His Melody (29 page)

“Sure will.” Melody slipped the card into her purse. No point in crushing the woman’s hopes.

When Melody got to Saeed’s office, they signed all the appropriate paperwork, including that for the severance package that was Melody’s right, whether she was fired or she quit, by contract.

“I’m sorry things couldn’t be different,” Saeed said.

“Me, too,” Melody said, signing the last of the papers and pocketing her last paycheck, which was separate from the severance package.

“That demo you sent me really had promise.” Saeed actually looked remorseful when he said that.

“I know.” She tried to ignore the stab of pain she felt at the reminder of Austin.

“No hard feelings, just business,” Saeed said, holding out his hand.

Melody shook his hand and nodded. “Where are my boxes?”

“Downstairs with security,” Saeed said.

Melody walked to the door and was about to open it when Saeed called her name. She looked over her shoulder and said, “Yes?”

“There’s no chance he’ll be at the showcase Saturday, is there?” Saeed asked, a note of hopefulness in his voice.

“No,” Melody said, forcing her voice not to waver. “I really don’t think so.”

Saeed nodded. Melody left the office and collected Jen from the waiting room. They went downstairs and retrieved Melody’s boxes from security. After the boxes were in the trunk, Melody said, “I want to go somewhere. Do something. I can’t sit at home all day.”
Alone with my thoughts
, she added silently.

“That’s why I took the rest of the day off,” Jen said.

“And why you’re the best friend there is,” Melody said.

Jen laughed. “Of course.” She said, “Where do you want to go?”

“I don’t know. Anywhere. I’m kind of hungry, though. So maybe we’ll start with lunch?”

“Excellent idea.” Jen rubbed her hand over her non-existent, concave stomach. “What do you want to eat?”

She almost said soul food, but then she thought of Rose’s and Myrtle’s. No.
Nothing to remind her of any of that.
“How about Caribbean? There’s that new Haitian place that opened in the Highlands right before I left. I never got a chance to go. Hope it’s still open.” The spot the Haitian restaurant had taken over seemed to be cursed. No restaurant lasted there more than a few months.

“Yeah, it’s still open.” Jen said. “Let’s go.”

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Melody started up the car and darted out into the flow of traffic. She was experiencing a temporary culture shock while she readjusted to life in Atlanta. Atlanta was a Southern city, and somewhat spread out and laidback as a result, but even so, everything was still so much bigger and faster paced than in Sweet Neck. She’d missed her home, sure, but she also missed Sweet Neck.

She missed walking to Main Street and waving to people sitting on their front porches on the way. Knowing everybody by name after just a few days of being there. The way Leigh Anne had stopped her truck in the middle of the road to have a conversation with a friend she hadn’t seen in a while and nobody had seemed to mind. Regan’s horse farm and how peaceful everything out there had been. She would love to go back one day if only it wasn’t completely and utterly out of the question. She couldn’t risk being that close to
him
ever again.

Jen patted her arm. “Mel, where you going? Slow down, you’re going to miss the restaurant.”

“Oh, right. Sorry,” Melody said. She pulled into a metered spot that was a few blocks away from the restaurant. “All that Southern fried cooking back in Sweet Neck.” She patted her hip. “I need to walk some of it off.” That wasn’t completely a lie. She needed to get back in the gym and soon.

“Oh, I’m thinking you worked all that off just fine,” Jen said in a knowing tone.

Melody laughed. “Shut it,” she said.

They walked to the restaurant.

Once they were seated, Jen asked, “What are you going to do about the showcase?”

“What do you mean?” Melody sipped her water. Kompa music played in the background, and brightly colored murals depicting scenes from the Port-au-Prince marketplace decorated the walls.

“Are you still going?”

“It’s over, Jen. What would it matter?” Melody picked her menu up and flipped through it, letting her eyes skim over the words.

“You’ve always loved going to showcases. Even before you started working in A&R, you loved going to them. Plus, you have to start job searching at some point, and you know it’s a good networking opportunity.” Jen sat back in her chair and angled her head. “I’ll come along for moral support.”

“And to meet cute guys,” Melody said.

They laughed.

“Of course. You always have to be on the lookout for those you know,” Jen said.

Melody tapped her menu on the tabletop. Jen was right. She couldn’t remain a hermit in her apartment for the rest of her life as much as she would’ve liked to. After all, she had to pay for that apartment somehow.

“Okay,” Melody said slowly. “We’ll go.” Hopefully Saeed wouldn’t be there. She couldn’t bear the thought of looking at him again so soon. She counted on the fact that getting Saeed out to showcases was like pulling teeth. The only thing harder was getting him to listen to a demo. He’d listened to Austin’s, though.

Austin.

Melody opened her menu again and tried to concentrate on the words that time. What did she want?
So many choices.
Maybe some griot.
Or stewed goat.
Whatever she got, she knew she was getting red beans and rice to go with it.
And pumpkin soup.

She was back in the city where she belonged, having lunch with a friend at a new restaurant. This was her life. That other thing, whatever it had been, was just a detour. It would be best if she forgot all about anything having to do with that.

#

That evening, Melody made the call to Leigh Anne’s house that she’d been putting off all day. She had to let everyone know she’d made it home safe, though. After she’d spoken to Donnie and Avery and Leigh Anne got back on the phone, Melody finally got the nerve up to ask.

“How’s Austin?” She sat back on the couch and tucked her feet under her.

Leigh Anne didn’t answer right away. Eventually, she said in a low voice that was almost a whisper, “He won’t admit it, but I know he misses you.”

Melody nodded even though Leigh Anne couldn’t see her. “It’s okay, Leigh Anne. You don’t have to do that.”

“Don’t give up on my boy, please. He cares about you and he needs you, but he’s difficult. Stubborn like his daddy.”

Melody thought about what Blanche had said on the last day she’d seen the older woman in town. “I have to go. I just wanted to check in real quick, let you know I made it back okay and that I love and miss you all.” Her breath caught in her throat. Taking a deep, calming breath, she said, “Tell Regan I made it back okay, and I said hello, okay?”

“Okay,” Leigh Anne said.

Melody hated the sad note in Leigh Anne’s voice, but there was nothing she could do about that.

“I’ll talk to you soon,” Melody said.

After a short pause, Leigh Anne said, “I sure hope so.”

Melody put her phone on the coffee table and her head in her hands. So much had happened so quickly. She couldn’t believe it was still Thursday.

She had a lot to do, and she didn’t want to do any of it. First and most importantly, she had to update the resume. She hadn’t touched that thing in so
long,
she didn’t even want to think about how much of a pain that would be. Then she needed to get the dress that she wanted to wear to the showcase dry-cleaned. She would have to take it across town to the only next-day cleaners she trusted first thing tomorrow.

She also needed to make some calls and see who planned on being at the showcase and do her research on the industry people who’d be there as well as the acts who would be on stage. Now that she was jobless, every social event was also a business event. She had to network, get her name and face out there again. She had a ton of calls to make. She also needed to renew her subscriptions to a few industry journals and take care of some lapsed memberships as well. And she needed new business cards. All. Too. Much.

At least that should be enough to keep her from thinking about a certain someone. She knew that from experience. Just like after the divorce, she had to keep moving forward. Had losing her ex-husband hurt this much, though? With him, she mostly remembered feeling hurt pride that he would have the audacity to cheat on her. For better or worse, she loved Austin Holt with her whole heart. She was pretty sure she’d never felt anything this deeply for anyone. Ever. Not even her ex.

She forced herself up from the sofa because otherwise she would fall asleep on it.
First things first.
A hot shower and then bed.
One step at a time.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

When Austin opened his eyes Friday morning, his first thought was that the showcase was the next day. His second thought was that everything had been riding on that showcase for Melody. His third was that she’d been right and so had everybody else but him. His fourth was that he’d been a horse’s ass.

He sat up on the side of the bed and rubbed a hand over his head. He’d done everything he’d done out of fear and a selfish sense of self-preservation. The garage was his father’s dream, not his. He’d thought that could be enough for him; he wanted it to be because he felt like he owed that much to his dad. Maybe it would’ve been, too, if he’d never met Melody.

She’d changed him forever in a few short weeks. She woke him up and made him realize what was most important to him. He resented her for it, but he also loved her for it.

Loved?

Yes, he loved her. She needed to know that no matter what else happened. Even if she slammed the door in his face when he got there, he was determined to get those words out before she did so.

He went across the room, grabbed his duffel bag from the closet, and tossed it on the bed. He then began rifling through his closet for clothes to toss in the duffel.

There was a knock on his door. “You up yet?” his mom called.

“Yeah, come in,” he said.

His mom opened the door. When her eyes landed on the duffel bag, she did her best to hide a smile. “Where you headed?”

He grinned. “I think you know.” He walked to his dresser.

“You’ll need her address,” Mom said.

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“I’ll go get it,” she said. She started out of the door, but then turned back and threw her arms around Austin. “You don’t know how happy I am right now.”

He patted her back. “Thank you.”

Once he had Melody’s address and was packed, he headed downstairs. Donnie clapped and cheered as he entered the kitchen.

“Shut your fool mouth.” Austin laughed.

“You know, if you hadn’t come to your senses, I was thinking I might have to find a way to kidnap you and take you to Atlanta myself,” Avery said. “So, I guess it’s a good thing you figured it out.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Austin said.

“You’ll need something on your stomach,” Mom said.

He started to protest, but then he smiled at her. “I guess I could make an exception for breakfast just this once.” He left his duffel bag by the doorway and went over to the table to pile a plate up with pancakes, eggs, and bacon.

“Tell Melody she better come back here and visit us soon,” Avery said, taking a seat across from him.

Austin
nodded,
too busy stuffing his face to talk.

“Thank the Lord for that woman,” Donnie said.

Donnie was right about that.

When Austin was done shoveling down his breakfast, he stood and grabbed his duffel from where he’d stashed it in earlier when he’d come into the kitchen to eat.

“I plan on asking her to marry me,” he said. “I just thought you all should know that.”

Avery nodded. His mother jumped up and made a hysterical sound. Running out of the room, she babbled something unintelligible. He thought he heard her call from somewhere down the hall, “Don’t you leave yet!” but he couldn’t be sure that was what he heard.

“Good.” Donnie walked over and clapped Austin on the back. “Very good.”

“Tell Mom I had to get going,” Austin said, puzzled at where his mom had gone off to so quickly.

“Sure thing. Now go. Get her. You’re wasting time.” Avery shooed him out of the door.

“I’m going, I’m going.” Austin laughed.

As Austin was about to climb into his truck, his mother came outside waving a small, black box. “Wait!” she cried. When she got closer, he saw that the box was velvet.

“What is it?” Austin asked, staring at the box. He was pretty sure he knew, though.

“It’s your great-great-grandmother’s engagement ring. She got it after the wedding, though.”

“After the wedding?”

Mom laughed. “Do you know that when your great-great-grandfather asked your great-great-grandmother to marry him, he tied a piece of twine around her finger? He didn’t have much more than his love for her and the clothes on his back at the time. But she loved him back just as much, and she believed in him. Together, they created a lot. This house, Bellevue, is their legacy.” She glanced over her shoulder and smiled fondly at the house. Then she turned back to him. Her smile faded a little, but her eyes remained happy and bright. “She would’ve wanted you to give this to the woman you marry. They both would have. I think, son, you have found a love like theirs. And that’s no easy task.” She put the box in his hands and folded his fingers around it.