Let Love Heal (The Love Series) (23 page)

Since it’s late Friday afternoon, I don’t expect anyone to be home. So when Peyton pulls into the packed driveway, I’m more than a little surprised.

“What and they didn’t roll out the red carpet?” Peyton laughs and pokes me in the arm. “That’s one hell of a welcome home party.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” I unplug my phone from the charger and grab my purse. “It’s just my mom and her best friend Linda and Maddy. I don’t know whose car that is.” I tip my chin at the black SUV parked next to my mom’s car. “Do you want to come in for a few minutes and meet everyone?” I want to make up for keeping her at a distance, but I also understand why she might not want to join me. I catch her eye the clock, and realize that if she comes in for a while, she’ll have to drive through the night.

“Nah, it’s okay. I should just drive straight through. I’ve got another five hours ahead of me.” Peyton reaches for the gearshift and I feel like a huge dork for not even thinking about that.

“So stay the night. Please? It’ll be fun.” I clasp my hands together in front of me practically begging her to give in.

I feel like a kid in a candy store when she moves her hand from the shifter and kills the engine. “Alright, fine. I’m in.” Peyton’s nonchalance is bypassed by the smile that pulls at her lips.

Before we can even get our bags out of the car, Maddy comes barreling down the front stairs and races right into me. “Mel! I missed you so much,” Maddy mumbles her words as she wraps her arms tightly around me. When I feel her growing baby-bump against my own belly, I pull away from her and hold her at arm’s length. “Wow, Maddy. You look …” Words fail me as happiness washes over me.

Misunderstanding my pause, Maddy swats her hand in front of her and says, “Huge, right! I can’t believe I’m only half way there. I’m only going to get bigger.” Her hands automatically move to cover her belly.

“No, you look beautiful.” I can’t hold back the single tear that trickles down my cheek. I step to her side and introduce Peyton. After sharing an awkward “hi”, we all walk inside where Maddy warns me that Mom, Linda - who I’ve missed almost as much as Mom, -and someone else who she knows I’ll be very excited to meet, are all waiting for me. It’s been a while since I’ve seen her, but that conspiratorial glint in her eye tells me that something is up.

Stepping through the door, an overwhelming sense of
home
engulfs me. I know it seems crazy, but even the air just feels different in here. When Mom catches sight of me, her arms are around my waist in an instant. “Oh Melly Belly! I missed you, baby.” Feeling her tight embrace makes me regret every phone call I’ve avoided making in recent weeks; it makes me cringe thinking about all the times I didn’t pick up her calls. “I missed you too, Mom.” Before we can say anything else, Linda pulls me into her arms and carries on and on about how I need to come home more often. I realize that Peyton is still standing in the door way waiting for me.

“Oh, jeez. Sorry about that, Peyton.” I step to the side and pull Peyton into the room a little more. “Mom, Linda, this is my new roommate, Peyton. She’s going to stay the night and drive home in the morning.” Peyton waves meekly at them and squeaks out a hello. She really is a tough nut to crack – all outspoken and quirky one minute and then shy and quiet the next. Peyton quickly excuses herself to the bathroom and Mom pulls me into the kitchen.

The man standing at the stove cooking something looks vaguely familiar, but I just can’t place him right away. As we walk toward him, he wipes his hands on a dishtowel that’s draped over his shoulder. His kind grey eyes shine at Mom as she approaches him. “Melanie, I’d like you to meet Evan.”

He extends his hand toward me and shakes mine firmly. “Hi, Melanie. It’s good to see you again.”

See me, again?

“Hi, Evan,” I say, but it comes out sounding more like a question than a statement.

Mom notices the clumsiness of the conversation and chimes in to clarify. “Evan is Reid’s stepdad’s brother. You met him back in December, remember?” It feels like way more than just a few months has passed since then, but once she mentions it, I do remember him.

And then as Mom steps next to Evan and he gently pulls her to his side, another kind of awareness dawns on me. “Oh my God!” I point between the two of them rapidly. “Are you two …?” I feel like the world just tilted off its axis. My Mom, the woman who swore off dating for years, has finally found someone!

“Yes, we are, Melanie,” Mom says sternly as she looks up to Evan for reassurance. I think she’s mistaken my shock for anger, but that’s the last thing I’m feeling. Sure, I don’t know much about Evan, but I saw how he looked at her when she walked into the room. I see the way he’s holding her close to his side. I’m not an idiot.

She’s happy. That’s all I need to know.

A warm feeling blooms in my heart and a smile splits my face. “Well, it’s about freaking time.” I wrap my arms around her and squeeze her as tightly as I can. I feel her exhale deeply on a sigh as she relaxes. The three of us don’t get much time to chat as Reid walking through the door interrupts our conversation.

Watching him hug Maddy, while gently rubbing her growing belly, makes my heart skip a beat. In the thirty minutes that I’ve been home, I feel like my heart has been recharged. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Peyton excuse herself from a conversation with Linda. When she stands next to me, she whispers, “So that must be the baby daddy, huh?” Elbowing me in the ribs, we share a giggle and make our way over to the happy couple for one last introduction.

Reid walks away from Maddy and pulls me into a tight embrace. “Hey, Mel. I’ve missed you.”

“Me, too Reid. It’s so good to see you.” In the time that he’s been with Maddy, Reid really has become like a brother to me. All of these years, I wished for siblings. Now, that I finally have them, even if not by blood, I feel like the luckiest person on earth.

“How about lunch sometime this week? I’d love to come and see you at work, maybe catch up with Dylan too.” I miss my weekly lunch dates with Reid and I’m mad at myself for letting too much time go by since I’ve seen him.

“Nothing would make me happier, Mel.” Reid smiles down at me before we catch a suspicious glare from Maddy.

She snickers as she was over to us. “My God! You two are in the same room for less than two minutes and already you’re scheming something.” I could deny her accusation; I could tell her we’re just planning a regular lunch, but where’s the fun in that.

Reid and I exchange a conspiratorial wink and Maddy huffs at us.

Before long, Evan and Mom call everyone into the kitchen to grab some dinner. Apparently as a retired New York City Firefighter, Evan is a culinary whiz and knows how to make one hell of a baked ziti. Dinner is fantastic and not just because the food is great. Everyone is chatting lively and laughing at each other. Even Peyton joins in on the conversation.

I can’t help but smile at Mom and Evan exchanging sweet looks at each other. If I’m not mistaken, I think they’re holding hands under the table too. I am so going to have to get the run down on them later, but for now, I think I’ll keep my mouth shut and not embarrass Mom.

Around eight o’clock, Linda starts to leave and Maddy and Reid follow her. Maddy shares a sly wink with me as she walks out the door. She let me in on her little plan to throw Reid a surprise party in a few weeks to celebrate his new job. I love that I finally get the chance to help her pull a fast one over on him.

Mom and Evan are still in the kitchen cleaning up when Peyton sits next to me on the couch. “So what gives?” she prods, but I don’t know what she’s getting at.

“What do you mean?” I ask as I absentmindedly flip through the channels.

“Well, with all that ‘Melanie doesn’t love herself’ crap, I just figured you were from some kind of broken home or something like that.” She pauses to survey the room before her eyes settle back on me. “But this place is pretty great and you clearly have a bunch of people who really love you.” As she tucks both of her legs underneath her body, she adds, “So, I ask again, what gives?”

Dumbstruck, I can’t think of a single logical explanation. So I simply say, “I don’t know, Peyton. I just don’t know.”

An “ahem” from behind us, interrupts our non-conversation and Peyton stands from the couch. Mom and Evan must be done in the kitchen and they’re now standing behind us. “I’m going to go grab a shower and get ready for bed. I want to hit the road early tomorrow.” I nod as she walks past me. “It was nice meeting you guys. Thanks for having me.”

“You’re welcome here anytime, Peyton.” Mom gives Peyton a small smile and Evan nods at her as she climbs the stairs.

Grabbing his coat from the rack in the entry way, Evan says, “Alright, Lucy. I think I’m going to head home too. I’ll let you girls catch up.” I get up to say goodbye and Evan tells me, “It was really great to see you, Melanie. Hopefully the three of us can get together before you have to go back.” Evan extends his hand to me once again and I politely shake it in return.

I excuse myself and allow them a little privacy for whatever they might have to say to each other. But, peering out of the kitchen, I can’t help but catch a glimpse of Evan tucking Mom’s hair behind her ear and kissing her tenderly on her cheek. When she places her hand on his chest as she leans up on her toes to reach his lips, I feel another piece of my heart come back together.

The door closes and I hear Mom walk into the kitchen. “Can I make you some tea, Mom?” She knows what I really mean to say is “Sit your butt down and fill me in on every single detail.”

“I think I’ll pass on the inquisition for tonight, Mel.” She laughs as she gets a dishwasher tablet from under the sink. Loading one last dish and popping the tablet into its slot, she closes the door and hits the start button. Conversation would be pointless now over the loud humming and whirring of our ancient dishwasher.

When she smirks at me, I know that was her plan. She’s a smart one! Wrapping my arm around her waist as we walk out of the kitchen and up the stairs to our rooms, I tell her, “Fine. You’re off the hook for tonight, but tomorrow I want to know everything.”

She squeezes me back and kisses the top of my head when we get to the top landing. “You got it. Love you.”

“I love you too, Mom.” I stand there and watch her walk down the hallway toward her room and all I can think about is Peyton’s question from earlier.

Surrounded by Mom’s love daily, how is it that I never learned to love myself?

Peyton is up around six the next morning and she leaves before Mom even gets up. Needless to say, Mom is disappointed. “I wanted to get to know her better.” She shrugs her shoulders and adds, “Maybe next time, huh?” Reaching for the coffee pot as it beeps, she offers me a mug. We sit at the table sipping our coffee for a few minutes before I finally break down and start grilling her about Evan.

“He’s cute.” I drop that out there and wait to see what happens.

Before she asks, “Who?” her eyes shimmer with the tiniest flash of happiness.

Fine, I’ll bend first. “Evan. Besides, Reid was the only other guy here last night and that would just be weird.” I shiver and make a gross throw up sound in my throat. She giggles at me and I reach out to grasp her forearm. “I’m really happy for you, Mom.”

When it seems like she finally believes me, she relaxes and her face takes on this dreamy, far-away look. “He is pretty cute, huh?” It’s like she’s a teenager all over again.

“Well, sure. If you like salt and pepper hair, a chiseled face and a muscular body, I’d say so!” I raise an eyebrow as I take a sip of my coffee. Swatting my arm, Mom’s cheeks turn pink.

Over the next hour, we catch up on pretty much everything. It turns out that she’s been seeing Evan since the end of December. He’s never been married and doesn’t have any kids of his own, so both he and Mom were good with taking things slow to start. As she tells me about him, I can see her face light up. I seriously hope that things work out for them.

“So then do you see a future with him or are you still in the ‘taking it slow’ mode?” I ask cautiously. I don’t want to scare her from sharing.

She sighs and slumps in her chair a little. “Oh, I don’t know. It just seems like such a fuss to change how things are. He’s got his life and I’ve got mine. That’s good enough for me.” I can tell that her words belie her true feelings.

“But what if your life and his life came together somehow. Maybe it could be some kind of ‘our’ life.” I use air quotes around the word “our” and she laughs at my silliness.

Pulling her mug up to her lips, she mumbles against the rim of the glass, “Ehh, who knows? Maybe, someday.” Knowing all too well how it feels to be pushed into talking about something that you just do not want to talk about, I leave well enough alone.

I get up to pour us another cup of coffee. As I begin making some English muffins, I ask something that’s been on my mind since last night. “How old is he anyway? He seems kind of young to be retired already.” I push the button on the toaster and lean against the counter, waiting for her to answer.

“He retired early,” she says curtly, but sadly.