CHAPTER 21
EVAN
I woke up that morning with the kids sleeping in, the sun streaming through the cracks of the curtain, and Melanie’s beautiful face resting on my chest. I brought my hand to her hair and she lifted her chin and smiled up at me. The warmth that spread through my chest at the sight of her threatened to break me. I was in love with this woman, that was for damn sure.
“Good morning, beautiful,” I said.
“Good morning yourself,” she answered.
“Looks like the gods are on our side. I haven’t heard a peep from the kids yet,” I said.
“Good thing, or Liam would have gotten an eyeful,” she laughed.
It felt so good to lie with her like that, so light and natural. Telling her the truth about my brother and the kids had definitely taken a load off of me. It was one less barrier between us. I reluctantly crawled out of bed and pulled on some clothes to go start getting breakfast together. Melanie dressed and followed me to the kitchen to help.
The kids stirred not too long after that and we all sat to breakfast. As soon as we were done, Melanie got up to clean the dishes and I ventured out towards the shed to work for a while, then came back to the house just before lunchtime. I’d been able to finish up two projects while I was back there, which meant I could take the rest of the day off. While I’d been working, I thought back to the previous night and the lightness I’d felt after telling her the truth about the kids. It spurred me on to want to tell her even more. Then maybe, she’d do the same.
Melanie cooked lunch for all of us, macaroni and cheese along with stuff for sandwiches. It was quick and easy, and once the kids were done eating it was time for their naps. Liam went down without a peep but Hadley was a little grumpy, requiring Melanie to sing four rounds of her song before the little girl finally closed her eyes.
When she came back out into the living room, I was sitting there with a beer for her, ready to talk.
She took the beer and we sat down on the couch, my arm instinctively slipping around her body. The fire in the fireplace was dwindling and I knew I needed to get up and refuel it, but I wasn’t ready to move just yet. The ease with which Melanie fell into my body was intoxicating and, so long as she stayed here, I knew her body would keep me warm.
“I ran a multimillion dollar tech company,” I said suddenly.
She slowly panned her gaze toward me, her eyes bulging and her mouth opening in shock.
“You what?” she asked.
“Yeah. Built it from the ground up when I was younger. Me and my best friend, Ted. I was the creative mind and he was the coder, and we went at it full speed. We started out as a basic security firm, but it quickly grew into this massive international conglomerate where someone could set up service with us and get access to anything from technology security to everything someone needed to build their own smart home. We were a one-stop shop for it all, and it worked out well for us. If it was steeped in technology and needed security, we were all over it.”
I could tell she was impressed, but she was about to be fooled once again.
“What happened then?” she asked. “You said you were out here already once the accident happened.”
“I was. Things had gotten really stressful at work and I didn’t really know how to cope. I started drinking but knew I couldn’t hide that for very long, so I turned to painkillers. I got hurt playing high school football, so it was easy to use that old injury to get prescriptions. I used them to relax myself during times of stress, but it quickly got out of control and I became an addict. It was really bad, Melanie.”
“Do you still—?”
“No. I quit cold turkey once the kids came to live with me. Though I can’t say I don’t struggle with it. When things get out of hand and stressful with the kids, I can almost taste them on my tongue,” I said.
“Is that why you hired a nanny?” she asked.
“Yep. I needed help going from no kids to two. Even when I was engaged, I never planned on having kids. This was an entirely new adventure for me when they first showed up.”
“Wait, you were engaged?” she asked.
I nodded. “I was. Her name was Elise. She left me in my toughest times of addiction. Then I found out that she had an affair with my business partner – a man I once considered a friend. Ted threw me under the bus and it was decided that I wasn’t fit for the role so I was told to leave with a severance. The whole experience did a number on me.”
“Hence the cabin in the mountains of Montana,” Melanie said.
“Yep. I tried repeatedly to kick the pills but it wasn’t until the kids came to live with me that I was finally ready to deal with life clean.”
“I think it’s an amazing thing that you are doing. They could have ended up in foster care with families that didn’t care about them,” she said, placing her small hand over mine.
“It was hard, taking them in. I have more than enough means to care for them financially, but emotionally it’s been a battle. Liam looks so much like my brother, and Hadley looks like her mother. As much as I love them, it hurts a little to look at them and be reminded of all I’ve lost. But when you stumbled up onto the porch during that storm and stayed with us, I saw how you were with the kids. How much they warmed to you and how much they wanted you around. It was like I could see life in a whole new light again, just with you here.”
“They’re good kids, Evan. You’re doing a wonderful job with them,” she said.
“I don’t feel like I am most days.”
“And no new parent does. But as long as they are happy, healthy, and loved, you are doing it right.”
I chuckled at her as I shook my head.
“I’m sorry I left like I did yesterday. I just saw that message and felt this looming secrecy between us, and it was a little stifling,” she said.
“I understand. I’ve been feeling it, too. I’m hoping that talking to you will alleviate it some,” I said.
“It has. And thank you for telling me. Seriously.”
“You know you can talk to me too, right?”
My question stopped her in her tracks and I could feel her body tightening up again.
“I know I’m not the only one who was carrying secrets, but I also don’t want to force you to talk to me. I wanted to talk with you, so I did. Partially because I felt you needed to know after seeing that text, and partially because I just—wanted to. I’m here, should you ever want to talk.”
“Thank you,” she said, nodding.
We went back to sipping on our beers as the embers of the fire slowly flickered out. I pulled her close as her head nuzzled underneath my cheek, and I breathed in deep the smell of her skin. She was sweet and light, like a freshly sugared warm doughnut. My hands stroked her arm while the wind whipped around outside, driving the temperatures down and forcing me off the couch to make another fire.
Melanie whimpered at the loss of my touch as I got up from the couch, and I smirked before I took her empty beer bottle from her.
“The kids will be up soon, if you want to go back to working,” she said.
“Actually, I’m done for the day. And with the weather graying outside again, I figured we could make it a movie night.”
“Movie?” Liam said.
The sound of his groggy voice whipped my head in the direction of the hallway.
“Aladdin?” Liam asked.
“That’s your favorite movie, isn’t it?” Melanie asked him.
“Uh huh,” he said.
Then, we both heard Hadley’s cries trickling down the hallway.
“I’ll get her,” I said. “You set up the movie and gather up all the blankets.”
It was going to be a wonderful night with just the four of us, and I was very much looking forward to it.