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“He sounds like a piece of work,” Melody murmured with a sympathetic expression. “Why would you choose to put up with him?”
Mykie shrugged and pushed her spoon around her plate. “He showed interest in me when we met. I thought that was more than enough at first.”
Melody frowned. She reached across the table and laid her hand on top of Mykie’s. “I understand that. You’re a hardworking girl, so it was slightly odd to hear from Chance that you were interested in someone who hasn’t had to work as hard. Is he a least cute?”
Mykie looked up at her. It still felt eerie to look into her eyes and know that the other woman wasn't technically staring back. Melody explained before that what she saw wasn't total darkness. It was more dark and lighter spots in her vision. Flashes of lights or shadows that interrupt that light when something moves in front of that light source. While she thought she understood, she could never understand fully what Melody experienced every day and how she navigated her life. What did 'cute' mean to Melody, really? It was a social concept, Mykie supposed, but what was deemed cute, when you couldn't see your partner? It was about their personality and who they were as a person, she guessed.
"Yeah, he's pretty cute. All the times we've been alone together and talked, he's seemed sweet and kind. It's just when he opens his mouth about money that the issues seem to come. Now, talking about business and my job is going to cause a bigger divide." Mykie sighed.
“I’m sure you’ll figure this out, Mykie. If this boy, or anyone else you might later find you like, is really worth it, he’ll make sure you know he’s the one. Even if that takes a little time for you to figure that out.” Melody moved her hand from resting on hers to pulling Chance’s forward. “Chance wouldn’t let me go before I finally agreed to go on a date and look at us now. You’ll have your happy ending, even if it’s not as immediate as you might want it to be.”
“Thank you,” Mykie said. “I needed to hear that.”
The other woman nodded, and the table dropped back into silence again as they ate.
Melody was right, but her words made Mykie realize something else. Maybe she didn’t need time to sort out her life again. Now that she had more responsibility than before and took the time to figure that out, she could focus on what she thought she wanted again… someone she could call her own. If the boys were who she thought they were, they would understand why she had kept her distance. If they didn’t, maybe this whole love thing wasn’t made for her. Looking at Melody, Mykie realized that maybe keeping secrets about her life is what got her into the mess she made. She needed to tell Corbus the truth before Renly had a chance to tell him.
Her first job would be to tell Ryker to back off for a while. He understood who she was already, and she needed the others to know exactly how she felt. What she and Ryker had was so intense, that it was blinding her to her other feelings, the ones that made her act so rash and meet the group of boys she was slowly falling in love with.
If Jezebeth being gone had taught her anything, it was that she needed to take more of her words to heart. Relationships took work, so she needed to start being more receptive. That was the only way she would be able to see if a relationship with them all would work.
She suspected that they were all spending time with their families at their own Thanksgiving dinners. She hoped that Ryker stuck to his word, and he was trying to convince his parents to take her deal. She was sure that it wasn’t going to work, but he knew Madeleine more than she did.
The deal suddenly was rubbing her the wrong way. What if this whole thing was more trouble than it was worth? Stealing a business from under the Vultures' noses was not going to happen without consequences. Would they be able to afford them? Could Mykie afford them on her own after the backlash?
Her phone vibrated in her pocket just as she reached for a second helping of potatoes. Pulling it out, she realized it was the man she was waiting for.
Ryker: I’ve got news. Meet at your apartment?
She sent him a text to meet her in an hour. She scarfed down her food and excused herself from the table.
“I know it’s the holiday, but I might be getting news about that deal with the Harpers,” she said.
Chance stood up as well. “Keep me updated. If anything changes with the Harper boy, let me know as well. I’d like to talk to him properly this time. Bring him in to me like you did with Caspar.”
“Chance!” Mykie huffed. She didn’t think he would even remember Caspar’s name.
“Now, don’t scare him off,” Melody said, laying a hand on Chance’s arm. “You want grandchildren eventually, don’t you?”
Mykie groaned. “I’m going before you two start picking out baby names for me.”
It didn’t take long before she made it home. She was there before the time they agreed on, as she wanted to catch him before he got comfortable. Once she got in her front door and checked the place over, she sat down on the couch, covering her lap with the throw blanket that was folded on the back of the couch.
She just sat and waited. She couldn't tell how much time passed before her eyes started to droop closed. A full stomach always made her drowsy, and Thanksgiving dinner was always a killer. All she knew was that one moment she was laying her head to the side to watch the door, and the next, Ryker was helping her lay down with a pillow on the couch.
“I wanted to talk to you,” she said quietly.
“You’re tired. We’ll talk later,” he answered, not missing a beat.
“No, I won’t be able to sleep now. I needed to tell you that while I appreciate all you’ve done for me lately, we need to take a step back. I need more time with the others to really understand what I want.”
She saw him frown. He sat down on the edge of the couch next to her side.
“I know the sound in your voice, and I won’t let you say another word. Is it because I said ‘I love you’? I can see your mind moving a mile a minute right now, trying to find a reason to push me away. I don’t work that way, Mykie,” he murmured. His words came out slowly, as if he was weighing his words and thinking hard about what to say next. “You forget that I know your mind, and how it ticks. If I walked away now, you’d throw yourself full force into your work, or the other boys, and you’d never come up for air. You’ll convince yourself that what we have is not something you deserve. I get it, you’re scared—”
“I’m not scared,” she grumbled.
“You are. You don’t have to admit it aloud, but I know you are. You’re tough, Ki, but you’re not unfeeling or invincible. You’re afraid of losing control, and you hate it. You’re scared of all the boys; especially me. You have a lot of self-control and discipline, but you know that’s waning the longer you’re around me. We both know it.”
