This bit of information came at Melody like a wrecking ball. “You see a therapist? How did I not know that?”
A muscle jumped in Kyle’s cheek. “It’s not something I’m proud of.”
She knew what he meant. Because it made him look weak to need help. She opened her mouth to tell him that she didn’t expect him to be strong all the time, but was that true? When he’d given her a glimpse of his insecurity where Hunter was concerned, she hadn’t exactly been understanding of how he’d felt.
She liked being able to lean on Kyle. Appreciated how he took charge, made her feel safe and cared for. Since he rarely discussed his own troubles or difficulties, it never occurred to her that he might need to count on her support in return.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” It worried her that she’d failed him. “Is it because of your dad?” His father had taught him to appear strong.
“It’s the sort of thing that would make him crazy.” After a heartbeat his lips curved into a dry smile. “I’m not sure what would be worse for him. Having a problem or admitting there was something wrong. I’m sure he’d rather have his leg cut off than agree to see a therapist.”
“That’s pretty dramatic.” Yet it wasn’t much of an exaggeration.
“It’s pretty indicative of how determined my father is to not show any weakness.” Kyle’s voice lightened despite his pained grimace. “So now you know one of my deep dark secrets.”
“One of?” She smiled through her heavy heart. “How many more are there?”
“You’ll have to take the next fourteen days and find out.”
He’d just done exactly as she’d often longed for him to do and opened up. And not just with a little something. He’d admitted something deeply personal and all in the spirit of improving their communication. At the same time, he’d issued a challenge: I’m all in, are you?
“What do you mean the next fourteen days?”
“Dr. Warner gave me a step-by-step fourteen-day relationship revitalizer. I thought we could start with this right now.”
Melody blew out a breath. Why was she so resistant to what Kyle was trying to do? Didn’t she want them to get back together? Kyle was obviously making an effort. Shouldn’t she as well?
“Okay,” she said before she changed her mind. “Let’s do this.”
“I’m glad you’re on board.” And there was a little softening in his manner that suggested relief.
“Where do we begin?”
“Here is the list of what we do each of the fourteen days. I think it spells everything out pretty well.” He handed her a seven-page document. “It looks like a lot, but when I explained about your album deadline, Dr. Warner said we don’t have to commit to doing something fourteen days in a row.”
Before starting to read, she flipped through all the pages. For some strange reason her chest tightened. This was a huge undertaking. Much more than she was ready to handle. When she thought of going to a couples counselor, she imagined just sitting in a room and talking around their problems. Not this.
“Day one,” she read. “Praise and appreciation. Write thirty of your favorite things about your partner and share them.”
This she could do. There were hundreds of things she appreciated about Kyle. Maybe this whole task wouldn’t be as bad as she thought.
“How about we take the rest of today and tomorrow to make our lists and then have dinner tomorrow night and talk them over?” Kyle suggested.
It was on the tip of Melody’s tongue to say she could fire them off in an hour, but then she considered that maybe he needed more time to find thirty things about her he liked. Her insides clenched at the thought that he might struggle with what to put on his list.
“That sounds great,” she said.
After Kyle packed up the remains of their dinner and left the studio, Melody picked up her notebook, turned to a fresh sheet of paper and started to write thirty favorite things about Kyle. The first ten were easy. His eyes, smile, gorgeous body, his long fingers, deep voice, toe-curling kisses, his listening skills, the fact that he wanted to work on the relationship, his strong work ethic and support of her music career.
She sat back with a happy sigh and reviewed the list. Now, for the next ten. She wrote down several more of his exceptional body parts, his inability to carry a tune and his laugh. Her list had expanded to seventeen. Only thirteen more to go.
Melody stuck the pen in her mouth and worried the plastic until it was covered with teeth marks. Her mind was suddenly blank. Surely there were dozens and dozens more things about Kyle that she appreciated. Why couldn’t she think of any?
Instead, she was bombarded by all the things that were wrong with him. The way he could talk endlessly about baseball stats, how he often worked with a game playing in the background. How he sometimes came home from business meetings and didn’t want to talk. He insisted on maintaining a close connection with his family despite how much they frustrated him.
The door to the studio opened and Mia slipped inside. Her cheeks glowed rosy and her brown eyes sparkled. She’d obviously just come from seeing Nate. The two were so in love and for a second Melody struggled with envy.
“What are you working on?” Mia asked, coming to sit on the couch beside Melody.