Chapter Nine

We didn’t tour the red bungalow. I didn’t have it in me. I wasn’t even sure why I was so obsessed with it. But every time I pulled it up on my tablet, it captivated me. I could see my little boy and me playing in the sand. And I’m sure his nursery would look perfect in the little red house.

Declan was also beginning to catch my attention. We ended up going through some model homes in a new subdivision just outside of Charleston. It touted a great school district and a family friendly community. Declan seemed more interested in the single-family homes than he had been in the condos. He was also interested in starting a family someday. As far as I could tell he was going to make a great husband and father.

I tried to remember if that’s how I felt when I started seeing Greyson. I think I saw more of the business man. I admired him for his intelligence and drive. And his pursuit of me was breathtaking. I was a different person at twenty-five, with different priorities.

Now I watched a man think about if the backyard was big enough to build his future children a swing set. I never knew how attractive that could be.

I did my best not to think about Declan later that night as I looked over all the brochures I picked up from the homebuilder in Charleston, but it was hard not to. Especially since Declan was trying to talk me into buying plots next to each other. He claimed I was the best neighbor he’d ever had. None of the homes spoke to me, though they were beautiful and in my price range. I loved the southern architecture and deep porches the homes offered, but the red bungalow reminded me of Nantucket and evoked feelings of home. But it was impractical and so expensive. Another thing not to think about.

There were some things—or should I say people—that were not letting me forget. I looked at my phone and a Facebook notification popped up. I hadn’t had one in forever since I had sworn off social media while I was going through my divorce. The only thing I had done was change my name back to Melanie Dixon. That had garnered a lot of private messages from old friends. I stared at my phone. Declan had sent me a friend request. That was kind of cute, like him. Except he was more than cute.

I decided what the heck and logged in to Facebook to accept his friend request. And maybe I flipped through all the pictures he had posted over the last several years. There were quite a few of him at the Spartan Races he’d been talking so much about. Some of them looked professional, like the ones of him crawling under barbed wire and scaling huge walls. It got my blood pumping. There was this raw, sensual quality about him in the photos. It was probably a good thing I didn’t take him up on his offer to watch him. I was already having a hard enough time resisting his charm and what I was sure were his subtle advances. But I did enjoy his company.

I scrolled through some more pictures. I loved his family photos, especially the ones with his niece and nephew. There was a particularly sweet one where he was cradling his infant niece. The adoration on his handsome face was apparent. I had to quit looking. It was like the red bungalow—another disappointment in the making.

But I did decide that I was going to come out of the shell I had been in for the last several months. I felt like I had been hibernating. I posted one of the ultrasound pictures with the caption, My son. I also went through and deleted my wedding album and any other Greyson related pictures. I didn’t even stop and pause to look at any of the old photos, what used to be some of my most treasured memories. I had wasted too many tears over the man.

While I was deleting photos, my feed blew up with comments. A ton of people were congratulating me. I was more than surprised to see that some of my “old friends” from Philadelphia were among them. Women I probably should have unfriended by the way they treated me when Greyson left me, but that wasn’t my style. But it is one of the reasons I stayed off social media. I was hurt when pictures of parties and lunches that I would have normally been invited to popped up. I felt like the girl who sat alone at lunch.

More fun was in store. A new notification popped up that I had been tagged in a photo. I clicked on it and I couldn’t believe what I saw. There I was standing out on one of the condo balconies Declan and I had looked at today. I was looking out over the river. My aviators were on, the light breeze ruffled through my hair and pink t-shirt dress. The way the sun fell on me gave the picture an artistic feel. He captioned the photo, Beautiful Mel.

If I thought the ultrasound picture was garnering its fair share of comments, it had nothing on this picture. We were going to be the talk of the town. Mutual friends from forever ago started commenting and asking if we were back together. I started receiving private messages asking if Declan was the father of my baby. People that I didn’t know were commenting asking him the same question. He created a firestorm.

I texted him, Did you see what you did? Please take that picture down.

That will only look more suspicious.

You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?

Yes, ma’am.

I didn’t give you permission to take that picture. I didn’t even know that he had.

I couldn’t help myself. Look how beautiful you are.

Flattery is not helping your case.

I’m being sincere.

That’s not helping you either. Have you read the comments?

They’re great.

People are leaping to conclusions.

That’s the fun part. It was like I could hear him laugh.

Goodnight.

Sweet dreams, Mel. Thanks for your help today.

I couldn’t stay irritated with him. He was too sweet for my own good. You’re welcome. Though I wasn’t sure how much I’d helped him.

I looked at the photo one more time, doing my best not to read the comments. For a moment, I felt beautiful. I hadn’t felt that way in too long. It was like I was seeing how Declan saw me. And that more than anything scared me.

I closed out the app only to see that Halle and Heather had sent me several text messages in our group chat we’d had forever, all in regards to the photo Declan posted.

OMG. OMG. That was Heather.

You look gorgeous. That was Halle.

Are you reading the comments?

He still has it bad for you.

What are you going to do?

I took a moment to breathe. I’m going to leave well enough alone, I texted back before putting my phone away. At least that was the plan. But my plans as of late didn’t seem to be working out the way I thought.

I rubbed my baby. It’s you and me kid.

My Sunday was a barrage of messages. I was tired of telling people that Declan and I were only friends. But I received one message I never expected from someone who I thought I would never see or hear from again. My ex-mother-in-law texted me. I didn’t even know she knew how to text. All it said was, I need to know the truth. Are you carrying my grandson?

I sat stunned when I read it. I supposed she got wind of my Facebook post somehow. I thought about not responding. After all, she and her son both humiliated me with accusations. And she had turned her back on me. I had loved her like a mother and she discarded me. I simply texted back, No. I blocked and deleted her. I never wanted anything do with the Ellis’ again. Legally and in all the ways that counted, this baby was mine and only mine; Greyson made sure of it.

I was so glad to see Monday come. I needed to work and get back into a routine.

I sat at the table in the kitchen with my parents before Daddy and I left for work. Daddy sipped on his coffee and read the paper. Momma was going over her schedule for the day. I enjoyed my yogurt parfait and read more comments on that post of Declan’s. My favorite new one was from some guy named Jeff. Dude, is your girlfriend pregnant?

Declan’s responses weren’t making it clear enough that we weren’t a couple. He was causing trouble.

Case in point. Momma looked up from her tablet. “I ran into Lucille Sanderson early this morning while Karen and I were walking. Lucille was out walking her dog.”

I cringed. She was the biggest busybody. “Did her shoes match her dog’s collar?”

Daddy snorted.

Momma’s grin said they did. “She mentioned a face thingy post about you and Declan.” Momma was obviously not social media savvy, but it didn’t surprise me that Miss Lucille was. It was another avenue for her to glean gossip.

I placed my spoon in my parfait cup. Both my parents were now giving me their attention. “Declan posted a picture of me. No big deal.”

“Lucille was under the impression you two were together and that the baby was his.”

“Declan said no such thing.”

“I suppose he also didn’t say you were beautiful.”

I decided I should get back to eating. Breakfast, after all, was the most important meal of the day.

Momma and Daddy laughed.

“That’s what I thought,” Momma wouldn’t let it alone.

I swallowed and decided to change the subject. I needed to get their take on Tamara. I felt anxious about her contacting me. “Greyson’s mom texted me last night.”

Daddy dropped his paper and Momma’s face turned a fiery shade of red.

“I know. I’m as surprised as you. She asked if the baby was Greyson’s.”

“How dare she,” Momma lashed out.

Daddy took her hand to calm her.

“I told her no.”

“Good for you, baby girl.” Daddy kept a hold of Momma.

“Did she respond?” Momma was trying to temper her words.

“I don’t know. I blocked her.”

“You seem worried.” Daddy was good at picking up on my mood.

“I thought I was done with their family. I want a clean break.” Even though it had been nothing but messy. “And, honestly, her actions hurt me as much as Greyson’s.”

Momma was closest to me. She reached out and took my hand. “I never liked her. You are better off without the two of them.”

I wasn’t sure how true that was. The two women seemed to get along all right when things were good between my ex-husband and myself. But I do think Momma was a tad jealous at times since we lived in the same city as Tamara.

“I know, Momma.” I squeezed her hand back. “I just don’t want any interference after everything they put me through.”

Daddy sat up straight, giving off the protector vibe. “She will have to get through me first. I should have hauled you home from the start.” Oh, he had tried, but I resisted. I was going to make Greyson acknowledge this baby and restore my good name, but sometimes you have to know when to walk away.

“Thank you, Daddy. I’m sure it’s nothing.”

They both nodded, but unease hung in the air.

I tried to push it out of my mind as I started my first day at Dixon Construction. Daddy had my office next to his ready to go when I got there, complete with a dozen pink roses on my reclaimed wood desk. In the history of dads, he was the best. I focused on the finances first. I acquainted myself with the accounting software and dug right in to entering expenses and doing some comparisons of actual costs versus estimated. I felt like me. The numbers spoke to me. I needed this.

I was up and stretching my back around lunchtime when I had a visitor.

He peeked his head in my glass door. “Looks like you need a better chair. Or a massage. I can provide the latter.”

I turned and flashed a quick smile at the man who kept popping up. “Here to start more rumors?”

He laughed and stepped in. “Sounds like fun, but no.”

“Maybe for you.”

“How about I make it up to you by buying you lunch to celebrate your first day? There’s a cart vendor a few streets over that sells the most amazing soft pretzels. And I know how much you love those.”

“What if I don’t anymore?”

He slid close enough to wrap me up in his senses. “Then say the word and I’ll take you anywhere you want to go.”

My eyes drifted toward the closet in my office. I had the urge to drag him in there and see if he could still take my breath away. Instead I stepped away and took a deep breath. “Uh. I have a lot of work to do, and I packed a lunch.”

He wasn’t deterred. Desire filled his eyes. “Perfect. We’ll walk to the park and eat there. I packed a lunch too.”

“What are the odds of you taking no for an answer?”

“I’m not familiar with the word.” That’s what placed him on top of his career. And I knew it was an innocent statement. He never once took advantage of me. His blues peered into my own; they didn’t beg, but they enticed. “You need the break and you know you want to. We can even hit the swings.”

I stretched the twinge in my back. “Maybe a walk would do me some good.”

A grin filled his face.

“Let me run to the restroom.” Lately, I always had to run there first. I’ve never peed so much in my life.

“I’ll say hi to your dad. Take your time.”

All the way to the restroom and back I wondered what I was doing. I was smart enough to know that we were both attracted to each other, though I couldn’t figure out why he was to me under the circumstances. But we hardly knew each other anymore, and well, I had no business entertaining anything more than friendship at this time in my life, maybe even for the rest of my life. But it was so easy to be around him. In some ways, it was like we were never apart.

I met Declan in Daddy’s office. The two men were talking shop. Daddy loved nothing more. It sounded like he was trying to haggle a better price on equipment if we agreed to use Redline for an additional project.

“Let me see what I can come up with.” Declan loved to play the game just as much. I could see the spark in his eye.

Daddy’s eyes sparkled for me, though, when he was alerted to my presence. “There’s the woman of the hour.” Daddy met me by the door and kissed my cheek. “She’s going to do great things here. And maybe you can talk Declan down.”

“She may have some sway.” Declan grinned.

I rolled my eyes at both of them. “Are you ready to go?” I held up my canvas lunch bag.

“Yes, ma’am.” Declan shook hands with Daddy. “See you later, Mr. Dixon.”

“You can call me Rich.” Daddy gave him a hearty pat on the back.

Declan seemed touched. “Thank you, sir.”

“Have a good lunch, you two.” Daddy gave me an impish smile.

It wasn’t going to be that good. Even if part of me wanted it to be.

Declan grabbed his lunchbox from the Redline company truck. It looked like all the trucks in that industry, big and white with their logo plastered on the door and tailgate. He looked good with the sun shining on his sandy brown hair. His skin already looked kissed by the sun. I think he ran outdoors a lot training for his Spartan Races. Along with a lot of weight training and doing odd things like tossing spears. It was apparently intense.

His smiled warmed me more than the sun as he neared, and we headed to the park two blocks away. It felt good to be out. I loved this time of year in South Carolina, not too hot or humid yet.

We walked close together; our arms touched more than once.

“You know, Miss Lucille is now spreading rumors that you are the father of my baby.”

He laughed. “I can think of worse things to be accused of.”

“You’re a troublemaker.”

“You used to be one, too.”

“Not really.”

“Who took her parents’ car while they were out of town and drove us all to Greenville to see The Killers in concert?”

“We didn’t get caught, so that doesn’t count.”

“Does your tattoo count?”

I faced forward and tried not to smile. I thought about that day, Declan’s eighteenth birthday. He wanted to get a tattoo, I guess as a christening into adulthood. I went with him and something came over me. I wanted one too. I totally begged the tattoo artist to do it. I wasn’t legal yet, and there was no way my parents were going to give me permission. I talked him into doing a small red heart at the small of my back. I hid it from my parents for several weeks, but I got careless when summer rolled around—my bikini bottoms didn’t cover it. They were furious at me and even Declan. I had to stop them from turning in the tattoo parlor to the state board. I was grounded for two weeks. I still snuck out to see the man who now walked next to me.

“Do you still have it?” His voice was so enticing.

I gave a small nod. “Do you still have yours?”

He rolled up his sleeve. Mel was scrolled across his muscular upper arm.

I stopped and stared at it. When I was seventeen I thought that was the most romantic thing ever. I wanted to run my fingers over it, but I couldn’t. “I’m sorry you permanently marked yourself with my name. I bet the women in your life have hated it.”

“I would do it all over again.” He rolled down his sleeve. “And I’ve only had one serious complaint.”

I felt myself blush. I began our walk again toward the park.

“I was engaged.” He answered the question on my mind.

I wasn’t shocked by the news. I was more surprised he wasn’t married. “I’m sorry you broke up. Or did you?” I grinned.

“It’s been a while. I’m over it.”

“I hope you didn’t break up over the tattoo.”

“If we did, I would say that was a good indicator we shouldn’t have gotten married. But, yeah, she wasn’t fond of it.”

“Maybe you’ll find a Melody or Melania.”

“Or a Melanie.”

Or one of those.