Defining Moments (A Moments In Time Love Story 2) (7 page)

Melisa paced around her room for an hour, then picked up her cell. It was Friday, the day after she had planned to check out and go back home. Whatever progress she had made after losing the baby, whatever peace she had found, had been erased by Scott. She still couldn’t grasp the possibility of her first husband committing a crime, any crime. The thought of him burning his father to death on purpose tortured her. She even started having nightmares in which she was locked inside a room with a scorched corpse.

He had kept so much from her, for years—how many more lies had he told to cover up bigger ones? On the other hand, would she have fallen in love with him if he had been honest with her when they met in college? Would she have married him anyway? She found it hard to answer those questions and many others. But now that he was dying and needed her most, she couldn’t turn her back on him.

She had grieved for him once, broken down completely at the thought of never seeing him again. Now he was back and asking for her time and compassion. She wanted to be furious with him, and with life, but her well of fury had somehow emptied, spent on all the anger she had felt in the past weeks: anger at Heat for making the wrong choice, anger toward Scott for the lies, anger toward all the people who had it easier, who were able to sleep through the night, while she was starting to forget what that felt like.

She would be there for Scott now, because if she didn’t, she would regret it. She wouldn’t turn her back on her worst enemy if they were dying.

She bit her lip hard as she dialed the number of the Drawbridge Inn.

***

Melisa hung onto the door as Scott entered her hotel room, feeling as if she was cheating on her husband with her ex-husband.

“Thanks for asking me to come over,” he said, turning to face her. “I’m truly sorry for everything.”

Melisa gave him a curt nod. “Can I get you something to drink?” Of course, she didn’t have any alcohol in the minibar, but she had soft drinks and had ordered a fresh pot of coffee to her room. “Or dinner? I can order room service, if you haven’t already eaten.” She still found it hard to believe just how much weight he’d lost. He did say there was nothing doctors could do for him, but she was sure eating a good meal would give him some strength.

“I’d like that.” Scott smiled but Melisa didn’t smile back.

She picked up the leather-bound menu from the glass tabletop, flipped through it, closed it again, and picked up the phone. She didn’t ask what he wanted to eat. She hoped at least his taste in food hadn’t changed.

She ordered pepper steak with mushroom rice pilaf for Scott, and a simple potato salad for herself.

They sat at the small round table for two that the room service attendant had brought in with the food and laid, complete with a candle in the middle.

“This is delicious,” Scott said, cutting into his steak. He ate a piece and chewed for a long time, his eyes not leaving hers. “If I may ask, why are you staying in a hotel? I thought you said you and Heat—”

“Yes, we are married. I don’t feel like discussing my reasons for staying here.” Melisa put down her fork and wiped her lips with a napkin. It really was none of his business. “Maybe you can answer one of my questions.”

“Anything you want to know,” he said.

“You said you paid someone to make you disappear. It must have cost a fortune. Where did you get the money?” She had been wondering about that ever since the day he showed up.

Scott stiffened as if the question had slapped him. “The money Jack left me was a lot.”

Melisa felt her anger return. Most of all, she was mad at herself. He had led a different life from the one she knew and she had been too blind to notice. “So, during our marriage you had money stashed away and you kept it all from me?”

He lifted his head but his eyes darted back and forth. “I’m sorry. I knew the past would catch up with me one day. I needed to be ready to run when the time came. I needed money for that. But I did spend some of the money on us.”

Melisa’s mouth fell open. “Our house. You offered the old couple more money than you told me, didn’t you? You did say you made them an offer they couldn’t refuse.”

“I wanted you to be happy. I wanted to make all your dreams come true. I hurt you instead. I’ll forever be sorry for that. I still have a lot of the money left. I want you to have it.”

“I don’t need your money.” Sure, she and Heat could always use more money, but she didn’t want to take anything from Scott.

“I’m dying, Melisa. I have way more than I need for a few more months.”

“Like I said,” Melisa repeated, lifting her chin. “I don’t need a penny from you. Stop offering.”

Scott gave a half-hearted shrug and started eating again, but his hands were trembling. “Okay.”

For the first time, Melisa really saw the effects of his illness. There was no way he could be lying about being sick. Though he was still good looking, his hair was not as thick and lustrous as it once was, his eyes were slightly sunken, and his skin pallid. “Look,” she sighed, “what you did is unforgivable. But I’ll try to be here for you, if you need me. Just don’t expect me to forget.”

“That’s more than I could ever wish for. There’s nothing I want more than a few last moments with you. You have no idea how I wished things could be the same between us again.” He gave her a wide smile, showing his bright white teeth.

Melisa’s eyes brimmed. “I loved you so much, Scott. I wish you hadn’t thrown us away the way you did. I wish you had told me the truth.” She paused. “But I have moved on without you. Everything’s changed. I’m not sure what you expect me to give you right now, but my life is different now. Like I said, I’m married. I want you to respect that.”

“I still can’t believe you’ve moved on with my best friend.”

“You don’t have to. It is what it is.” She shook her head. “There’s so much you don’t know about my relationship with Heat.”

“I know you knew each other in high school. What more is there to it?”

Melisa moistened her lips. “Okay, since we’re being honest with each other, you should know that Heat and I had a thing in high school. A brief time together. The baby, the baby that I—”

“The baby you gave up for adoption was Heat’s? You had a child with Heat?” Scott stammered. Beads of sweat glistened on his forehead. “I don’t believe this.”

Melisa had told him about Ben, but hadn’t mentioned who the father was. She had lied, in fact, and said Scott didn’t know Ben’s father. Now Melisa felt a twinge of guilt for withholding the truth from him at the time. “I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to ruin your friendship with Heat. He must have felt the same way.”

Scott stood up from the table, his brow furrowed, and stepped to the large window. With his hands in his pockets, he gazed at the lit fountain.

Melisa felt a sudden urge to comfort him. But she stayed where she was. She may have lied to him in the past, or withheld information, but that could never compare to what he had done to her.

After a long moment of silence, he turned back toward her. His eyes were flat and unreadable. “Can you promise me something?”

“I don’t know. Depends on what you want.”

“If you haven’t already, don’t tell Heat I’m in town. After one month, I will leave you to continue your life. No one can know I’m here. I hired a stranger to make me disappear. I don’t know what kinds of crimes he committed to accomplish that. I know what I did was stupid, but it happened.”

“Stupid? It was more than that.” Melisa snapped. “It was cruel. Nothing is worse than believing you’ve lost someone you love forever. What were you thinking?”

“If it came out that I was responsible for my father’s death, it would have affected you. I didn’t want you to suffer for my crimes. This is a small town full of people who think they’re perfect. I didn’t want you to become an outcast.”

“So you thought I was that weak? I’ve made it through worse than gossip, Scott.” Melisa clenched her fists. She felt like hitting him. “I became a damn alcoholic, like my mother. I overcame it. You think I’d bend from a few nasty words thrown my way? No, what broke me was thinking about how
you
must have suffered in that fire. It tortured me to think of what you must have gone through, being burned alive. What almost killed me was the realization that you were gone forever… that you would never return to me.” Her voice was loud now, her words like darts. “And now, after everything you’ve done, you’re asking me to lie to my husband the same way you lied to me?”

“I wish I didn’t have to put you through this. But I took a risk coming here. It would only take one person finding out and I could end up in jail.” He returned to the table and looked down at her with a pleading expression. “For the last weeks of my life, I’d rather see you than be locked up in a jail cell.” He brought his hands together in a pleading gesture. “Please, Melisa. Just for a few weeks. No one needs to know.”

Melisa found herself nodding, even if she hated what she was doing. She, too, didn’t want him to spend the last days of his life behind bars. What it meant, though, was that she couldn’t go back home for as long as Scott was in town. Heat would read everything on her face.

They didn’t finish the rest of their food. Melisa had no appetite left and Scott was still upset about her deep connection with Heat. Ten minutes later, before he left her hotel room, he asked her one question: “Did you love Heat while we were together, while we were married?” Melisa didn’t respond for a while, unsure of what to say. Whether she said or didn’t say anything, he’d be hurt either way. “Seriously, Scott, I don’t owe you any answers. The reason I’m even talking to you right now is because you’re sick, and God knows why I still care about you in spite of everything.”

He nodded and marched out, hunched, like a broken man.

He knew the answer. And Melisa knew she had broken his heart the way he had broken hers.

***

Fifteen minutes after he left, there was a knock on the door. Melisa thought it was Scott again. It couldn’t be Heat. He always called before coming over, to show that he respected her space. On some days they met for dinner outside the hotel, or in one of the restaurants downstairs.

She opened the door and found Lucy, Heat’s sister, standing in front of her. Melisa hadn’t seen her in months and didn’t know she was in town. She had started a job in New York as a fashion designer.

“Lucy, come in.” An invitation wasn’t necessary; Lucy had already entered.

Lucy had the same dark, sleepy eyes as Heat, and for as long as Melisa could remember, she had worn her hair short. Instead of blond, it was now chocolate-brown with golden highlights and stood out against the white tank top she wore with skinny jeans and six-inch heels.

Thank God Melisa had cleared the table, and the dishes and leftovers had already been picked up. Lucy would have been suspicious. She whirled around and threw Melisa a serpent’s gaze, hands on her trim waist. “So this is where you’ve been hiding. Heat didn’t want to tell me, but I squeezed it out of him.”

Melisa swallowed her annoyance. “Nice to see you too, Lucy. I didn’t know you were back in town.”

“Cut the bullshit,” Lucy said. “You lost a baby, and for that I’m very sorry. I’m sure it’s devastating. But it was Heat’s kid, too. While you’re living here in the lap of luxury, he’s at your home, waiting for you to come back.”

Melisa closed the door. “You think this is easy for me? You think I’m enjoying time away from my husband?”

“If you’re suffering so much, why aren’t you with him? Why aren’t you working through this together?” Lucy’s jaw was set.

“It’s complicated.” Melisa bit her lip until it throbbed.

“Do you remember the day you showed up at my door, begging me to tell you where Heat was, when you almost lost him? You finally got the guy. You married the man of your dreams and now you’re doing what you do best when the going gets tough. You’re running.”

“I’m not running. It hurts too much to be in the house right now, to see the room our baby was going to grow up in. I need this time away. That in no way means I don’t love my husband. If you’re here to judge me, please leave.”

“Look,” Lucy ran a hand over her pixie cut. “I don’t mean to hurt your feelings. But it pisses me off to see you two throw away something you fought so hard for.”

“I love Heat. I might have walked out of our home, but not on our marriage. We
will
work through this.” She paused. “Our way.”

“Don’t hurt him. You’ll never find another man who loves you as much as my brother does. Sometimes I seriously wonder why.” Lucy waved and left the room, leaving behind the smell of wild honeysuckle.

Melisa slumped onto the sofa and groaned. The last thing she needed was people on her back, telling her what she was and wasn’t supposed to do. She would not allow herself to be pressured. In time, she would return home, and she and Heat would pick up where they’d left off, but she wasn’t ready. She couldn’t leave the Lux until she had sorted things out with Scott. She wanted to hate him for what he’d done, but the truth was, when someone hurts you, you don’t just stop loving or caring about them. You might lash out at them, walk away, or even cut them out of your life, but the love remains with you for days, months, even years before it fades or transforms into something else.