She thinks I’m lying to make a good impression on Claire, but I answer without missing a beat. “You Belong With Me.”
“Oh.” Melissa looks surprised, and her eyes catch mine again. I mentally thank my med school lab partner, who used to sing Taylor’s songs through all of our anatomy labs.
“What are you gonna be for Halloween, Luke?” Liam asks.
“I haven’t decided yet.” I turn back to Melissa. “How about you, Melissa?”
“Um . . .” she hedges.
“Mom always goes as a unicorn,” Claire announces.
“A unicorn, huh?” I say, enjoying Melissa’s blush. “I’d love to see that costume.”
Her blush deepens. “Uh, I think it might have gotten lost in the move.”
“No, it didn’t,” Claire puts in helpfully. “It’s hanging in your closet, Mom.”
“Great,” Melissa manages, and I wink at her before turning back to my pizza.
The chocolate cupcakes I brought are a hit. Melissa cuts hers in half immediately, and puts half away in the fridge. But she sure makes the most of the half she lets herself eat. Tiny bites with a fork, and she savors them.Her lips are plump and pink, and I’ll dream of them tonight.
“Sure I can’t tempt you to eat the other half?” I ask when she’s done.Or mine? You can have all of mine, since I haven’t touched it. I’d rather watch you eat it than eat it myself.
But Melissa shakes her head. “No, thanks. It was delicious, but I’m full.”
After dinner, Claire goes upstairs to finish some homework, and Liam begs to watch his allotted twenty minutes of evening TV. After she settles Liam in the living room, Melissa joins me in the kitchen.
Now that it’s just the two of us, I can tell something’s bothering her.
“What’s wrong, Milly?” I ask.
She sighs. “I had a bit of a meltdown at school today. Vanessa Abernathy asked what the point of calculus was, and I went on a rant.”
“Good for you. I’m sure she deserved it.”
“Yeah, she definitely deserved it. And at the time, I felt pretty good about it, but . . .”
“But . . .” I prompt.
“I overshared,” she admits. “I told the class I got divorced after my husband had an affair, and that even though he pays me decent support, I like being able to earn my own money. And teaching math lets me do that.”
“That doesn’t sound so bad, Milly.”
She sighs again. “But at the end, I said that anyone who wasn’t interested in the lesson could leave. And if they didn’t leave, they should shut up so they weren’t a distraction.”
I bite back a chuckle. “How did that go down?”
“Well, they all shut up.” Melissa gives me a half smile before turning serious again. “But I’m pretty sure you’re not supposed to say that sort of thing to your students.And Vanessa’s the type to complain, so I might lose the job?—”
“Oh, come on, Milly,” I say. “Vanessa probably deserved a lot worse. If you’d said shut the fuck up, bitch, she might have a case, but?—”
Melissa giggles. “I almost did, Luke. I wanted to.”
“So you should be proud of your restraint.”
She laughs again, and this time I laugh with her.
Liam appears from the living room and looks at us suspiciously. “What’s so funny?”
