question popped out of my mouth as I interrupted their conversation.
“She wanted a fresh start.” Lilly’s eyes zoned in on me and I swear she was giving me the same look that Max had the day before. Lilly could always see right through me but right now, I just needed her to tell me everything else she knew about Melanie and Amelia.
“Oh no you don’t.” It was mom who spoke up. “You are not prying Lilly for information about Melanie.”
She wagged a finger at me and Lilly put a hand over her mouth, trying to hide the ever growing smile on her face.
“If you want to know more about her, then ask her, Jack.” She shook her head, taking a bite from the slice of pie in front of her. I’d set my fork down and hadn’t touched my desert since Melanie's name was mentioned, my appetite completely lost.
“If you have feelings for her, then get to know her yourself.”
“I’m not sure it’s called feelings right now since I barely know her. But don’t worry, she wants nothing to do with me.”
“And I wonder why?” Greg rolled his eyes at me. Between the two of us, he’d always been the loyal one and me the playboy of our couplet but what none of the guys knew was that I’d changed since the day I met Melanie. It had felt like love at first sight, a feeling I had never felt before then and most definitely not a feeling I’d felt since, except for when Melanie walked through the door as Max’s last week.
I wanted to make Melanie it for me, no matter what it took.
“Greg.” Mom scolded him and I stuck out my tongue at my brother. “Both of you need to stop it.”
Mom stood and dad with her, him taking her in his arms.
“Son,” Dad’s attention focused on me, “if you want to win her over, you need to do what your mother says. Learn what she likes, what she dislikes. You need to court her, son. She’s broken and broken women need time to heal.”
“I can give her time dad but it doesn’t mean I’ll give her space.”
“Who said anything about space?” Dad laughed as he took mom by the hand and led her into the kitchen, toward the porch. I guess tonight we wouldn’t be playing a board game, even though it was set up on the table. “Give her what she needs, youandtime!”
I stared down at my plate as Lilly and Greg got up to make their way toward our parents. I refused to move though, being left alone with the empty board of Life. Scenarios ran through my head of how I could get Melanie to talk to me, to understand how I felt about her, and to let me into her life.
