AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The server comes and puts down a tray of baked goods, the whiff of which alerts me to danger. I put a hand up quickly to stop the young man from walking away.
“Excuse me—we’ll skip this. My fiancé is allergic to bananas.”
Mel looks up, surprised, then sees the banana bread on the plate. It’s touching a few of the other baked goods on there. The server apologizes and takes the plate back. Mel looks at me quizzically and I shrug. She’s surprised I remember that about her, but it doesn’t seem so strange to me. I don’t really need her going into anaphylactic shock during a weekend where I’m supposed to be showing her off.
“So,” Roy begins, “we haven’t had much time to meet outside of here, Melanie. Tell me about yourself. About how you and Jenson met.”
The sly side-eye he aims at me lets me know he still doesn’t believe our ruse, not fully. I can’t blame him. It’ll seem odd that I’ve never spoken about our relationship when Roy and I have spent so much time together.
“Well…” Mel shoots me a glance. We haven’t fully hatched out this story yet, just glossed over it. I’d been intending to do so over breakfast, but here we are. “Jenson and I grew up together.”
My heart clenches and I have to fight not to press a hand to my chest. She’stelling the truth?
Roy’s brows raise, and Mel continues, “Same town, same schools—elementary, middle, high school.” That genuine smile is back as her gaze settles on me. “We started dating during high school.”
A surprised scoff from Roy. “But surely you haven’t been dating since then…?”
She shakes her head. “No. I moved away, I had some…things to take care of.” That piques my curiosity, but now isn’t the time or the place. “We ran into each other again after years of being apart, and it was like picking up right where we left off.”
Only I notice the way her face goes carefully blank, a mask with a smile as she hides the lie.
“Hmm. So you had a reunion, of sorts. It’s safe to say then that you aren’t just after Jenson’s money.” Roy grins and we all chuckle. But in my industry, my position in general, that’s always been a real concern. Part of why I’ve never taken dating seriously.
“Mel’s never been interested in money,” I chime in. “She was an art major in college.”
She glances at me sharply, but Roy’s attention is on me now, luckily. “Really? Not business? You’re our head of marketing, correct?”
“Yes, I am. I…I don’t really know what to say. I’ve always been more art-minded than money-minded,” she confesses effortlessly. Then a shrug. “Money can’t buy happiness, but it’s an unfortunate part of life. And I like the challenge in marketing, reaching out and connecting to people, drawing their interest.”
She certainly has Roy’s interest. He’s leaning across the table as the server delivers mimosas and a berry tart, followed shortly by an omelet for myself, a massive plate of hash for Roy, and a bagel with cream cheese for Mel. We all settle in to eat for a few moments, Roy frowning down at his plate as he chews.
I can see in the way his eyes flit from Mel back to me that he’s still unsure. Probably because we haven’t touched since the moment we sat down.
To correct that, I reach out and ghost my hand over Mel’s thigh. She looks up at me, a small smile on her face—but I see what’s beneath it. The rise of her chest. The memory of last night, her body tight over mine, her head thrown back in pleasure.
Not the time or the place,the logical voice in my mind reminds me.That was a bad idea.
A bad idea, and an absolutely delicious one. After her taunting, a part of me had been afraid I really didn’t have what it takes to make a woman like Mel lose herself. Safe to say, I proved her wrong.
“What was Jenson like as a boy?” Roy asks with another sly grin. He’s enjoying the conversation, at least.
Mel chews slowly, thinking. Then she says, “Curious. About everything. And very quiet.”
Roy laughs, a booming sound that has me smiling. “Quiet? Surely, you don’t mean shy.”
“Mmm, I do! Well, maybe not shy, but he kept to himself. He was the captain of the math club.”
Roy nods. “Unsurprising. He has a mind for numbers.”
“But he also spent a lot of time outside. I remember, we used to go to the viaducts a lot, at a river in town. There was a quiet spot there that Jenson liked. We’d sit for hours and watch fish snatch insects out of the air and herons walk the rocks. Some of my favorite memories are from that place.”
A spiral of emotions is overtaking me as Roy looks at me closely. “You must be happy here, then,” he says, gesturing around us—at the forest that surrounds us. “Can’t get much more remote than this.”
I smile and nod, pasting on the polite reaction as I’m overtaken by memories. The viaducts. I haven’t thought of that spot in forever. Of Mel stripping off her shirt and shorts, down to her underwear, wading in the bottle-brown water; of the cicadas in summer, the little riffles and waterfalls.
She’s right. Places like that always brought me peace. But after college, I moved to Boston almost immediately, and the closest I get to nature now is the public garden.
“That surprises me,” Roy continues as he digs into his hash. “Jenson is such a workaholic now. But you still managed to see the boy beneath the man, hmm?”
