She ducked her head and walked toward the kitchen. “I haven’t eaten dinner. Do you mind if I warm something up?”
“I’ll help you.” I knew she liked those tiny rectangle frozen dinners, and usually paired it with a side salad if she wasn’t too tired to throw one together. While she microwaved her meal, I washed my hands and then got out a head of lettuce and a few other vegetables from the fridge and got to chopping.
Neither of us said anything for the longest time, but it wasn’t awkward. It was more like we were getting reacquainted with being in each other’s space and we didn’t want to ruin it with attempts at conversation.
I placed Melissa’s salad on the table with silverware and a napkin and went to sit on the couch, where I could lean over the back and see her without being in the way while she ate.
“Wait, you aren’t going to eat anything?” She looked down at the salad I’d made her and then at the clean counters now that I’d put everything away.
“I already ate. But don’t worry about me.” I was worried enough for both of us. I couldn’t exactly confess my love to her while she ate Salisbury steak and potatoes out of a plastic container. But my brain couldn’t do small talk right now either.
I got up and walked around Melissa’s living room, stopping at her bookshelf where I saw the thick pink manuscript shelved along with some actual novels. “Will Granny kill me if I keep reading this?” I asked, sliding the manuscript out and holding it up for Melissa to see.
“Go right ahead. I think she was secretly pleased you liked it.”
“Enough to thaw her cold heart?”
Melissa laughed. “Eventually.”
I settled back into the couch to read, though it wasn’t as much fun without an angry Melissa looming over me, demanding I hand it back. I knew that day she’d be all sorts of wonderful trouble; I’d just had no idea how much.
At the point where the mafia’s number-one informant had decided to risk it all for love, Melissa slipped onto the couch next to me and leaned in. How much time had gone by? Five minutes? Fifty? She’d changed into pajamas. She’d also brushed her teeth. I knew because her warm, minty breath hit my ear, and the words on the page swam together until I couldn’t remember a single detail of it.
“Connor, I want to fit you in my life.”
I placed the manuscript on the table and turned to pull her into my arms with her face snuggled in against my neck. My whole body relaxed for the first time in a week. Her closeness had become essential to me, and it took almost losing her to figure that out.
“I want to be in your life. But it wasn’t my place to set the terms. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. Just don’t rub it in when I say you were right.”
“I was right?”
She lightly slugged me in the ribs. “See, you’re already rubbing it in.”
“I’m not. I promise.”
“Well, actually, it’s okay if you are. I told Natalya and Granny about Damien. And I feel so much better. I was being loyal to someone who didn’t deserve my loyalty, and by doing so, damaging my relationships with all the people who matter the most. You showed me that.”
I pulled back just enough to be able to look her in the eyes. “You’re amazing, you know that? And I realized something, too. I want to be your person.”
“My person?” She cocked her head.
“Well, I was going to say hero, but that’s a little too Enrique Iglesias for me.”
She laughed. “I Wanna Be Your Herois a Def Leppard song. And yeah, you can be my hero whenever you want, Connor. Like maybe next week? When Granny and I start to decode a secret message left under a park bench and a masked man snatches it out of my hands?” She put her palms together in a plea, begging me with her big, brown eyes.
“Yeah, alright.” I’d do anything for her, and she knew it. “But what I meant before I unintentionally quoted Enrique Iglesias—”
“And Def Leppard,” she added with a smile.
“—Was that you do all these nice things for everyone else, and I want to be the person who does nice things for you.”
Melissa bit her lip. “What kinds of nice things?” She leaned forward until she was absolutely teasing me with her mouth so close to mine.
“Anything you’d like.” I closed the distance and did my best to show her all the nice things I had in store for her. I was nothing if not the most giving and attentive neighbor she’d ever have. I’d make sure of it.
Epilogue – One Year Later
