Jon didn’t say much on the drive to the coffee shop. I sent him to find us a table and placed an order. He was still pretty quiet once I brought the order to our table—definitely not as talkative as he was at Chateau Prime. I asked a couple of questions and didn’t get much of a response. He seemed to relax after we drank some coffee and he ate one of the bagels I bought. I wasn’t that hungry, so just nibbled on mine.
“You probably think I’m a drunken idiot…” he exhaled sharply and shook his head.
“I guess the buzz is wearing off.” I sipped my coffee and smiled.
“Ignore what I said at Chateau Prime.” He took a drink of his coffee. “I’ve just had a couple of shitty days…”
Being called the prettiest girl in Carson Cove isn’t something that I want to just forget—especially coming from him—but I’ll call it a moment of drunken belligerence.
“What happened?” I raised my eyebrows in concern.
“Nothing for you to worry about,” he sighed. “Someone is just fucking with me—it’ll be fine.”
“Okay.” I nodded. “Well if you want to talk about it…”
Jon didn’t elaborate on what he said. He muttered a few things that I couldn’t totally understand, and then we started talking about routine stuff—like the job he had hired me for and the upcoming wedding. Once he had sobered up some, he offered to have his driver drop me off at Moretti’s. The coffee and bagel might have helped with the alcohol, but it didn’t do anything for what was really troubling him. I wondered if he missed his kids—I couldn’t imagine being apart from Charley for that long. I understood why they made the arrangement—but it was one that was going to be unfair to one of the parents, no matter what.
“That’s my car.” I pointed to my old Hyundai.
“Melanie…” He put his hand on my arm as the car came to a stop. “I’m sorry about what I said to you at Chateau Prime—it was inappropriate.”
Damn, his touch is like fire shooting straight into my body…
“Don’t be sorry.” I looked down and shook my head. “You were just drunk—it’s okay.”
“It wasn’t a lie…” he sighed. “Seeing you was the highlight of a really shitty day. I really do think you’re beautiful. I’m just not allowed to say it to you.”
“Yeah…” I felt my stomach seizing up, and my heart started beating hard in my chest.
“I wish I could say a lot more.” He put his hand under my chin, and I lifted my head until our eyes met. “Or nothing at all…”
His piercing stare made my entire body tremble—his touch made me quiver—and I realized he was going to kiss me a second before his lips moved towards mine. My lips were crushed beneath a kiss that felt like an explosion of passion. My hands fluttered for a moment before I finally put them on his arms, and then the kiss got more intense—because I was kissing him back. My head spun—my pulse raced—and my heart began to beat out of control. It had been a long time since anyone had kissed me, and his lips set my soul on fire. I finally started to regain my senses when he broke the seal that our lips had formed to gasp for air.
“I—I should go…” My hand found the door handle, and I tugged on it.
Jon didn’t try to stop me. My hands shook as I dug my keys out of my purse and got into my car. My head was still spinning, and I was trying to make sense of what happened between us—but I just couldn’t think straight. I started my car—looked towards him one last time—and he waved before I started driving away.
Jon kissed me. My new boss kissed me. It took every bit of willpower I had just to keep my foot on the gas. I wanted to turn around—I wanted to kiss him again—I wanted to do so much more than just kiss him. It was wrong—forbidden—taboo—all of the reasons why that kiss needed to be nothing more than a mistake that was never repeated echoed in my head. The fire in my soul didn’t care, but rational thought won out—and I kept driving until I saw my apartment building ahead of me.
He’ll probably come to his senses when he wakes up tomorrow. He—probably wasn’t as sober as I thought…
I wasn’t paying attention to my surroundings when I turned into the parking lot. I was just lost in my own thoughts—trying to process what happened with Jon—trying to convince myself that we would both realize it was a mistake when we woke up the next morning. I parked my car, got out, and started walking towards my apartment building. There was someone sitting on front steps—which was unusual for that time of night. I tensed up when they started to stand. Then they stepped forward—the dim light coming from the front of the building illuminated their face—and a million memories hit me like daggers going straight through my heart.
“Jackson…” Saying his name seemed to pull every bit of oxygen out of my lungs, and my throat got tight. “What?”
“Hey, Sunshine.” He smiled. “It’s been a long time.”
“What—what are you doing here!?” I took a step back as my thoughts finally caught up with what was happening.
“Does it matter?” He matched my step back with a bigger one forward. “I missed you—I want to meet my daughter.”
Oh my god, this can’t be happening—not now.
“No!” I shook my head back and forth as then panic took over. “You don’t get to just show up here—call me sunshine—and say that you want to meet Charley! It’s been four years, Jackson! How did you even find me!?”
“It wasn’t that hard. I knew you were going to school in Carson Cove…” He looked down for a moment. “I made a lot of mistakes, Melanie. I had some growing up to do—but now I’m here—which is where I should have been all along.”
Jackson closed the distance between us, and I mentally stumbled between rage and the memories that were impossible to forget. He hugged me—the arms I had needed to feel after I told him I was pregnant—the arms I wanted to hold our child—the arms that pushed me away when I needed them most. He was different—he smelled like cigarette smoke instead of expensive cologne. He was skinnier than I remembered—his athletic frame had diminished since high school. I finally got the strength to push him away and take a step back.